Long-term woodland dynamics in West Glen Affric, northern Scotland

Abstract

The former woodlands west of Loch Affric are described from pollen analyses. Related records of climate change from the analysis of lake-level change and peat growth are also presented to explore the importance of climate in driving woodland change. The woodlands were more diverse than extant pinewoods to the east, with a very considerable deciduous component. They developed in the early Holocene period, and brief periods of range expansion and contraction are recorded within a pattern of overall woodland stability over thousands of years, despite the high frequency and intensity of climatic excursions, until a final collapse in all woodland communities occurred at around 4000 calibrated years ago (BP). This collapse had a climatic origin, but the precise character of the climate change is ill-defined.