Palaeoecology and long-term human impact in plant biology

Abstract

Human impact is a collective concept that requires a holistic approach. Human needs eventually caused the development of cultural landscapes that are at the base of the current landscapes. The papers included in this special issue are evidence that cooperation between different disciplines helps to deepen the trend of environmental transformation from past to future. Palaeoecology studies ecosystems of the past and needs archaeology to deepen sociocultural intervention in environmental patterns. In a similar way, ecologists have to include the complexity of societies and economies into landscape ecology by adding principles of human ecology into sustainability science. A brief history of previous actions encouraging the integration of palynology, archaeobotany, archaeology, botany and ecology is reported. The application of integrated studies comes to a new point, the research on the Long-Term Human Impact

Climate change versus land management in the Po Plain (Northern Italy) during the Bronze Age: New insights from the VP/VG sequence of the Terramara Santa Rosa di Poviglio

“…The joint action of climate and cultural variables has been found to be responsible for the trajectories of ancient people, whose survival relied on a responsible interplay with the natural resources available in lands hosting settlements (e.g., Galop, 2000;Brooks, 2006;Roberts et al, 2011;Mercuri, 2014;Mercuri et al, 2015c; see for a contrasting position: Magny et al, 2012). This is the case, for instance, of the Terramare culture of the Po Plain, in Northern Italy, dating back to the Middle and Recent Bronze ages (Cremaschi, 2014).…”

Forest Landscape Change and Preliminary Study on Its Driving Forces in Ślęża Landscape Park (Southwestern Poland) in 1883–2013

“…Changes in forest landscapes and those in the immediate vicinities of forests [16][17][18][19] are particularly noticeable. The results of palaeoenvironmental studies [20], used also as primary source for the reconstruction of forest cover [21], have more and more often become the starting point for research on long-term landscape changes. So far, in many cases, landscape change studies have been limited only to identifying the sizes and types of transformations, ignoring the identification of factors that could have a significant impact on the landscape.…”

Responses of Vegetation Cover to Environmental Change in Large Cities of China

“…For example, urban vegetation can sequestrate carbon [5], regulate microclimates [6], improve air quality [7], preserve biodiversity [8], conserve soil and water and mitigate nature disasters [9]. However, palaeoecological and palaeoenvironmental records show that vegetation and ecosystem have been obviously influenced by human disturbances and climate change in long-term landscape evolution [10][11][12]. Remarkably, vegetation cover within and around urban areas has experienced obvious transformation during the past decades, which has significantly influenced the sustainability of urban ecosystems [1].…”