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Vegetation and fire history of coastal north-eastern Sardinia (Italy) under changing Holocene climates and land use

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Abstract

Little is known about the vegetation and fire history of Sardinia, and especially the long-term history of the thermo-Mediterranean belt that encompasses its entire coastal lowlands. A new sedimentary record from a coastal lake based on pollen, spores, macrofossils and microscopic charcoal analysis is used to reconstruct the vegetation and fire history in north-eastern Sardinia. During the mid-Holocene (c. 8,100–5,300 cal bp), the vegetation around Stagno di Sa Curcurica was characterised by dense Erica scoparia and E. arborea stands, which were favoured by high fire activity. Fire incidence declined and evergreen broadleaved forests of Quercus ilex expanded at the beginning of the late Holocene. We relate the observed vegetation and fire dynamics to climatic change, specifically moister and cooler summers and drier and milder winters after 5,300 cal bp. Agricultural activities occurred since the Neolithic and intensified after c. 7,000 cal bp. Around 2,750 cal bp, a further decline of fire incidence and Erica communities occurred, while Quercus ilex expanded and open-land communities became more abundant. This vegetation shift coincided with the historically documented beginning of Phoenician period, which was followed by Punic and Roman civilizations in Sardinia. The vegetational change at around 2,750 cal bp was possibly advantaged by a further shift to moister and cooler summers and drier and milder winters. Triggers for climate changes at 5,300 and 2,750 cal bp may have been gradual, orbitally-induced changes in summer and winter insolation, as well as centennial-scale atmospheric reorganizations. Open evergreen broadleaved forests persisted until the twentieth century, when they were partly substituted by widespread artificial pine plantations. Our results imply that highly flammable Erica vegetation, as reconstructed for the mid-Holocene, could re-emerge as a dominant vegetation type due to increasing drought and fire, as anticipated under global change conditions.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Willi Tanner for the field work, Massimo D’Angelo for helping with coring permits, Florencia Oberli for the laboratory instructions, Kathrin Studer for her help with the determination of morphological differences between Erica scoparia and E. arborea macrofossils, Andy Lotter for inspirational discussions and two anonymous reviewers for their very valuable suggestions. This study was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF 200021_134616/1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, 3013, Bern, Switzerland

    Giorgia Beffa, Tiziana Pedrotta, Daniele Colombaroli, Paul D. Henne, Jacqueline F. N. van Leeuwen, Pascal Süsstrunk, Petra Kaltenrieder, Carole Adolf, Erika Gobet & Willy Tinner

  2. Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Falkenplatz 16, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Giorgia Beffa, Tiziana Pedrotta, Daniele Colombaroli, Paul D. Henne, Jacqueline F. N. van Leeuwen, Pascal Süsstrunk, Petra Kaltenrieder, Carole Adolf, Hendrik Vogel, Flavio S. Anselmetti, Erika Gobet & Willy Tinner

  3. Institute of Geological Sciences, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 1, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Hendrik Vogel & Flavio S. Anselmetti

  4. Institute of Biosciences and BioResources (IBBR), Division of Palermo, National Research Council (CNR), Corso Calatafimi, 414, 90129, Palermo (PA), Italy

    Salvatore Pasta

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  1. Giorgia Beffa
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giorgia Beffa.

Additional information

Communicated by J.-L. de Beaulieu.

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Beffa, G., Pedrotta, T., Colombaroli, D. et al. Vegetation and fire history of coastal north-eastern Sardinia (Italy) under changing Holocene climates and land use. Veget Hist Archaeobot 25, 271–289 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-015-0548-5

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