Seven Millennia of human impact as reflected in a high resolution pollen profile from the profundal sediments of Litzelsee, Lake Constance region, Germany

Rösch, Manfred; Lechterbeck, Jutta

doi:10.1007/s00334-015-0552-9

Cited by 36 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(24 reference statements)

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“…Additionally, roads connecting the Rhine river valley with the Gaeu landscape northeast of the Black Forest are known from the Roman period. However, prehistoric human impact is weaker in the southeastern Black Forest than in the northern Black Forest ( Rösch , ) and much weaker than in the Lake Constance area ( Fischer et al, ; Rösch and Lechterbeck , ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land use dynamics derived from colluvial deposits and bogs in the Black Forest, Germany

Henkner

Ahlrichs

Fischer³

et al. 2017

J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci.

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The Black Forest is considered to be a rather unfavorable area, having a short vegetation period, low mean annual temperatures, high precipitation, and a pronounced relief. These conditions do not favor agricultural land use and thus it is widely accepted that people only began using the land intensively during the Middle Ages. In this integrated study 17 soil profiles, two peat bogs and a database of archaeological finds were used to reconstruct past land use impacts on the environment. AMS–14C datings of charcoals, luminescence datings of colluvial deposits, archaeological finds and pollen records indicate land use already during the Neolithic. This pre‐medieval land use might be related to seasonal settlements dominated by pastoralism and the use of wood or bedrock to build settlements and infrastructure or as energy supply. There is new evidence of human activity dating back to the Bronze and Iron Age, which is a discrepancy to the absence of archaeological finds in the direct vicinity of the studied sites. With the beginning of the Middle Ages land use practices changed, most likely with the expansion and intensification of agricultural land use, which coincides with the increasing use of natural resources in the Black Forest. Hence, the main phases of colluvial deposition date to the Middle Ages and Modern Times. Increased contents of As, Cr, Cu, Pb, or Zn in medieval colluvial deposits might indicate smelting or mining, even though there are no known archeological sites pointing to such activities nearby. Whereas the pattern of colluvial deposition in the southeastern Black Forest points to distinct, but local land use in pre‐medieval times and to intensified and widespread land use since the Middle Ages, thick and multi‐layered colluvial deposits indicate intensive land use in the neighboring Baar region since the Neolithic. The different land use patterns of these two regions originate from the rather favorable conditions for agriculture in terms of soils, climate, and topography in the Baar region compared to the unfavorable conditions in the Black Forest.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land use dynamics derived from colluvial deposits and bogs in the Black Forest, Germany

Henkner

Ahlrichs

Fischer³

et al. 2017

J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci.

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“…It may generate successional cycles that might be recognized depending on the temporal resolution of the records (e.g. Kleinmann et al 2015;Rösch and Lechterbeck 2016). Forest disruptions and land use phases were associated with increasing fire activity (Clark et al 1989;Tinner et al 2005), suggesting that fire was intensely used to gain open land and contributed to the reduction of fire sensitive trees and lianas (e.g.…”

Section: Vegetation and Fire Dynamics On The Alpine Foreland During Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vegetational and agricultural dynamics at Burgäschisee (Swiss Plateau) recorded for 18,700 years by multi-proxy evidence from partly varved sediments

Rey

Gobet

Leeuwen

et al. 2017

Veget Hist Archaeobot

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Little is known about the timing and the vegetation dynamics shortly after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) on the Swiss Plateau 19,000−15,000 cal B.P. Subsequent Late Glacial and Holocene vegetation changes are better known; however, it is unclear if the few available palynological and macrofossil records are able to capture the entire vegetation variability of the region. A new palaeoecological multiproxy study using pollen, spores, charcoal and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) from Burgäschisee (Swiss Plateau, 465 m a.s.l.) is used to reconstruct vegetation, fire and land use for the past 19,000 cal. years. Steppe tundra vegetation established at c. 18,700 cal B.P. only c. 300 years after the end of the LGM and deglaciation. A shift from steppe tundra (Artemisia, Helianthemum) to shrub tundra (Betula nana, Salix, Juniperus) with sporadic tree Betula stands occurred around 16,000 cal B.P., most likely in response to climate warming after the end of Heinrich event 1. Abundant spores of coprophilous fungi (Sporormiella, Cercophora) may reflect the presence of Pleistocene large herbivores (e.g. Mammuthus primigenius, Bison bonasus, Rangifer tarandus). Afforestation started more than 2,000 years later with Juniperus and tree Betula around 14,500 cal B.P. Mixed Betula and Pinus sylvestris forests persisted until the onset of the Holocene at 10,800 cal B.P., when mixed elm forests expanded into the region in response to climate warming. Around 8,200 cal B.P., mesophilous Fagus sylvatica and Abies alba partly replaced more heliophilous species in the forests, when climate became less continental and more moist. Pollen of Cerealia, Plantago lanceolata and other crops and weeds suggest that agricultural activities became significant during the Neolithic around 6,500 cal B.P. (4,550 cal B.C.). Archaeological findings from Neolithic pile dwellings around 5,950 cal B.P. (4,000 cal B.C.) indicate local settlements around the lake. The lake sediments are laminated for most of the last c. 6,800 years. With two independent proxies (XRF and pollen), we can demonstrate that these laminations are annual, suggesting short-term mixing of the lake water due to a more open landscape in response to land use. Our study shows that the annually laminated (varved) sediments from Burgäschisee have a great potential for high resolution multi-proxy analyses covering the past c. 6,800 years. They can provide accurate ages of cultural phases that might be compared with dendro-chronologically dated evidence from lake dwellings.

