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Antoine E, Marquer L, Muigg B, Tegel W, Bisson U, Bolliger M, Herzig F, Heussner KU, Hofmann J, Kontic R, Kyncl T, Land A, Lechterbeck J, Leuschner HH, Linderholm HW, Neyses-Eiden M, Rösch M, Rzepecki A, Walder F, Weidemüller J, Westphal T, Seim A. Legacy of last millennium timber use on plant cover in Central Europe: Insights from tree rings and pollen. Sci Total Environ 2024; 922:171157. [PMID: 38412879 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2023] [Revised: 02/19/2024] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 02/29/2024]
Abstract
Throughout history, humans have relied on wood for constructions, tool production or as an energy source. How and to what extent these human activities have impacted plant abundance and composition over a long-term perspective is, however, not well known. To address this knowledge gap, we combined 44,239 precisely dated tree-ring samples from economically and ecologically important tree species (spruce, fir, pine, oak) from historical buildings, and pollen-based plant cover estimates using the REVEALS model from 169 records for a total of 34 1° × 1° grid cells for Central Europe. Building activity and REVEALS estimates were compared for the entire study region (4-15°E, 46-51°N), and for low (<500 m asl) and mid/high elevations (≥500 m asl) in 100-year time windows over the period 1150-1850. Spruce and oak were more widely used in wooden constructions, amounting to 35 % and 32 %, respectively, compared to pine and fir. Besides wood properties and species abundance, tree diameters of harvested individuals, being similar for all four species, were found to be the most crucial criterion for timber selection throughout the last millennium. Regarding land use changes, from the 1150-1250's onwards, forest cover generally decreased due to deforestation until 1850, especially at lower elevations, resulting in a more heterogeneous landscape. The period 1650-1750 marks a distinct change in the environmental history of Central Europe; increasing agriculture and intense forest management practices were introduced to meet the high demands of an increasing population and intensifying industrialization, causing a decrease in palynological diversity, especially at low elevations. Likely the characteristic vegetation structure and composition of contemporary landscapes originated from that period. We further show that land use has impacted vegetation composition and diversity at an increasing speed leading to a general homogenization of landscapes through time, highlighting the limited environmental benefits of even-aged plantation forestry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma Antoine
- Department of Botany, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Laurent Marquer
- Department of Botany, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Bernhard Muigg
- Amt für Archäologie, Kanton Thurgau, Frauenfeld, Switzerland; Forest History, Institute of Forest Sciences, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Willy Tegel
- Amt für Archäologie, Kanton Thurgau, Frauenfeld, Switzerland; Forest Growth and Dendroecology, Institute of Forest Sciences, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Ugo Bisson
- Department of Botany, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Matthias Bolliger
- Archaeological Service of Canton Bern, Prehistoric- and Underwaterarchaeology, Dendrochronology, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Franz Herzig
- Bavarian State Office for Monument Protection, Thierhaupten, Germany
| | | | - Jutta Hofmann
- Jahrringlabor Hofmann und Reichle, Nürtingen, Germany
| | | | | | - Alexander Land
- University of Hohenheim, Institute of Biology (190a), Stuttgart, Germany
| | | | - Hanns Hubert Leuschner
- Department of Palynology and Climate Dynamics, Georg-August-University, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Hans W Linderholm
- University of Gothenburg, Department of Earth Sciences, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Mechthild Neyses-Eiden
- State of Rhineland-Palatinate Museum Trier, Laboratory of Dendrochronology, Trier, Germany
| | - Manfred Rösch
- Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte und Vorderasiatische Archäologie, Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Andreas Rzepecki
- State of Rhineland-Palatinate Museum Trier, Laboratory of Dendrochronology, Trier, Germany
| | - Felix Walder
- Competence Center for Underwater Archaeology and Dendrochronology, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Julia Weidemüller
- Bavarian State Office for Monument Protection, Thierhaupten, Germany
| | - Thorsten Westphal
- Laboratory of Dendroarchaeology, Department of Prehistoric Archaeology, University of Cologne, Germany
| | - Andrea Seim
- Department of Botany, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria; Forest Growth and Dendroecology, Institute of Forest Sciences, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
