PT Unknown
AU Robin, V
TI Reconstruction of fire and forest history on several investigation sites in Germany, based on long and short-term investigations - Multiproxy approaches contributing to naturalness assessment on a local scale
PY 2011
PU Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
WP https://macau.uni-kiel.de/receive/diss_mods_00007455
LA en
DE Forest naturalness; multiproxy; temporal and spatial scales; environmental changes; human impact; tree ring analysis; forest characterization; soil charcoal analysis; peat macro-charcoal analysis; Natürlichkeit; zeitliche und räumliche Skalen; Umweltveränderungen; menschlicher Einfluss; Baumring-Analyse; Waldcharakterisierung; Boden-Holzkohle-Analyse; Torf-Holzkohle-Analyse
AB Considering two global observations in Central Europe of, firstly, the need for, and development of, sustainable and biological conservation practices for forest and/or woodland areas and, secondly, the lack of long-term fire history, an attempt has been made to reconstruct the fire and the forest history at several investigation sites in Germany. The overall data set gathered and analyzed has been used for on-site naturalness assessment. This latter notion is crucial for forest system conservation/restoration planning, considering the past human impact on forest dynamics. Also, in view of this past human impact on forest systems, which is well documented for Central Europe, as occurring on a multi-millennium scale, an historical perspective perceptive that combined a long and short temporal scale of investigation was used. 
Nine investigation sites were selected, in order to include various and representative types of Central European forest. Therefore, the investigation sites were located in two main investigation areas. One is in Northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein) and includes four investigation sites. The other is in Central Germany (Harz Mountains) and includes five investigation sites. Four main approaches were used. To assess the current state of the investigated site, forest stand characterization was undertaken (i.e. based on various forest attributes that concern stand structure and composition). Tree ring series were analyzed to provide insights about short-term forest tree population dynamics. Then, charcoal records from soil (combined with soil analysis) and peat sequences were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed. These last two approaches also provide information about the past fire history. 
Forest current and short-term dynamics illustrated various levels of stand complexity, often corresponding to various levels of human impact that had been postulated. Eight mean site tree-ring chronologies, standardized in high and mid-frequency signal, spanning at a maximum of up to AD 1744 and at a minimum of up to AD 1923, were obtained. The insight, about the identification of events of growing changes and the correlated temporal and, if possible, spatial patterns, was discussed. Charcoal analysis provided a long term insight about fire history. Based on 71 charcoal radiocarbon dates, it was shown on a macro-scale that there were two phases that had a greater frequency of fire - one during the transition from the late Pleistocene to the early Holocene, and one during the mid- and late Holocene. A strong human control during the most recent fire phase has been postulated. This is supported by on-site soil and peat charcoal record analysis, allowing one to point out the event of environmental changes (disturbances), at local scales. In the end, the on-site data from the various indicators were combined to assess the fire and forest history and the naturalness level of the investigated sites, based on past insights, thereby contributing to a better understanding of the present and helping to anticipate the future.
PI Kiel
ER