Palynological Evidence for Climatic Change and Human Activity during the Holocene on Minorca (Balearic Islands)

Abstract

Four pollen diagrams from Minorca (Balearic Islands) have been correlated with other previously studied sequences from Majorca and Minorca to define a Holocene landscape sequence for the region from 8000 yr B.P. to the present. The lower part of the pollen diagrams reflects a climatic phase with more rain and less-marked seasonality than today. Significant quantities of Corylus, Buxus, and mesophilous taxa are found. In the middle part, between 5000 and 4000 yr B.P., a strong change is recorded in composition and structure of the vegetational landscape, with vegetation appearing that was adapted to Mediterranean conditions. This episode coincided with the first human colonization of the island and also with a widespread climatic change in the western Mediterranean region. The change in taxa was complex and some sclerophyllous taxa such Olea played an important role in the transformation of the landscape physiognomy from the mid-Holocene until the present. Although human activities have removed much of the Mediterranean vegetation on the Balearic Islands, it seems clear that the changes have been brought about, in part, by increasing dryness.

Climate change and ecosystems dynamics over the last 6000 years in the Middle Atlas, Morocco

“…P ann decreases progressively by ca. 100 mm, which is in line with the aridity trend that has been observed in other fossil records (Risacher and Fritz, 1992;Brooks, 2006;Hastenrath, 1991;Anderson and Leng, 2004;Umbanhowar et al, 2006) and particularly in the Mediterranean area (Pons and Reille, 1988;Julià et al, 2001;Burjachs et al, 1997;Yll et al, 1997;Roberts et al, 2001;Valino et al, 2002;Jalut et al, 2009) and northern Africa (Ritchie, 1984;Ballouche, 1986;Lamb et al, 1989). At a more regional scale, reconstructed P ann is coherent with that obtained from Lake Tigalmamine (Cheddadi et al, 1998) which shows a decreasing trend over the last ca.…”

Mid- and late-Holocene vegetation and fire history at Biviere di Gela, a coastal lake in southern Sicily, Italy

“…The trend at Lago di Pergusa matches other Mediterranean records, e.g. from the Balearic islands, at Albufera d'Alcudia in Mallorca (Burjachs et al 1994, Pérez-Obiol andSadori 2007) and at Cala Galdana in Minorca (Yll et al 1994), and also from continental Spain, at Navarrés near Valencia (Yll et al 1997;Carrión and van Geel 1999) with shifts towards more xeric conditions between 6800 and 5700 cal B.P. The good match of the record from Biviere with pollen (e.g.…”

Holocene environmental history of a small Mediterranean island in response to sea-level changes, climate and human impact

“…at Sa Curcurica (Sardinia; Beffa et al, 2015), at Gorgo Basso (Sicily; Tinner et al, 2009), at Alcudia and at Algendar (Majorca, respectively sites 1 and 2 in Fig. 1; Burjachs et al, 1994;Yll et al, 1997) but also on Corsica since 2600 B.P. (Reille, 1975(Reille, , 1984(Reille, , 1992aVigne and Valladas, 1996), with an increase of fire episodes between 2000 and 1600 B.P.…”

“…Islands are also fragile systems, highly vulnerable to rapid environmental changes and anthropic pressure. Since the 1990s, studies based on pollen analysis aiming to reconstruct the impact of human activities and climate changes on Mediterranean islands have increased, but most are focused on large islands such as the Balearic Islands (Burjachs et al, 1994;Yll et al, 1997), Malta (Carroll et al, 2012;Djamali et al, 2012;Gambin et al, 2016), Sardinia (Beffa et al, 2015;Di Rita and Melis, 2013) or Sicily (Noti et al, 2009;Tinner et al, 2009). In Corsica, the vegetation history is quite well known from various palynological analyses carried out on high-altitude sites (Reille, 1975(Reille, , 1977(Reille, , 1988a(Reille, , 1988bReille et al, 1997Reille et al, , 1999) and on coastal marshes (Currá et al, 2016;Reille, 1984Reille, , 1988bReille, , 1988cReille, , 1992a.…”