Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/1310
Appears in Collections:Biological and Environmental Sciences Journal Articles
Peer Review Status: Refereed
Title: Prehistoric Pinus woodland dynamics in an upland landscape in northern Scotland: the roles of climate change and human impact
Author(s): Tipping, Richard
Ashmore, Patrick
Davies, Althea
Haggart, B Andrew
Moir, Andrew
Newton, Anthony
Sands, Robert
Skinner, Theo
Tisdall, Eileen
Contact Email: rt1@stir.ac.uk
Keywords: Pinus sylvestris
pollen analysis
climate change
human activity
Scotland
Paleoclimatology Scotland
Scots pine Scotland
Forest decline Scotland
Climatic changes Scotland
Scotland Antiquities
Issue Date: May-2008
Date Deposited: 11-Jun-2009
Citation: Tipping R, Ashmore P, Davies A, Haggart BA, Moir A, Newton A, Sands R, Skinner T & Tisdall E (2008) Prehistoric Pinus woodland dynamics in an upland landscape in northern Scotland: the roles of climate change and human impact. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 17 (3), pp. 251-267. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-007-0120-z
Abstract: Pollen, microscopic charcoal, palaeohydrological and dendrochronological analyses are applied to a radiocarbon and tephrochronologically dated mid Holocene (ca. 8500–3000 cal B.P.) peat sequence with abundant fossil Pinus (pine) wood. The Pinus populations on peat fluctuated considerably over the period in question. Colonisation by Pinus from ca. 7900–7600 cal B.P. appears to have had no specific environmental trigger; it was probably determined by the rate of migration from particular populations. The second phase, at ca. 5000–4400 cal B.P., was facilitated by anthropogenic interference that reduced competition from other trees. The pollen record shows two Pinus declines. The first at ca. 6200–5500 cal B.P. was caused by a series of rapid and frequent climatic shifts. The second, the so-called pine decline, was very gradual (ca. 4200–3300 cal B.P.) at Loch Farlary and may not have been related to climate change as is often supposed. Low intensity but sustained grazing pressures were more important. Throughout the mid Holocene, the frequency and intensity of burning in these open Pinus–Calluna woods were probably highly sensitive to hydrological (climatic) change. Axe marks on several trees are related to the mid to late Bronze Age, i.e., long after the trees had died.
DOI Link: 10.1007/s00334-007-0120-z
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