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The Holocene vegetation cover of Britain and Ireland: overcoming problems of scale and discerning patterns of openness

The Holocene vegetation cover of Britain and Ireland: overcoming problems of scale and discerning patterns of openness
The Holocene vegetation cover of Britain and Ireland: overcoming problems of scale and discerning patterns of openness
The vegetation of Europe has undergone substantial changes during the course of the Holocene epoch, resulting from range expansion of plants following climate amelioration, competition between taxa and disturbance through anthropogenic activities. Much of the detail of this pattern is understood from decades of pollen analytical work across Europe, and this understanding has been used to address questions relating to vegetation-climate feedback, biogeography and human impact. Recent advances in modelling the relationship between pollen and vegetation now make it possible to transform pollen proportions into estimates of vegetation cover at both regional and local spatial scales, using the Landscape Reconstruction Algorithm (LRA), i.e. the REVEALS (Regional Estimates of VEgetation Abundance from Large Sites) and the LOVE (LOcal VEgetation) models. This paper presents the compilation and analysis of 73 pollen stratigraphies from the British Isles, to assess the application of the LRA and describe the pattern of landscape/woodland openness (i.e. the cover of low herb and bushy vegetation) through the Holocene. The results show that multiple small sites can be used as an effective replacement for a single large site for the reconstruction of regional vegetation cover. The REVEALS vegetation estimates imply that the British Isles had a greater degree of landscape/woodland openness at the regional scale than areas on the European mainland. There is considerable spatial bias in the British Isles dataset towards wetland areas and uplands, which may explain higher estimates of landscape openness compared with Europe. Where multiple estimates of regional vegetation are available from within the same region inter-regional differences are greater than intra-regional differences, supporting the use of the REVEALS model to the estimation of regional vegetation from pollen data.
Pollen analysis, British Isles, Vegetation, Landscape openness, REVEALS, Holocene
0277-3791
132-148
Fyfe, Ralph M.
91c7da84-7116-4ad2-ab40-6d6035a4a08a
Twiddle, Claire
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Sugita, Shinya
d959ef80-682e-4846-ae7a-1293317a398f
Gaillard, Marie-José
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Barratt, Philip
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Caseldine, Christopher J.
b53500f1-aec2-42e1-b8df-17169fe34fdb
Dodson, John
6840acad-0caa-4979-acad-112dc03f01a6
Edwards, Kevin J.
d0bb3ae4-3ccd-4e3b-89c5-ad49e0f9299e
Farrell, Michelle
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Froyd, Cynthia
f819258e-c81d-4f33-a309-7443cb146100
Grant, Michael J.
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Huckerby, Elizabeth
128d6560-33e5-438d-895b-84a9669c1e97
Innes, James B.
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Shaw, Helen
6f641bfb-8681-498e-abe1-cd08b83c8a06
Waller, Martyn
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Fyfe, Ralph M.
91c7da84-7116-4ad2-ab40-6d6035a4a08a
Twiddle, Claire
c785b76a-8073-4f2d-b614-d1ba8943c1ab
Sugita, Shinya
d959ef80-682e-4846-ae7a-1293317a398f
Gaillard, Marie-José
f48814fe-a09b-44c3-98a7-a72c3dd16d96
Barratt, Philip
c8ccc9da-2882-492c-a372-7d0442390f97
Caseldine, Christopher J.
b53500f1-aec2-42e1-b8df-17169fe34fdb
Dodson, John
6840acad-0caa-4979-acad-112dc03f01a6
Edwards, Kevin J.
d0bb3ae4-3ccd-4e3b-89c5-ad49e0f9299e
Farrell, Michelle
6f7f6721-dac5-485a-8675-ee3011ed94c5
Froyd, Cynthia
f819258e-c81d-4f33-a309-7443cb146100
Grant, Michael J.
56dae074-d54a-4da8-858a-2bf364a5a550
Huckerby, Elizabeth
128d6560-33e5-438d-895b-84a9669c1e97
Innes, James B.
098a6d57-7115-4331-b429-720207088849
Shaw, Helen
6f641bfb-8681-498e-abe1-cd08b83c8a06
Waller, Martyn
502455b4-1de8-4341-9907-dc719772c7df

Fyfe, Ralph M., Twiddle, Claire, Sugita, Shinya, Gaillard, Marie-José, Barratt, Philip, Caseldine, Christopher J., Dodson, John, Edwards, Kevin J., Farrell, Michelle, Froyd, Cynthia, Grant, Michael J., Huckerby, Elizabeth, Innes, James B., Shaw, Helen and Waller, Martyn (2013) The Holocene vegetation cover of Britain and Ireland: overcoming problems of scale and discerning patterns of openness. Quaternary Science Reviews, 73, 132-148. (doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.05.014).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The vegetation of Europe has undergone substantial changes during the course of the Holocene epoch, resulting from range expansion of plants following climate amelioration, competition between taxa and disturbance through anthropogenic activities. Much of the detail of this pattern is understood from decades of pollen analytical work across Europe, and this understanding has been used to address questions relating to vegetation-climate feedback, biogeography and human impact. Recent advances in modelling the relationship between pollen and vegetation now make it possible to transform pollen proportions into estimates of vegetation cover at both regional and local spatial scales, using the Landscape Reconstruction Algorithm (LRA), i.e. the REVEALS (Regional Estimates of VEgetation Abundance from Large Sites) and the LOVE (LOcal VEgetation) models. This paper presents the compilation and analysis of 73 pollen stratigraphies from the British Isles, to assess the application of the LRA and describe the pattern of landscape/woodland openness (i.e. the cover of low herb and bushy vegetation) through the Holocene. The results show that multiple small sites can be used as an effective replacement for a single large site for the reconstruction of regional vegetation cover. The REVEALS vegetation estimates imply that the British Isles had a greater degree of landscape/woodland openness at the regional scale than areas on the European mainland. There is considerable spatial bias in the British Isles dataset towards wetland areas and uplands, which may explain higher estimates of landscape openness compared with Europe. Where multiple estimates of regional vegetation are available from within the same region inter-regional differences are greater than intra-regional differences, supporting the use of the REVEALS model to the estimation of regional vegetation from pollen data.

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Published date: 1 August 2013
Keywords: Pollen analysis, British Isles, Vegetation, Landscape openness, REVEALS, Holocene
Organisations: Geology & Geophysics

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 355810
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/355810
ISSN: 0277-3791
PURE UUID: ce309f8a-17d4-46e8-bdce-1b91d6a2a269
ORCID for Michael J. Grant: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-4766-6913

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Date deposited: 15 Aug 2013 09:15
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:49

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Contributors

Author: Ralph M. Fyfe
Author: Claire Twiddle
Author: Shinya Sugita
Author: Marie-José Gaillard
Author: Philip Barratt
Author: Christopher J. Caseldine
Author: John Dodson
Author: Kevin J. Edwards
Author: Michelle Farrell
Author: Cynthia Froyd
Author: Elizabeth Huckerby
Author: James B. Innes
Author: Helen Shaw
Author: Martyn Waller

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