Millennial land use explains modern high‐elevation vegetation in the submediterranean mountains of Southern Europe

Morales‐Molino, César; Leunda, María; Morellón, Mario; Gardoki, Jon; Ezquerra, Francisco Javier; Sobrino, Castor Muñoz; Rubiales, Juan Manuel; Tinner, Willy

doi:10.1111/jbi.14472

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 84 publications

(121 reference statements)

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“…Our modelling results suggest that Erica species ( E. arborea and E. scoparia ) only achieve dominance in scenarios with very high fire frequency (Figure 3), confirming statistical evidence of the positive relationship between Erica and wildfires (Pedrotta et al., 2021). Other palaeoecological studies from the Mediterranean Basin also show a positive relationship between Erica and biomass burning (Connor et al., 2012; Lestienne, Jouffroy‐Bapicot, et al., 2020; Morales‐Molino et al., 2013, 2022). In the Bale Mountains of Ethiopia, where Erica arborea currently characterizes the subtropical Afromontane vegetation belt, palaeoecological investigations also documented long‐term linkages between biomass burning and Erica abundances (Gil‐Romera et al., 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Simulating past and future fire impacts on Mediterranean ecosystems

Schwörer,

Morales‐Molino,

Gobet

et al. 2024

Journal of Ecology

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Worldwide, large wildfires are becoming increasingly common, leading to economic damages and threatening ecosystems and human health. Under future climate change, more frequent fire disturbance may push ecosystems into non‐forested alternative stable states. Fire‐prone ecosystems such as those in the Mediterranean Basin are expected to be particularly vulnerable, but the position of tipping points is unclear. We compare long‐term palaeoecological data from Sardinia with output from a process‐based dynamic vegetation model to investigate the mechanisms controlling the complex interactions between fire, climate, and vegetation in the past and the future. Our results show that past vegetation changes from Erica‐shrublands to mixed evergreen‐broadleaved Quercus ilex‐dominated forests were driven by a climate‐induced fire regime shift. By simulating vegetation dynamics under varying fire regimes, we could reproduce Holocene vegetation trajectories and mechanistically identify tipping points. Without an immediate reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, we simulate future expansion of fire‐prone Mediterranean maquis and increasing fire occurrence. Similarly, high anthropogenic ignition frequencies and plantations of non‐native, highly flammable trees could induce a shift to fire‐adapted Erica shrublands. However, our simulations indicate that if global warming can be kept below 2°C, Quercus ilex forests will be able to persist and effectively reduce fire occurrences and impacts, making them a valuable restoration target in Mediterranean ecosystems. Synthesis. By combining long‐term records of ecosystem change with a dynamic vegetation model, we show that past climate‐driven fire regime shifts were the main driver of vegetation change, creating alternative stable states that persisted over centuries. Projected future climate change exceeding Holocene variability leads to pronounced vegetation changes and increased fire risks in our simulations, requiring new fire management strategies to maintain current ecosystem services.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Simulating past and future fire impacts on Mediterranean ecosystems

Schwörer,

Morales‐Molino,

Gobet

et al. 2024

Journal of Ecology

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“…The presence of productive pastures in summer likely facilitated the early adoption of seasonal resource utilisation strategies such as the pastoral mobility in altitude, known as transterminance 14,15 . It has been generally accepted that montane Mediterranean environments have long been transformed by human activities [16][17][18][19][20][21] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sedimentary ancient DNA reveals Neolithic pastoralism and plant community interactions at Southern European high altitudes

