My interest in palaeoecology, vegetation dynamics, fire history and human impact on terrestrial ecosystems mainly concerns the interpretation of long-term disturbances (causes/consequences) and the possible connection to the ongoing climate change.
I have previous experience in the analysis of Holocene pollen and charcoal samples from peat bogs, mires and soils. I’m also skilled at sedimentological laboratory analyses, at the interpretation of palaeomagnetic data, at various analytical techniques and at stratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental interpretations. I have some knowledge in statistical analysis and in programming using R.
My present research at the Lund University Centre for Studies of Carbon Cycle and Climate Interaction (LUCCI, http://www.lucci.lu.se/) is mainly focused on the reconstruction of global/regional biomass burning over the Holocene based on sedimentary charcoal records. The most important aim is to better understand past fire history and environmental dynamics in order to use palaeo-data for validating dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) designed to project potential future responses to climate, vegetation and anthropogenic land-cover variations. More in detail, I’m trying to compare palaeodata from pollen and charcoal to vegetation and fire-indices simulated with LPJ-GUESS (a DGVM developed by researchers from Lund University (Sweden), from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (Germany), the Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (Germany) and from a number of other institutes).
Due to multiple interactive factors influencing fire patterns (such as atmosphere–climate–fire–vegetation feedbacks at continental/regional scales and fire–vegetation–soil–land use feedbacks at local scales), driving forces of biomass burning are still highly uncertain. I’m firmly convinced that palaeoecological reconstructions can provide an important source of information about how our climate system actually works and that the assessment of the effect of fire regime during the past will give us important information to help predicting what might happen in the future.
Publications
Displaying of publications. Sorted by year, then title.
Factors influencing late-Holocene vegetation dynamics and biodiversity on Hallands Väderö, SW Sweden : A statistical evaluation
Gina E. Hannon, Chiara Molinari, Richard H.W. Bradshaw
(2022) Holocene, 32 p.1317-1326
Journal articleFire Dynamics in Boreal Forests Over the 20th Century : A Data-Model Comparison
Chiara Molinari, Stijn Hantson, Lars Peter Nieradzik
(2021) Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9
Journal articleVegetation dynamics and Fire History in Färnebofjärden National Park, Central Sweden
Gina E. Hannon, Karen Halsall, Chiara Molinari, Erin Stoll, Diana Lilley, et al.
(2021) The Holocene, 31 p.28-37
Journal articleClimate and vegetation dynamics of the Northern Apennines (Italy) during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene
Maria Angela Guido, Chiara Molinari, Valentina Moneta, Nicholas Branch, Stuart Black, et al.
(2020) Quaternary Science Reviews, 231 p.1-17
Journal articleRole of vegetation on fire contribution behaviour in Fennoscandia forests during the Holocene
Chiara Molinari, Richard Bradshaw, Christopher Carcaillet, Gina E. Hannon, Veiko Lehsten
(2020)
Conference paper: abstractThe environment they lived in: anthropogenic changes in local and regional vegetation composition in eastern Fennoscandia during the Neolithic
Teija Alenius, Laurent Marquer, Chiara Molinari, Maija Heikkilä, Antti Ojala
(2020) Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 30 p.489-506
Journal articleFire-vegetation interactions during the last 11,000 years in boreal and cold temperate forests of Fennoscandia
Chiara Molinari, Christopher Carcaillet, Richard Bradshaw, Gina E. Hannon, Veiko Lehsten
(2020) Quaternary Science Reviews, 241
Journal articleThe disappearance of cultural landscapes: the case of wooded-meadows in the Ligurian Apennines (NW Italy)
Chiara Molinari, Carlo Montanari
(2018) Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica, 9 p.157-167
Journal articleThe reconstruction of past forest dynamics over the last 13,500 years in SW Sweden
Gina E. Hannon, Karen Halsall, Chiara Molinari, John Boyle, Richard Bradshaw
(2018) The Holocene, 28 p.1791-1800
Journal articleThe role of climate, forest fires and human population size in Holocene vegetation dynamics in Fennoscandia
Niina Kuosmanen, Laurent Marquer, Miikka Tallavaara, Chiara Molinari, Yurui Zhang, et al.
(2018) Journal of Vegetation Science, 29 p.382-392
Journal articleThe climate, the fuel and the land use: long-term regional variability of biomass burning in boreal forests
Chiara Molinari, Veiko Lehsten, Olivier Blarquez, Christopher Carcaillet, Basil A.S. Davis, et al.
