Reconstruction of Holocene high-altitude vegetation cover in the French southern Alps: evidence from soil charcoal
The study presented here from the southern French Alps demonstrates the reliability of soil charcoal analysis for the study of Holocene past treeline positions. The occurrence of charcoal in mineral soils along transects from 1950 m up to 2920 m demonstrates the role of fire in the establishment of...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683609348842 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0959683609348842 |
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crsagepubl:10.1177/0959683609348842 2024-05-12T08:12:08+00:00 Reconstruction of Holocene high-altitude vegetation cover in the French southern Alps: evidence from soil charcoal Talon, Brigitte 2010 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683609348842 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0959683609348842 en eng SAGE Publications http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license The Holocene volume 20, issue 1, page 35-44 ISSN 0959-6836 1477-0911 Paleontology Earth-Surface Processes Ecology Archeology Global and Planetary Change journal-article 2010 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683609348842 2024-04-18T08:34:05Z The study presented here from the southern French Alps demonstrates the reliability of soil charcoal analysis for the study of Holocene past treeline positions. The occurrence of charcoal in mineral soils along transects from 1950 m up to 2920 m demonstrates the role of fire in the establishment of the present vegetation patterns. The abrupt decrease of charcoal concentration at about 2400—2600 m (which varies across the study sites) corresponds to the modern transition between subalpine forest and alpine tundra. Charcoal particles formed in situ provide high spatial-resolution data for the reconstruction of past forest and treeline changes. Soil charcoal analysis indicated that: (1) treeline was 300 m higher around 6800 cal. BP than today; and (2) the uppermost forest belt up to 2810 m was colonized by larch ( Larix decidua Mill.) and arolla pine ( Pinus cembra L.). This pine is present today but patchily distributed: it is absent from the three areas studied. Radiocarbon dates, ranging from c. 6800 cal. BP to the modern period, along with historical and archaeological data, suggest that the present pattern of the uppermost forest belt, and the patchy distribution of arolla pine in the studied area are the results of anthropogenic fire (mainly agropastoral activities). The question of global warming consequences on treelines in this part of the French Alps is discussed. Article in Journal/Newspaper Tundra SAGE Publications The Holocene 20 1 35 44 |
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SAGE Publications |
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crsagepubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Paleontology Earth-Surface Processes Ecology Archeology Global and Planetary Change |
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Paleontology Earth-Surface Processes Ecology Archeology Global and Planetary Change Talon, Brigitte Reconstruction of Holocene high-altitude vegetation cover in the French southern Alps: evidence from soil charcoal |
topic_facet |
Paleontology Earth-Surface Processes Ecology Archeology Global and Planetary Change |
description |
The study presented here from the southern French Alps demonstrates the reliability of soil charcoal analysis for the study of Holocene past treeline positions. The occurrence of charcoal in mineral soils along transects from 1950 m up to 2920 m demonstrates the role of fire in the establishment of the present vegetation patterns. The abrupt decrease of charcoal concentration at about 2400—2600 m (which varies across the study sites) corresponds to the modern transition between subalpine forest and alpine tundra. Charcoal particles formed in situ provide high spatial-resolution data for the reconstruction of past forest and treeline changes. Soil charcoal analysis indicated that: (1) treeline was 300 m higher around 6800 cal. BP than today; and (2) the uppermost forest belt up to 2810 m was colonized by larch ( Larix decidua Mill.) and arolla pine ( Pinus cembra L.). This pine is present today but patchily distributed: it is absent from the three areas studied. Radiocarbon dates, ranging from c. 6800 cal. BP to the modern period, along with historical and archaeological data, suggest that the present pattern of the uppermost forest belt, and the patchy distribution of arolla pine in the studied area are the results of anthropogenic fire (mainly agropastoral activities). The question of global warming consequences on treelines in this part of the French Alps is discussed. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Talon, Brigitte |
author_facet |
Talon, Brigitte |
author_sort |
Talon, Brigitte |
title |
Reconstruction of Holocene high-altitude vegetation cover in the French southern Alps: evidence from soil charcoal |
title_short |
Reconstruction of Holocene high-altitude vegetation cover in the French southern Alps: evidence from soil charcoal |
title_full |
Reconstruction of Holocene high-altitude vegetation cover in the French southern Alps: evidence from soil charcoal |
title_fullStr |
Reconstruction of Holocene high-altitude vegetation cover in the French southern Alps: evidence from soil charcoal |
title_full_unstemmed |
Reconstruction of Holocene high-altitude vegetation cover in the French southern Alps: evidence from soil charcoal |
title_sort |
reconstruction of holocene high-altitude vegetation cover in the french southern alps: evidence from soil charcoal |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683609348842 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0959683609348842 |
genre |
Tundra |
genre_facet |
Tundra |
op_source |
The Holocene volume 20, issue 1, page 35-44 ISSN 0959-6836 1477-0911 |
op_rights |
http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683609348842 |
container_title |
The Holocene |
container_volume |
20 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
35 |
op_container_end_page |
44 |
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1798834427293335552 |