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“…According to the pollen spectra preserved by mosses from the shore of Herrenwiesersee [42], the pollen values for the statistical approaches were considered constant over the upper 28 cm at Schurmsee. A detailed description of the sample preparation and palynological analysis methods is given in Rösch and Lechterbeck [43]. The samples for the geochemical investigations were stored at −20 • C in the dark until analysis.…”

Section: Coringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prediction of Holocene Mercury Accumulation Trends by Combining Palynological and Geochemical Records of Lake Sediments (Black Forest, Germany)

et al. 2018

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Forest vegetation plays a key role in the cycling of mercury (Hg) and organic matter (OM) in terrestrial ecosystems. Litterfall has been indicated as the major transport vector of atmospheric Hg to forest soils, which is eventually transported and stored in the sediments of forest lakes. Hence, it is important to understand how changes in forest vegetation affect Hg in soil and its biogeochemical cycling in lake systems. We investigated the pollen records and the geochemical compositions of sediments from two lakes (Schurmsee and Glaswaldsee) in the Black Forest (Germany) to evaluate whether long-term shifts in forest vegetation induced by climate or land use influenced Hg accumulation in the lakes. We were particularly interested to determine whether coniferous forests were associated with a larger export of Hg to aquatic systems than deciduous forests. Principal components analysis followed by principal component regression enabled us to describe the evolution of the weight of the latent processes determining the accumulation of Hg over time. Our results emphasize that the in-lake uptake of Hg during warm climate periods, soil erosion after deforestation and emissions from mining and other human activities triggered changes in Hg accumulation during the Holocene stronger than the changes caused by forest vegetation alone. and trace element transport in several ways. First, the presence of vegetation stabilizes catchment soils and reduces the transport of particulate materials to surface waters [14]. Second, vegetation has an influence on the amount of litter that is produced, e.g., deciduous trees produce more litter than coniferous trees, which affects the trace element concentrations in the released dissolved organic matter (DOM) [15,16]. Third, vegetation and OM quality affect soil development, e.g., deciduous litter promotes the presence of invertebrates and soil mixing, which results in longer contact times between OM and soil mineral particles [17]. Fourth, differences in plant species compositions affect the interception area, which in turn affects the sequestration of atmospherically deposited trace elements [1,18]. Fifth, litter from different vegetation types decomposes at different rates, depending, e.g., on the litter chemical composition [19,20]. This affects the production of DOM and the amount of trace elements bound to each unit of OM so that more decomposed OM has higher Hg concentrations. Some studies have shown that Hg concentrations are higher in the litter of coniferous forests than deciduous forests [21,22]. In contrast, others studies have demonstrated that Hg concentrations in coniferous litter may be lower than those in deciduous litter [1,23,24], which might be due to varying conditions of atmospheric Hg concentrations or exposure. Jiskra et al.[25] indicated, with Hg isotope analyses in boreal soils, that 90% of Hg in forest soil is deposited by litter. While the vegetation acts as a short-term sink for atmospheric Hg, forest soils can be regarded as long-term sinks [26]. Drenner et a...

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Seven Millennia of human impact as reflected in a high resolution pollen profile from the profundal sediments of Litzelsee, Lake Constance region, Germany

Cited by 36 publications

References 28 publications

Land use dynamics derived from colluvial deposits and bogs in the Black Forest, Germany

Land use dynamics derived from colluvial deposits and bogs in the Black Forest, Germany

Vegetational and agricultural dynamics at Burgäschisee (Swiss Plateau) recorded for 18,700 years by multi-proxy evidence from partly varved sediments

Prediction of Holocene Mercury Accumulation Trends by Combining Palynological and Geochemical Records of Lake Sediments (Black Forest, Germany)

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