New data concerning the evolution of the vegetation in Lillo pinewood (Leon, Spain)

Abstract

A pollen study of a peat-bog sited in the  and the deforestation on 780±80 years . The results pinewood of Lillo (Leó n, Spain) is presented. The diagram have allowed to explain the autochthonous character of shows an initial phase where a well-developed pinewood Lillo pinewood, which remains as one of the few relics of was dominant with deciduous species, followed by a selective the southern slopes of the Cantabrian Range. clearance process of Pinus. Finally, the pinewood recovers again towards a similar state to that described at the

Negative responses of highland pines to anthropogenic activities in inland Spain: a palaeoecological perspective

“…yr B.P. (García-Antón et al 1997). The occurrence of human selection directed towards the pines of this group has been also observed in the archaeological record and has been suggested as a cause of local extinctions during the historic period in the lowlands of the Duero basin .…”

Climatic and human effects on the post-glacial dynamics of Fagus sylvatica L. in NW Iberia

“…11). The fact that the Plant Ecol (2009) 203:317-340 333 decline affected both relatively thermophilous taxa, such as Quercus and Corylus, and cold-tolerant genera such as Pinus and Betula, suggests that the apparently contradictory expansion of Fagus may have been facilitated by human activity: the abilities of Fagus to compete for slightly opened ground, and to exclude other trees when it forms a closed canopy, are well known (García Antón et al 1997;Negral et al 1997;Pott 1997), and suggest that, as in Central Europe, it may have successfully invaded the mixed deciduous forests subject to slight human disturbance at decadal scales (Tinner and Lotter 2006). The slopes of the narrow, steep-sided valleys that occupy much of the Basque Cantabrian Mountains and the Central-Eastern Cantabrian Mountains are unsuitable for agriculture and have traditionally been used by the local population for cattle rearing and (more recently) forestry, which together supplement agricultural activities carried out at lower altitudes.…”

Comparison of community structure and soil characteristics in different aged Pinus sylvestris plantations and a natural pine forest

“…According to the Second National Forest Inventory, P. sylvestris covers more than 1 million ha in Spain (M. A.P.A., 2002) with more than 300,000 being plantation (Costa et al, 1998). In our study zone (León province, NW Spain), the surface reforested with this species is 21,794 ha (Espinosa, 2001) and there are no natural forests, except for the Lillo pine forest, which is one of the few autochthonous (not introduced) relict pine forests from the Tertiary age on the southern slopes of the Cantabrian Range (García Antón et al, 1997;Robledo-Arnuncio et al, 2005). The existence of a sequence of reforestation age groups, in which the effect of time is superposed with the different methods of planting and management, allows the temporal dynamic of these plantations, with a non-autochthonous species, to be compared with a natural pine forest of the same species remaining in the zone since the Tertiary age.…”