Intensive land use in the Swedish mountains between AD 800 and 1200 led to deforestation and ecosystem transformation with long-lasting effects

Abstract

Anthropogenic deforestation has shaped ecosystems worldwide. In subarctic ecosystems, primarily inhabited by native peoples, deforestation is generally considered to be mainly associated with the industrial period. Here we examined mechanisms underlying deforestation a thousand years ago in a high-mountain valley with settlement artifacts located in subarctic Scandinavia. Using the Heureka Forestry Decision Support System, we modeled pre-settlement conditions and effects of tree cutting on forest cover. To examine lack of regeneration and present nutrient status, we analyzed soil nitrogen. We found that tree cutting could have deforested the valley within some hundred years. Overexploitation left the soil depleted beyond the capacity of re-establishment of trees. We suggest that pre-historical deforestation has occurred also in subarctic ecosystems and that ecosystem boundaries were especially vulnerable to this process. This study improves our understanding of mechanisms behind human-induced ecosystem transformations and tree-line changes, and of the concept of wilderness in the Scandinavian mountain range.

People and pines 1555–1910: integrating ecology, history and archaeology to assess long-term resource use in northern Fennoscandia

“…in the more heavily populated areas of Europe (Kaplan et al 2009;Ludemann 2010) and elsewhere (Lev-Yadun et al 2010). Although our data suggest that Sami pre-industrial land uses had very weak effects on the availability of specific resources from a landscape perspective, specific case-studies have detected long-lasting local ecosystem effects, such as vegetation changes due to cutting of firewood (Josefsson et al 2010a;Staland et al 2011;Ö stlund et al 2015) and both above-and below-ground feedback effects of trampling and organic matter transfer (Freschet et al 2014). In addition, case studies have also detected strong cultural imprints in local hotspots (Berg et al 2011;Sjögren and Kirchhefer 2012;Rautio et al 2014).…”

Defining a mountain landscape characterized by grazing using actor perception, governmental strategy, and environmental monitoring data

“…Next to traditional knowledge and historical human use of the mountainous landscape (Norstedt et al 2014;Östlund et al 2015;Ratio et al 2016), we conclude that recent reindeer spatial distribution and habitat selection can contribute to describe a "Grazed Landscape" and thereby help to frame its definition. Furthermore, recent distribution of reindeer and in combination with recent status on vegetation and landscape structure given by remotely-sensed data can help to identify areas that need stronger impact by herbivory.…”

“…The Swedish mountain area, considered as one of the most pristine environments in Europe, is no exception to this situation (Moen 2006;Swedish EPA 2014;Tolvanen and Kangas 2016;Lindahl et al 2018). Being a Sami cultural landscape, reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) husbandry and reindeer have utilized the landscape for centuries (Josefsson et al 2009;Norstedt et al 2014;Östlund et al 2015;Ratio et al 2016). Historical data documents identify three critical resources for Sami communities of equal importance today: alpine heath together with subalpine birch forest, pine-dominated forests, and fishing waters (Norstedt et al 2014).…”

Modeling how land use legacy affects the provision of ecosystem services in Mediterranean southern Spain

“…As an example, forests reverting from agriculture have been shown to have legacy effects on processes such as soil nutrient dynamics and biodiversity [21,22]. Deforestation has long-term effects on N content in soils [23] ( table 2). Finally, we rasterized land use and land use trajectory maps to a 100×100 m pixel size to extract the predictor variables used in models.…”