(2018) Global Change Biology, 24 p.4929-4945
Journal articleThe disappearance of cultural landscapes: the case of wooded-meadows in the Ligurian Apennines (NW Italy)
Chiara Molinari, Carlo Montanari
(2018) CEA2018 Abstract Books , p.51-54
Conference paperBoreal forests fires: climate–vegetation–human interactions during the Holocene
Chiara Molinari, Veiko Lehsten, Olivier Blarquez, Jennifer Clear, Christopher Carcaillet, et al.
(2017) , p.97-97
Conference paper: abstractInterdisciplinary approach for reconstructing an alder-based historical agricultural practice of the Eastern Ligurian Apennines (NW Italy)
Chiara Molinari, Carlo Montanari
(2016) Environmental Archaeology, 21 p.31-44
Journal articleMain dynamics and drivers of boreal forest fire regimes during the Holocene
Chiara Molinari, Veiko Lehsten, Olivier Blarquez, Jennifer Clear, Christopher Carcaillet, et al.
(2015) Geophysical Research Abstract, 17 p.428-428
Conference paper: abstractHolocene fire dynamics in Fennoscandia
Jennifer Clear, Heikki Seppa, Niina Kuosmanen, Chiara Molinari, Veiko Lehsten, et al.
(2015)
Conference paper: abstractHolocene fire in Fennoscandia and Denmark
Jennifer Clear, Chiara Molinari, Richard Bradshaw
(2014) International Journal of Wildland Fire, 23 p.781-789
Journal articleInsediamenti e risorse dell’allevamento nell’Appennino Ligure (XVII-XX secolo)
Chiara Molinari, Anna Maria Stagno
(2014) Antichi pastori: sopravvivenze, tradizione orale, storia, tracce nel paesaggio e archeologia, 1 p.9-30
Book chapterExploring potential drivers of European biomass burning over the Holocene: a data-model analysis
Chiara Molinari, Veiko Lehsten, Richard H. W. Bradshaw, Mitchell J. Power, Peter Harmand, et al.
(2013) Global Ecology and Biogeography, 22 p.1248-1260
Journal articleExploring climatic and anthropogenic controls on Holocene biomass burning based on sedimentary charcoal data and process-based modelling
Chiara Molinari
(2012) Quaternary International, 280 p.332-332
Conference paper: abstractA data-model analysis for the identification of potential drivers of European fire activity over the last 9000 years
Chiara Molinari, Veiko Lehsten, Richard Bradshaw, Mitchell Power, Almut Arneth, et al.
(2012) Japanese Journal of Palynology, 58 p.155-156
Conference paper: abstractExploring the combined role of climate and human controls on Holocene biomass burning based on a synthesis of European sedimentary charcoal data
Chiara Molinari, Mitchell Power, Richard Bradshaw, Almut Arneth, Martin Sykes
(2011) Bollettino dei Musei e degli Istituti Biologici dell‘Università di Genova, 73 p.214-214
Conference paper: abstractOrti e castagneti terrazzati dell’Alta Valle Sturla
Chiara Molinari, Anna Maria Stagno
(2010) Paesaggi Rurali Storici. Per un Catalogo Nazionale / Historical Rural Landscape. For a National Register, 1 p.189-191
Book chapterPour une archéologie des ressources de l’environnement de montagne : l’apport de la microanalyse historique et géographique du site
Chiara Molinari, Diego Moreno, Carlo Montanari, Anna Maria Stagno
(2010) Archéologie de la montagne européenne, 06 p.75-83
Book chapterThe historical ecology of Ligurian chestnut groves : archival documentation and field evidence
Roberta Cevasco, Bruna Ilde Menozzi, Chiara Molinari, Diego Moreno, Claudia Vaccarezza, et al.
(2010) Acta Horticulturae, 866 p.43-50
Conference paperMicroanalysis in Woodland Historical Ecology. Evidences of past leaf fodder production in NW Apennines (Italy)
Chiara Molinari, Roberta Cevasco
(2009) Woodland Cultures in Time and Space: tales from the past, messages for the future , p.147-153
Book chapterStudio dell’evoluzione di una foresta semi-naturale situata sull’isola di Hallands Väderö, Svezia meridionale
Chiara Molinari, Gina Hannon, Richard Bradshaw, Matts Lindbladh
(2006) Informatore Botanico Italiano, 38 p.85-89
Journal articleLong-term vegetation history of a Picea abies stand in south-western Norway : implications for the conservation of biological values
Chiara Molinari, Richard Bradshaw, Ole Risbøl, Marit Lie, Mikael Ohlson
(2005) Biological Conservation, 126 p.155-165
Journal article