Synthesis of palaeoecological data from the Polish Lowlands suggests heterogeneous patterns of old-growth forest loss after the Migration Period.

ABSTRACT: Human impact on Central European forests dates back thousands of years. In this study we reanalyzed 36 published pollen data sets with robust chronologies from Polish Lowlands to determine the patterns of large-scale forest decline after the Migration Period (fourth to sixth century CE). The study revealed substantial heterogeneity in the old-growth forest decline patterns. Using new high-resolution studies, we could better understand the timing of this transition related to increasing economic development. After the Migration Period, forest expansion continued until the seventh to ninth centuries cal. CE, when the dawn of Slavic culture resulted in large-scale forest decline, especially in north-western and north-central Poland. Later, forest decline was recorded mainly in north-eastern P

SUBMITTER: Czerwinski S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9122992 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature