Optimal sampling design and minimal effort for soil charcoal analyses considering the soil type and forest history

Feiss, Thomas; Horen, Hélène; Brasseur, Boris; Lenoir, Jonathan; Buridant, Jérôme; Decocq, Guillaume

doi:10.1007/s00334-017-0624-0

Cited by 10 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 43 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Some clayey soil samples required immersion in a sodium hexametaphosphate ( Na 6 O 18 P 6 ) solution before sieving. Fifty pieces of charcoal, if available, were randomly selected (n=1,695) from each size fraction in the sieve from each layer (Robin and Nelle 2010;Feiss et al 2017b). Robin et al (personal communication, 2010) showed that this threshold of 50 charcoal pieces per size fraction was sufficient to determine the taxonomic diversity of the soil charcoal from each layer.…”

Section: Laboratory Treatment and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

A study of late Holocene local vegetation dynamics and responses to land use changes in an ancient charcoal making woodland in the central Pyrenees (Ariège, France), using pedoanthracology

Saulnier

Artigas

Foumou

et al. 2019

Veget Hist Archaeobot

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

tailié, et al.. A study of late Holocene local vegetation dynamics and responses to land use changes in an ancient charcoal making woodland in the central Pyrenees (Ariège, France), using pedoanthracology. Abstract Human activities have profoundly transformed mountain woodland landscapes, particularly in the Pyrenees where they have intensified and diversified since the Bronze Age. Quantification of the role played by past practices with regard to woodland cover is critical for accurate assessment of how ongoing global environmental change may affect its dynamics in the future. A local study was made of charcoal remains from an ancient charcoal-making woodland (ca. 30 ha), the forêt de Bernadouze, located on a north-facing slope in the Vicdessos valley in the French central Pyrenees. This valley is well known as having had a long history of human influence related to pastoralism, iron ore mining and smelting. A total of 1,695 charcoal pieces from soils in three sampling pits was extracted, identified, quantified and dated in order to identify tree canopy openings and patterns of change in the woodland driven by past human uses. The results provide new and original insights regarding 1, the past higher biodiversity and the ancient character of the forêt de Bernadouze, 2, the dynamics and history of the main trees and 3, successive phases of human activity. We show that the current woodland has resulted from several millennia of human activities such as pasturing and use of the wood for making charcoal. From the Bronze Age, humans have progressively transformed a natural fir-dominated wood into a managed beech-dominated one, and caused the elimination of Taxus baccata L. (yew). 2

show abstract

Section: Laboratory Treatment and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

A study of late Holocene local vegetation dynamics and responses to land use changes in an ancient charcoal making woodland in the central Pyrenees (Ariège, France), using pedoanthracology

Saulnier

Artigas

Foumou

et al. 2019

Veget Hist Archaeobot

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In the context of modern pedoanthracology, such sampling may be considered a high standard; many studies analysed 90 charcoal fragments per sample (e.g., Nelle, Dreibrodt, & Dannath, ; Quednau & Ludemann, ; Robin, Bork, Nadeau, & Nelle, ; Robin, Knapp, & Bork, ) and some other not more than 50 charcoal fragments (e.g., Compostella, Trombino, & Caccianiga, ; Moser, Di Pasquale, Scarciglia, & Nelle, ). Several authors recommended a minimum of 250 charcoal fragments per layer to be analysed in archaeo‐anthracological studies (e.g., Damblon & Haesaerts, ; Damblon, Haesaerts, & van der Plicht, ), whereas Feiss et al () recommended even higher minima for pedoanthracological studies (up to 500–600 charcoals). However, the latter author himself performed considerably lower numbers of identifications and used rather low‐resolution subsampling (four to five samples per profile) that illustrates the difficulty in practical adherence to such a recommendation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil charcoal elucidates the role of humans in the development of landscape of extreme biodiversity

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The south‐western White Carpathians (Czech Republic, Slovakia) are one of the few places in low‐elevation Central Europe where a diverse landscape, including extremely species rich meadows, scattered oak trees, and mixed oak woodlands, has escaped modern transformation. We studied C14‐dated and taxonomically identified macroscopic soil charcoal record to elucidate the genesis of this landscape. Thirteen soil profiles were sampled in grasslands along a gradient of elevation and history of human settlement. We identified clear pattern in the taxonomic composition of woody soil charcoal and anthracomass along this gradient, which we ascribe to different pathways of landscape development. Charcoal assemblages of chernozem‐like soils in the promontories of the mountain range have a low anthracomass and are dominated by heliophilous and semishade species (Quercus, Pinus), with the oldest charcoals dated to pre‐Neolithic times. Soils of the middle elevations have a high anthracomass and often show pronounced differences in charcoal composition at different soil depths; the oldest charcoal samples date back between the Neolithic and Early Middle Ages, and heliophilous species increase towards the topsoil. The soil of the summit area shows a medium anthracomass and charcoal assemblage dominated by shade‐tolerant trees; the charcoal dates from the Middle Ages. Our results suggest continuity of an open to semiopen landscape in lower elevations of the White Carpathians, whereas middle and higher elevations experienced a forested period. Humans and fire played an important role in landscape development, as indicated by both soil charcoal and available palaeoecological and archaeological evidence. Local meadows with extremely high biodiversity thus appear to be a continuation of an ancient forest‐steppe‐like ecosystem.

