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Anne Birgitte Nielsen

Anne Nielsen

Project coordinator

Anne Birgitte Nielsen

Long-term forest dynamics at Gribskov, eastern Denmark with early-Holocene evidence for thermophilous broadleaved tree species

Author

  • Mette Venas Overballe-Petersen
  • Anne Birgitte Nielsen
  • Gina E. Hannon
  • Karen Halsall
  • Richard H. W. Bradshaw

Summary, in English

We report on a full-Holocene pollen, charcoal and macrofossil record from a small forest hollow in Gribskov, eastern Denmark. The Fagus sylvatica pollen record suggests the establishment of a small Fagus population at Gribskov in the early Holocene together with early establishment of other thermophilous broadleaved trees, including Quercus sp., Tilia sp. and Ulmus sp. The macrofossils contribute to the vegetation reconstruction with evidence for local presence of species with low pollen productivity or easily degraded pollen types such as Populus. The charcoal record shows frequent burning during two periods of the early Holocene and from c. 3000 cal. BP to present. The early-Holocene part of the record indicates a highly disturbed forest ecosystem with frequent fires and abundant macrofossils of particularly Betula sp. and Populus sp. The sediment stratigraphy and age-depth relationships give no clear indication of post-depositional disturbance, although a possible short-lived hiatus occurs around 6500 cal. BP. The early pollen record from thermophilous trees could indicate that there may have been some downwash following sediment desiccation through wood peat layers deposited between c. 6500 and 10,000 cal. BP, but the overall biostratigraphy is consistent with other Danish small hollow records.

Department/s

  • Quaternary Sciences
  • BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate

Publishing year

2013

Language

English

Pages

243-254

Publication/Series

The Holocene

Volume

23

Issue

2

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Topic

  • Geology

Keywords

  • broadleaved trees
  • charcoal
  • Denmark
  • forest history
  • macrofossils
  • pollen analysis

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0959-6836