Large Scale Anthropogenic Reduction of Forest Cover in Last Glacial Maximum Europe.
Reconstructions of the vegetation of Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) are an enigma. Pollen-based analyses have suggested that Europe was largely covered by steppe and tundra, and forests persisted only in small refugia. Climate-vegetation model simulations on the other hand have consist...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:432a6f8cc17c4499ab40e7b4e1401022 2023-05-15T18:40:29+02:00 Large Scale Anthropogenic Reduction of Forest Cover in Last Glacial Maximum Europe. Jed O Kaplan Mirjam Pfeiffer Jan C A Kolen Basil A S Davis 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0166726 https://doaj.org/article/432a6f8cc17c4499ab40e7b4e1401022 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5130213?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0166726 https://doaj.org/article/432a6f8cc17c4499ab40e7b4e1401022 PLoS ONE, Vol 11, Iss 11, p e0166726 (2016) Medicine R Science Q article 2016 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0166726 2022-12-31T12:42:20Z Reconstructions of the vegetation of Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) are an enigma. Pollen-based analyses have suggested that Europe was largely covered by steppe and tundra, and forests persisted only in small refugia. Climate-vegetation model simulations on the other hand have consistently suggested that broad areas of Europe would have been suitable for forest, even in the depths of the last glaciation. Here we reconcile models with data by demonstrating that the highly mobile groups of hunter-gatherers that inhabited Europe at the LGM could have substantially reduced forest cover through the ignition of wildfires. Similar to hunter-gatherers of the more recent past, Upper Paleolithic humans were masters of the use of fire, and preferred inhabiting semi-open landscapes to facilitate foraging, hunting and travel. Incorporating human agency into a dynamic vegetation-fire model and simulating forest cover shows that even small increases in wildfire frequency over natural background levels resulted in large changes in the forested area of Europe, in part because trees were already stressed by low atmospheric CO2 concentrations and the cold, dry, and highly variable climate. Our results suggest that the impact of humans on the glacial landscape of Europe may be one of the earliest large-scale anthropogenic modifications of the earth system. Article in Journal/Newspaper Tundra Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles PLOS ONE 11 11 e0166726 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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language |
English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
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Medicine R Science Q Jed O Kaplan Mirjam Pfeiffer Jan C A Kolen Basil A S Davis Large Scale Anthropogenic Reduction of Forest Cover in Last Glacial Maximum Europe. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Reconstructions of the vegetation of Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) are an enigma. Pollen-based analyses have suggested that Europe was largely covered by steppe and tundra, and forests persisted only in small refugia. Climate-vegetation model simulations on the other hand have consistently suggested that broad areas of Europe would have been suitable for forest, even in the depths of the last glaciation. Here we reconcile models with data by demonstrating that the highly mobile groups of hunter-gatherers that inhabited Europe at the LGM could have substantially reduced forest cover through the ignition of wildfires. Similar to hunter-gatherers of the more recent past, Upper Paleolithic humans were masters of the use of fire, and preferred inhabiting semi-open landscapes to facilitate foraging, hunting and travel. Incorporating human agency into a dynamic vegetation-fire model and simulating forest cover shows that even small increases in wildfire frequency over natural background levels resulted in large changes in the forested area of Europe, in part because trees were already stressed by low atmospheric CO2 concentrations and the cold, dry, and highly variable climate. Our results suggest that the impact of humans on the glacial landscape of Europe may be one of the earliest large-scale anthropogenic modifications of the earth system. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jed O Kaplan Mirjam Pfeiffer Jan C A Kolen Basil A S Davis |
author_facet |
Jed O Kaplan Mirjam Pfeiffer Jan C A Kolen Basil A S Davis |
author_sort |
Jed O Kaplan |
title |
Large Scale Anthropogenic Reduction of Forest Cover in Last Glacial Maximum Europe. |
title_short |
Large Scale Anthropogenic Reduction of Forest Cover in Last Glacial Maximum Europe. |
title_full |
Large Scale Anthropogenic Reduction of Forest Cover in Last Glacial Maximum Europe. |
title_fullStr |
Large Scale Anthropogenic Reduction of Forest Cover in Last Glacial Maximum Europe. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Large Scale Anthropogenic Reduction of Forest Cover in Last Glacial Maximum Europe. |
title_sort |
large scale anthropogenic reduction of forest cover in last glacial maximum europe. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0166726 https://doaj.org/article/432a6f8cc17c4499ab40e7b4e1401022 |
genre |
Tundra |
genre_facet |
Tundra |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 11, Iss 11, p e0166726 (2016) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5130213?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0166726 https://doaj.org/article/432a6f8cc17c4499ab40e7b4e1401022 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0166726 |
container_title |
PLOS ONE |
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11 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
e0166726 |
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1766229843767197696 |