Julián-Posada,

Gil-Romera,

Garcés-Pastor

et al. 2024

Preprint

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The Neolithization process introduced significant ecological impacts, especially in Mediterranean mountain areas. We generated a comprehensive sedimentary ancient DNA record from the central Pyrenees, spanning 12.2 to 1.3 ka BP, revealing the earliest continuous presence of sheep (6.5 ka BP) and cattle (5.9 ka BP) in alpine southern Europe. This evidence suggests pastoralism nearly concurred with the Neolithic in the Iberian lowlands, challenging prior assumptions of only sporadic occurrence and confirming Neolithic pastoralist use of mountain ecosystems. A notable plant community shift arosed at 6 ka BP, with deciduous forests transitioning into diverse open grasslands. This change became pronounced at 4.2 ka BP, aligning with continuous presence of domesticates and a regional cooling climate, suggesting a synergistic relationship between past climate change and human-induced plant community alteration. These findings highlight the complex interactions between climate, human activities, and landscape dynamics during the Neolithic in Mediterranean mountains.

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“…The long time horizon of palaeoecological records permits to study ecosystem responses under substantially different environmental conditions than the present ones, including temperatures analogous to those predicted by future climate changes (approximately 1-2 o C higher than present; Carter et al, 2018;Morales-Molino et al, 2021;Samartin et al, 2017). Moreover, current ecosystems and ecological processes often carry legacy effects of past environmental changes and anthropogenic impacts (Cagliero et al, 2022;Feurdean et al, 2009;Grindean et al, 2019;Morales-Molino et al, 2022), which have often altered species-environment relationships (Tinner et al, 2013). Thus, taking into account long-term records may be important to gain more accurate environmental-change response assessments, especially in Europe, where anthropogenic manipulation of nature started several millennia ago (Birks and Tinner, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, current ecosystems and ecological processes often carry legacy effects of past environmental changes and anthropogenic impacts (Cagliero et al, 2022;Feurdean et al, 2009;Grindean et al, 2019;Morales-Molino et al, 2022), which have often altered species-environment relationships (Tinner et al, 2013). Thus, taking into account long-term records may be important to…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of fire disturbances, human activities and climate change for long-term forest dynamics in upper-montane forests of the central Dinaric Alps

Cagliero

Paradis

Marchi³

et al. 2023

The Holocene

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We present the first high-resolution Holocene pollen, plant-macrofossil, and charcoal records from the upper-montane zone in the central Dinaric Alps. Drawing on these new records from well-dated lacustrine sediments of Zminje Jezero (ca. 1500 m a.s.l.; Montenegro) and on independent chironomid-inferred summer temperatures, we explore long-term ecosystem responses to variations in climate, fire disturbances and land use, as well as legacy effects of past environmental changes. A mixed spruce-fir forest established in the upper-montane zone around 9500 cal BP, and Fagus sylvatica became co-dominant with the two conifers after 5000 cal BP. Prehistoric land-use pressure was overall remarkably low, but increased since 2000 cal BP and was highest after the Middle Ages. We found a significant positive relationship between biomass burning and summer temperature, indicating that fires were mostly climate driven. Picea abies was insensitive to summer temperature, biomass burning and human impact, which supports the view that spruce forests may not be significantly impacted by fire. In contrast, Abies alba and other disturbance-sensitive trees ( Tilia, Ulmus, Fraxinus excelsior-type) show significant negative responses to land-use pressure and positive responses to summer temperature. This supports the notion that these species may be well-adapted to warmer-than present summer temperatures and that their populations declined in recent millennia due to land-use activities. Conversely, F. sylvatica was sensitive to summer temperatures but was promoted by low biomass burning, indicating that its expansion in the spruce-fir dominated forest was enhanced by the onset of cooler and possibly also moister climatic conditions as well as by fire disturbances.

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Millennial land use explains modern high‐elevation vegetation in the submediterranean mountains of Southern Europe

Cited by 8 publications

References 84 publications

Simulating past and future fire impacts on Mediterranean ecosystems

Simulating past and future fire impacts on Mediterranean ecosystems

Sedimentary ancient DNA reveals Neolithic pastoralism and plant community interactions at Southern European high altitudes

The role of fire disturbances, human activities and climate change for long-term forest dynamics in upper-montane forests of the central Dinaric Alps

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