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Seim A, Marquer L, Bisson U, Hofmann J, Herzig F, Kontic R, Lechterbeck J, Muigg B, Neyses-Eiden M, Rzepecki A, Rösch M, Walder F, Weidemüller J, Tegel W. Historical Spruce Abundance in Central Europe: A Combined Dendrochronological and Palynological Approach. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.909453] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Spruce is the most cultivated tree species in modern forestry in Central Europe, since it has the ability to grow on many soil types with profitable biomass accumulation. However, even-aged and uniform spruce forests are affected by recurring droughts and associated biotic stressors leading to large-scale diebacks across Central Europe causing controversies among foresters and nature conservationists. We investigate the role of spruce in historical woodlands by using 15666 spruce timbers from historical buildings and on the basis of pollen-based land cover estimates using the REVEALS model from 157 pollen sites in southern Central Europe. Start and end dates of the spruce timber samples and their dendrological characteristics (age, growth rates and stem diameters) were used to obtain information on past forest structures. Tree rings and REVEALS estimates are combined at a spatial scale of 1° × 1° resolution, grouped in four sub-regions, and a temporal resolution of 100-year time windows starting from 1150 to 1850 CE. We found that spruce dominates the species assemblage of construction timber with almost 41% and that the harvest age varies little through time, whereas a declining trend in growth rates and stem diameters are observed toward times before modern forestry. Temporal and regional differences in spruce abundance and building activity were found highlighting periods of (i) land abandonment and forest expansion in the 14th century, (ii) increased wood consumption during the 16th century due to population increase and beginning industrial developments, (iii) a forest recovery during and after the Thirty years' war, and (iv) afforestation efforts from the 1650s onwards. Furthermore, this study shows that spruce was constantly present in the study area in most studied sub-regions for the last 800 years. We demonstrate the need of combining tree-ring and pollen data to identify spatiotemporal patterns in spruce abundance and utilization.
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Ljungqvist FC, Seim A, Tegel W, Krusic PJ, Baittinger C, Belingard C, Bernabei M, Bonde N, Borghaerts P, Couturier Y, Crone A, van Daalen S, Daly A, Doeve P, Domínguez-Delmás M, Edouard JL, Frank T, Ginzler C, Grabner M, Gschwind FM, Haneca K, Hansson A, Herzig F, Heussner KU, Hofmann J, Houbrechts D, Kaczka RJ, Kolář T, Kontic R, Kyncl T, Labbas V, Lagerås P, Le Digol Y, Le Roy M, Leuschner HH, Linderson H, Ludlow F, Marais A, Mills CM, Neyses-Eiden M, Nicolussi K, Perrault C, Pfeifer K, Rybníček M, Rzepecki A, Schmidhalter M, Seifert M, Shindo L, Spyt B, Susperregi J, Svarva HL, Thun T, Walder F, Ważny T, Werthe E, Westphal T, Wilson R, Büntgen U. Regional Patterns of Late Medieval and Early Modern European Building Activity Revealed by Felling Dates. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.825751] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Although variations in building activity are a useful indicator of societal well-being and demographic development, historical datasets for larger regions and longer periods are still rare. Here, we present 54,045 annually precise dendrochronological felling dates from historical construction timber from across most of Europe between 1250 and 1699 CE to infer variations in building activity. We use geostatistical techniques to compare spatiotemporal dynamics in past European building activity against independent demographic, economic, social and climatic data. We show that the felling dates capture major geographical patterns of demographic trends, especially in regions with dense data coverage. A particularly strong negative association is found between grain prices and the number of felling dates. In addition, a significant positive association is found between the number of felling dates and mining activity. These strong associations, with well-known macro-economic indicators from pre-industrial Europe, corroborate the use of felling dates as an independent source for exploring large-scale fluctuations of societal well-being and demographic development. Three prominent examples are the building boom in the Hanseatic League region of northeastern Germany during the 13th century, the onset of the Late Medieval Crisis in much of Europe c. 1300, and the cessation of building activity in large parts of central Europe during armed conflicts such as the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648 CE). Despite new insights gained from our European-wide felling date inventory, further studies are needed to investigate changes in construction activity of high versus low status buildings, and of urban versus rural buildings, and to compare those results with a variety of historical documentary sources and natural proxy archives.
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