show abstract

“…Nevertheless, studies focusing on the efficiency of the sampling protocols are nearly inexistent, although this is a central issue concerning the representativeness of pedoanthracological assemblages. While anthracological sampling protocols 'guided' by the presence of archaeological deposits have been optimized (Chabal et al 1999), pedoanthracological sampling schemes vary greatly among specialists and, to our knowledge, only one study has addressed this issue (Feiss et al 2017). Two methods can be used for the systematic sampling of soil charcoals: pit sampling and auger sampling.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two methods can be used for the systematic sampling of soil charcoals: pit sampling and auger sampling. The first one, which is the most used, consists in sampling soil volumes (usually 10 L or 10 kg) along a soil profile in layers respecting the pedological horizons (Carcaillet and Thinon 1996;Dutoit et al 2009;Feiss et al 2017) or in artificial layers of about 10 cm in the tropics where soils horizons (oxisols) are less distinct (Scheel-Ybert et al 2003;Hubau et al 2012;Fernandes Caromano et al 2013;Morin-Rivat et al 2014;2016;Dotte-Sarout et al 2015). The dimensions of the pits vary among the studies and can take the form of large trenches of 1 x 2 m wide (Scheel-Ybert et al 2003;Di Pasquale et al 2008) or small test-pits of 0.5 m × 0.5 m or 1 x 1 m wide (Dotte-Sarout et al 2015;Morin-Rivat et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Assessment of the efficiency of three sampling methods for the recovery of soil charcoals in tropical anthropogenic sites

Bodin

Feiss

Molino

et al. 2021

Quaternary International

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The recovery and identification of wood charcoals from soil not associated to archaeological excavation is called pedoanthracology. Researchers in this field use different sampling methods, and only one study, in a temperate context, has compared their efficiency so far. In this paper, we compare the efficiency of three sampling methods on charcoal concentration (> 4 mm) and on taxonomic representativeness in a tropical environment for the first time. These methods are pit sampling, auger sampling and opportunistic handpicking of charcoal on tree uprooted mounds or in the soil excavated during the digging of a pit. Our results suggest that the two digging methods (pit and auger) allow to recover similar charcoal concentrations whatever the site and the depth under consideration. But as expected, the charcoal concentration of a site depends on its history (e.g. type of activity). We also show that the estimation of the minimal sampling effort required to obtain taxonomically representative assemblages, in terms of number of charcoals and of auger samplings, varied greatly depending on the site and on the presence of overrepresented taxa. Finally, our results show that auger cores were often monospecific (34 %). Nevertheless, they allowed to recover different taxa from the pit method, with 18 to 21 % of the taxa exclusive to the first method and 30 to 40 % of the taxa exclusive to the second one in the sites under consideration. Charcoals from opportunistic handpicking also allowed to improve the taxonomic diversity of the whole assemblage of a site with 5 to 15 % of the taxa being exclusive to this method. The three methods are therefore complementary and we suggest to use the three of them to obtain the best taxonomic diversity in an anthracological assemblage and to overcome the specific biases of each method. With this study, we hope that we will help tropical (pedo)anthracologists to optimize charcoal sampling in anthropogenic sites were the sampling design cannot benefit from archaeological excavations.

show abstract

Optimal sampling design and minimal effort for soil charcoal analyses considering the soil type and forest history

Cited by 10 publications

References 43 publications

A study of late Holocene local vegetation dynamics and responses to land use changes in an ancient charcoal making woodland in the central Pyrenees (Ariège, France), using pedoanthracology

A study of late Holocene local vegetation dynamics and responses to land use changes in an ancient charcoal making woodland in the central Pyrenees (Ariège, France), using pedoanthracology

Soil charcoal elucidates the role of humans in the development of landscape of extreme biodiversity

Assessment of the efficiency of three sampling methods for the recovery of soil charcoals in tropical anthropogenic sites

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About