Human impact on vegetation in the White Mountains of Crete since AD 500

Abstract

Analysis of the pollen assemblages found in two peat cores taken from a bog near Asi Gonia in the White Mountains suggests a close correlation between the changes observed in the pollen spectra and the historic fluctuations in the demographic, political and cultural affairs of the island of Crete. Some changes in the vegetation may be due to small climatic changes but these were only observable indirectly in increased or released exploitation pressure on the vegetation or changes in land use. The first major decrease in woodland cover occurred in the Second Byzantine period. More open vegetation types expanded in late Venetian times and have remained significant components of the landscape, but there has been a regeneration of woodland cover in the last century. Vegetation changes are interpreted in terms of shifts along a continuum from woodland at one end to open garigue or steppe at the other. Conventional models of cyclical or progressive changes in vegetation are of limited application here, as many key species may be found in different growth forms in different habitats.