Substantial light woodland and open vegetation characterised the temperate forest biome before Homo sapiens

Elena A. Pearce; Florence Mazier; Signe Normand; Ralph Fyfe; Valérie Andrieu; Corrie Bakels; Zofia Balwierz; K Binka; Steve Boreham; Olga K. Borisova; Anna Brostrom; Beaulieu J-L de; Cunhai Gao; P Gonzalez-Samperiz; Wojciech Granoszewski; Anna Hrynowiecka; P Kolaczek; P Kunes; Donatella Magri; Małgorzata Malkiewicz; T Highall; Alice M. Milner; P Moller; Małgorzata Nita; Bożena Noryśkiewicz; Irena Agnieszka Pidek; Maurice Reille; Ann Marie Robertsson; J. Sakari Salonen; Patrick Schläfli; Jeroen Schokker; Paolo Scussolini; Vaida Šeirienė; Jaqueline Strahl; Brigitte Urban; Hanna Winter; Jens Christian Svenning

doi:10.1126/sciadv.adi9135

Substantial light woodland and open vegetation characterised the temperate forest biome before Homo sapiens

Elena A. Pearce^*, Florence Mazier, Signe Normand, Ralph Fyfe, Valérie Andrieu, Corrie Bakels, Zofia Balwierz, K Binka, Steve Boreham, Olga K. Borisova, Anna Brostrom, Beaulieu J-L de, Cunhai Gao, P Gonzalez-Samperiz, Wojciech Granoszewski, Anna Hrynowiecka, P Kolaczek, P Kunes, Donatella Magri, Małgorzata MalkiewiczT Highall, Alice M. Milner, P Moller, Małgorzata Nita, Bożena Noryśkiewicz, Irena Agnieszka Pidek, Maurice Reille, Ann Marie Robertsson, J. Sakari Salonen, Patrick Schläfli, Jeroen Schokker, Paolo Scussolini, Vaida Šeirienė, Jaqueline Strahl, Brigitte Urban, Hanna Winter, Jens Christian Svenning

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

18 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The extent of vegetation openness in past European landscapes is widely debated. In particular, the temperate forest biome has traditionally been defined as dense, closed-canopy forest; however, some argue that large herbivores maintained greater openness or even wood-pasture conditions. Here, we address this question for the Last Interglacial period (129,000–116,000 years ago), before Homo sapiens–linked megafauna declines and anthropogenic landscape transformation. We applied the vegetation reconstruction method REVEALS to 96 Last Interglacial pollen records. We found that light woodland and open vegetation represented, on average, more than 50% cover during this period. The degree of openness was highly variable and only partially linked to climatic factors, indicating the importance of natural disturbance regimes. Our results show that the temperate forest biome was historically heterogeneous rather than uniformly dense, which is consistent with the dependency of much of contemporary European biodiversity on open vegetation and light woodland.

Original language	English
Number of pages	0
Journal	Science advances
Volume	9
Issue number	45
Early online date	10 Nov 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adi9135
Publication status	Published - 10 Nov 2023

Access to Document

10.1126/sciadv.adi9135

Pearce etal 2023 ScienceAdvances Combined final submitted manuscript

Cite this

Pearce, E. A., Mazier, F., Normand, S., Fyfe, R., Andrieu, V., Bakels, C., Balwierz, Z., Binka, K., Boreham, S., Borisova, O. K., Brostrom, A., de, B. J.-L., Gao, C., Gonzalez-Samperiz, P., Granoszewski, W., Hrynowiecka, A., Kolaczek, P., Kunes, P., Magri, D., ... Svenning, J. C. (2023). Substantial light woodland and open vegetation characterised the temperate forest biome before Homo sapiens. Science advances, 9(45). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adi9135

@article{ceb49cf266214f58a24d66f0ac287c79,

title = "Substantial light woodland and open vegetation characterised the temperate forest biome before Homo sapiens",

abstract = "The extent of vegetation openness in past European landscapes is widely debated. In particular, the temperate forest biome has traditionally been defined as dense, closed-canopy forest; however, some argue that large herbivores maintained greater openness or even wood-pasture conditions. Here, we address this question for the Last Interglacial period (129,000–116,000 years ago), before Homo sapiens–linked megafauna declines and anthropogenic landscape transformation. We applied the vegetation reconstruction method REVEALS to 96 Last Interglacial pollen records. We found that light woodland and open vegetation represented, on average, more than 50% cover during this period. The degree of openness was highly variable and only partially linked to climatic factors, indicating the importance of natural disturbance regimes. Our results show that the temperate forest biome was historically heterogeneous rather than uniformly dense, which is consistent with the dependency of much of contemporary European biodiversity on open vegetation and light woodland.",

