The Last Glacial and Holocene history of mountain woodlands in the southern part of the Western Carpathians, with emphasis on the spread of Fagus sylvatica

Abstract

The Western Carpathians have recently been examined in several palaeoecological studies. However, some of their parts remain underexplored in terms of the Holocene history of mountain woodlands. We analysed an 8000-year-old peat sequence from the southern part of the Western Carpathians (the Bykovo site) for pollen, needles and stomata, and reviewed the data on the occurrence and spread of beech since the Last Glacial times in order to put results from Bykovo into the context of the whole Western Carpathians. For pre-industrial times, we reconstructed mixed beech–fir or beech–fir–spruce woodlands in zonal habitats, noble hardwood woodlands on screes, and spruce woodlands in peaty and wet habitats. A meta-analysis of available pollen data for beech revealed that a few sites in Pannonia and on the southern Carpathian fringes reached beech pollen abundances exceeding 0.5% at the very beginning of the Holocene (12–10 cal BP). Moreover, the pattern of reaching greater pollen abundance limits showed a clear south-to-north gradient starting in the Pannonian lowland. Therefore, the direction of the spread of beech based on pollen abundances and the absence of beech macrofossil evidence during the Last Glacial Maximum do not support local glacial refugia of beech directly in the Western Carpathians. The timing of local beech occurrence (empirical pollen limit of 1.4–2%) and its expansion (rational pollen limit of up to 5%) at the Bykovo site fits well this gradual spread of beech from the south. The first period of beech spread in the Bykovo area around 6250 cal BP coincides well with the period of increased precipitation between 6100 and 6800 cal BP, as reconstructed by different proxies (e.g. stable isotopes) for the Western Carpathians.

Keywords:

• Beech expansion
• climazonal woodland
• Middle Holocene
• pollen analysis
• Slovakia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The research of PH and EJ was partially supported by the long-term research development project of the Czech Academy of Sciences RVO 67985939. This study was also funded by the Czech Science Foundation (P504/17-05696S), by the Technical University in Zvolen, Slovakia (IPA TUZVO 1/2017 – MW, RH) and by project VEGA 2/0031/17.

Notes on contributors

Maroš Wiezik

ING. MAROS WIEZIK, PhD, is Pollen analyst investigating development and composition of mountain woodlands during Holocene in the Carpathian region.

All authors provided interpretations of results and participated in the preparing of the manuscript which was led by MW. MW sampled profile, made all analyses and led writing. PH prepared samples for dating.

Eva Jamrichová

RNDR. EVA JAMRICHOVÁ, PhD, is palynologist, exploring pollen-inferred landscape changes in the Carpathian- Pannonian region, especially with respect to human activities during the Holocene.

All authors provided interpretations of results and participated in the preparing of the manuscript which was led by MW. MW sampled profile, made all analyses and led writing. PH prepared samples for dating.

Petra Hájková

MGR. PETRA HÁJKOVÁ, PhD, is a mire ecologist and palaeoecologist exploring succession of mire vegetation using macrofossil analysis. She is also dealing with climate reconstructions, human induced changes in ecosystems and open landscape continuity in the Western Carpathians. She uses multi-proxy approach and transfer functions for ecosystem reconstructions and try to interconnect results from palaeoecology and mire ecology.

All authors provided interpretations of results and participated in the preparing of the manuscript which was led by MW. MW sampled profile, made all analyses and led writing. PH prepared samples for dating.

Richard Hrivnák

ING. RICHARD HRIVNÁK, PhD, is a senior researcher in Institute of Botany Slovak Academy of Sciences. His research interest is vegetation ecology of wetlands and floodplain forests.

All authors provided interpretations of results and participated in the preparing of the manuscript which was led by MW. MW sampled profile, made all analyses and led writing. PH prepared samples for dating.

František Máliš

ING. FRANTISEK MALIS, PhD, is forest vegetation ecologist investigating diversity and compositional changes of forest vegetation due to the human land use and global environmental changes.

All authors provided interpretations of results and participated in the preparing of the manuscript which was led by MW. MW sampled profile, made all analyses and led writing. PH prepared samples for dating.

Libor Petr

MGR. LIBOR PETR, PhD, is a specialist in pollen analysis and paleoecology. The main interest is research of vegetation and environmental changes in Late Pleistocene and Holocene under climatic oscillations and Human impact.

All authors provided interpretations of results and participated in the preparing of the manuscript which was led by MW. MW sampled profile, made all analyses and led writing. PH prepared samples for dating.

Vlasta Jankovská

RNDR. VLASTA JANKOVSKÁ CSc, Palaeoecologist: Pollen analyst, (Czech and Slovak Republics, - interpretations of pollenanalytical research for biologists, forestery researches, archaeologists, anthropologists etc) Pollen- and NPP analyst.: ( Arctic and sub-Arctic regions: Spitsbergen, Kola and Yamal peninsula, Polar Ural (Russia), Abisko (Sweden)Palaeoalgologist: determination and interpretation of coccal green Algae NPP- analyst.

All authors provided interpretations of results and participated in the preparing of the manuscript which was led by MW. MW sampled profile, made all analyses and led writing. PH prepared samples for dating.

Malvína Čierniková

RNDR. MALVÍNA ČIERNIKOVÁ, PhD, is a palynologist focusing on the development of the vegetation in higher altitudes in Carpathians, first evidences of human activities and she is also working with soil and plant ecology.

All authors provided interpretations of results and participated in the preparing of the manuscript which was led by MW. MW sampled profile, made all analyses and led writing. PH prepared samples for dating.

Michal Hájek

DOC. MGR. MICHAL HÁJEK, PhD, is a vegetation scientist investigating the diversity, distribution and conservation of relict habitats such as mires or species-rich grasslands, and the interconnections between historical landscape development and present diversity and distribution patterns.

All authors provided interpretations of results and participated in the preparing of the manuscript which was led by MW. MW sampled profile, made all analyses and led writing. PH prepared samples for dating.