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Spatially Continuous Land-Cover Reconstructions Through the Holocene in Southern Sweden

O’Dwyer, Robert ; Marquer, Laurent LU ; Trondman, Anna Kari and Jönsson, Anna Maria LU (2021) In Ecosystems 24(6). p.1450-1467
Abstract

Climate change and human activities influence the development of ecosystems, with human demand of ecosystem services altering both land use and land cover. Fossil pollen records provide time series of vegetation characteristics, and the aim of this study was to create spatially continuous reconstructions of land cover through the Holocene in southern Sweden. The Landscape Reconstruction Algorithm (LRA) was applied to obtain quantitative reconstructions of pollen-based vegetation cover at local scales, accounting for pollen production, dispersal, and deposition mechanisms. Pollen-based local vegetation estimates were produced from 41 fossil pollen records available for the region. A comparison of 17 interpolation methods was made and... (More)

Climate change and human activities influence the development of ecosystems, with human demand of ecosystem services altering both land use and land cover. Fossil pollen records provide time series of vegetation characteristics, and the aim of this study was to create spatially continuous reconstructions of land cover through the Holocene in southern Sweden. The Landscape Reconstruction Algorithm (LRA) was applied to obtain quantitative reconstructions of pollen-based vegetation cover at local scales, accounting for pollen production, dispersal, and deposition mechanisms. Pollen-based local vegetation estimates were produced from 41 fossil pollen records available for the region. A comparison of 17 interpolation methods was made and evaluated by comparing with current land cover. Simple kriging with cokriging using elevation was selected to interpolate the local characteristics of past land cover, to generate more detailed reconstructions of trends and degree of variability in time and space than previous studies based on pollen data representing the regional scale. Since the Mesolithic, two main processes have acted to reshape the land cover of southern Sweden, originally mostly covered by broad-leaved forests. The natural distribution limit of coniferous forest has moved southward during periods with colder climate and retracted northward during warmer periods, and human expansion in the area and agrotechnological developments has led to a gradually more open landscape, reaching maximum openness at the beginning of the 20th century. The recent intensification of agriculture has led to abandonment of less fertile agricultural fields and afforestation with conifer forest.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Ecosystem services, Fossil pollen, Interpolation methods, Land cover, Landscape Reconstruction Algorithm, Southern Sweden
in
Ecosystems
volume
24
issue
6
pages
1450 - 1467
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:85099968834
ISSN
1432-9840
DOI
10.1007/s10021-020-00594-5
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
788eabfb-e642-4d50-9cf9-bcc9cbd0db5c
date added to LUP
2021-02-08 13:38:46
date last changed
2022-04-27 00:06:37
@article{788eabfb-e642-4d50-9cf9-bcc9cbd0db5c,
  abstract     = {{<p>Climate change and human activities influence the development of ecosystems, with human demand of ecosystem services altering both land use and land cover. Fossil pollen records provide time series of vegetation characteristics, and the aim of this study was to create spatially continuous reconstructions of land cover through the Holocene in southern Sweden. The Landscape Reconstruction Algorithm (LRA) was applied to obtain quantitative reconstructions of pollen-based vegetation cover at local scales, accounting for pollen production, dispersal, and deposition mechanisms. Pollen-based local vegetation estimates were produced from 41 fossil pollen records available for the region. A comparison of 17 interpolation methods was made and evaluated by comparing with current land cover. Simple kriging with cokriging using elevation was selected to interpolate the local characteristics of past land cover, to generate more detailed reconstructions of trends and degree of variability in time and space than previous studies based on pollen data representing the regional scale. Since the Mesolithic, two main processes have acted to reshape the land cover of southern Sweden, originally mostly covered by broad-leaved forests. The natural distribution limit of coniferous forest has moved southward during periods with colder climate and retracted northward during warmer periods, and human expansion in the area and agrotechnological developments has led to a gradually more open landscape, reaching maximum openness at the beginning of the 20th century. The recent intensification of agriculture has led to abandonment of less fertile agricultural fields and afforestation with conifer forest.</p>}},
  author       = {{O’Dwyer, Robert and Marquer, Laurent and Trondman, Anna Kari and Jönsson, Anna Maria}},
  issn         = {{1432-9840}},
  keywords     = {{Ecosystem services; Fossil pollen; Interpolation methods; Land cover; Landscape Reconstruction Algorithm; Southern Sweden}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{01}},
  number       = {{6}},
  pages        = {{1450--1467}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Ecosystems}},
  title        = {{Spatially Continuous Land-Cover Reconstructions Through the Holocene in Southern Sweden}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10021-020-00594-5}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s10021-020-00594-5}},
  volume       = {{24}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}