author = "Pearce, {Elena A.} and Florence Mazier and Signe Normand and Ralph Fyfe and Val{\'e}rie Andrieu and Corrie Bakels and Zofia Balwierz and K Binka and Steve Boreham and Borisova, {Olga K.} and Anna Brostrom and de, {Beaulieu J-L} and Cunhai Gao and P Gonzalez-Samperiz and Wojciech Granoszewski and Anna Hrynowiecka and P Kolaczek and P Kunes and Donatella Magri and Ma{\l}gorzata Malkiewicz and T Highall and Milner, {Alice M.} and P Moller and Ma{\l}gorzata Nita and Bo{\.z}ena Nory{\'s}kiewicz and Pidek, {Irena Agnieszka} and Maurice Reille and Robertsson, {Ann Marie} and Salonen, {J. Sakari} and Patrick Schl{\"a}fli and Jeroen Schokker and Paolo Scussolini and Vaida {\v S}eirienė and Jaqueline Strahl and Brigitte Urban and Hanna Winter and Svenning, {Jens Christian}",

year = "2023",

month = nov,

day = "10",

doi = "10.1126/sciadv.adi9135",

language = "English",

volume = "9",

journal = "Science advances",

issn = "2375-2548",

publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science",

number = "45",

}

Pearce, EA, Mazier, F, Normand, S, Fyfe, R, Andrieu, V, Bakels, C, Balwierz, Z, Binka, K, Boreham, S, Borisova, OK, Brostrom, A, de, BJ-L, Gao, C, Gonzalez-Samperiz, P, Granoszewski, W, Hrynowiecka, A, Kolaczek, P, Kunes, P, Magri, D, Malkiewicz, M, Highall, T, Milner, AM, Moller, P, Nita, M, Noryśkiewicz, B, Pidek, IA, Reille, M, Robertsson, AM, Salonen, JS, Schläfli, P, Schokker, J, Scussolini, P, Šeirienė, V, Strahl, J, Urban, B, Winter, H & Svenning, JC 2023, 'Substantial light woodland and open vegetation characterised the temperate forest biome before Homo sapiens', Science advances, vol. 9, no. 45. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adi9135

TY - JOUR

T1 - Substantial light woodland and open vegetation characterised the temperate forest biome before Homo sapiens

AU - Pearce, Elena A.

AU - Mazier, Florence

AU - Normand, Signe

AU - Fyfe, Ralph

AU - Andrieu, Valérie

AU - Bakels, Corrie

AU - Balwierz, Zofia

AU - Binka, K

AU - Boreham, Steve

AU - Borisova, Olga K.

AU - Brostrom, Anna

AU - de, Beaulieu J-L

AU - Gao, Cunhai

AU - Gonzalez-Samperiz, P

AU - Granoszewski, Wojciech

AU - Hrynowiecka, Anna

AU - Kolaczek, P

AU - Kunes, P

AU - Magri, Donatella

AU - Malkiewicz, Małgorzata

AU - Highall, T

AU - Milner, Alice M.

AU - Moller, P

AU - Nita, Małgorzata

AU - Noryśkiewicz, Bożena

AU - Pidek, Irena Agnieszka

AU - Reille, Maurice

AU - Robertsson, Ann Marie

AU - Salonen, J. Sakari

AU - Schläfli, Patrick

AU - Schokker, Jeroen

AU - Scussolini, Paolo

AU - Šeirienė, Vaida

AU - Strahl, Jaqueline

AU - Urban, Brigitte

AU - Winter, Hanna

AU - Svenning, Jens Christian

PY - 2023/11/10

Y1 - 2023/11/10

N2 - The extent of vegetation openness in past European landscapes is widely debated. In particular, the temperate forest biome has traditionally been defined as dense, closed-canopy forest; however, some argue that large herbivores maintained greater openness or even wood-pasture conditions. Here, we address this question for the Last Interglacial period (129,000–116,000 years ago), before Homo sapiens–linked megafauna declines and anthropogenic landscape transformation. We applied the vegetation reconstruction method REVEALS to 96 Last Interglacial pollen records. We found that light woodland and open vegetation represented, on average, more than 50% cover during this period. The degree of openness was highly variable and only partially linked to climatic factors, indicating the importance of natural disturbance regimes. Our results show that the temperate forest biome was historically heterogeneous rather than uniformly dense, which is consistent with the dependency of much of contemporary European biodiversity on open vegetation and light woodland.

AB - The extent of vegetation openness in past European landscapes is widely debated. In particular, the temperate forest biome has traditionally been defined as dense, closed-canopy forest; however, some argue that large herbivores maintained greater openness or even wood-pasture conditions. Here, we address this question for the Last Interglacial period (129,000–116,000 years ago), before Homo sapiens–linked megafauna declines and anthropogenic landscape transformation. We applied the vegetation reconstruction method REVEALS to 96 Last Interglacial pollen records. We found that light woodland and open vegetation represented, on average, more than 50% cover during this period. The degree of openness was highly variable and only partially linked to climatic factors, indicating the importance of natural disturbance regimes. Our results show that the temperate forest biome was historically heterogeneous rather than uniformly dense, which is consistent with the dependency of much of contemporary European biodiversity on open vegetation and light woodland.

U2 - 10.1126/sciadv.adi9135

DO - 10.1126/sciadv.adi9135

M3 - Article

SN - 2375-2548

VL - 9

JO - Science advances

JF - Science advances

IS - 45

ER -

Substantial light woodland and open vegetation characterised the temperate forest biome before Homo sapiens

Abstract

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this