Impacts of climate and humans on the vegetation in northwestern Turkey: palynological insights from Lake Iznik since the Last Glacial
-
Published:2016-03-01
Issue:2
Volume:12
Page:575-593
-
ISSN:1814-9332
-
Container-title:Climate of the Past
-
language:en
-
Short-container-title:Clim. Past
Author:
Miebach Andrea,Niestrath Phoebe,Roeser Patricia,Litt Thomas
Abstract
Abstract. The Marmara region in northwestern Turkey provides a unique opportunity for studying the vegetation history in response to climate changes and anthropogenic impacts because of its location between different climate and vegetation zones and its long settlement history. Geochemical and mineralogical investigations of the largest lake in the region, Lake Iznik, already registered climate-related changes of the lake level and the lake mixing. However, a palynological investigation encompassing the Late Pleistocene to Middle Holocene was still missing. Here, we present the first pollen record of the last ca. 31 ka cal BP (calibrated kilo years before 1950) inferred from Lake Iznik sediments as an independent proxy for paleoecological reconstructions. Our study reveals that the vegetation in the Iznik area changed generally between (a) steppe during glacials and stadials indicating dry and cold climatic conditions, (b) forest-steppe during interstadials indicating milder and moister climatic conditions, and (c) oak-dominated mesic forest during interglacials indicating warm and moist climatic conditions. Moreover, a pronounced succession of pioneer trees, cold temperate, warm temperate, and Mediterranean trees appeared since the Lateglacial. Rapid climate changes, which are reflected by vegetation changes, can be correlated with Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) events such as DO-4, DO-3, and DO-1, the Younger Dryas, and probably also the 8.2 event. Since the mid-Holocene, the vegetation was influenced by anthropogenic activities. During early settlement phases, the distinction between climate-induced and human-induced changes of the vegetation is challenging. Still, evidence for human activities consolidates since the Early Bronze Age (ca. 4.8 ka cal BP): cultivated trees, crops, and secondary human indicator taxa appeared, and forests were cleared. Subsequent fluctuations between extensive agricultural uses and regenerations of the natural vegetation become apparent.
Funder
European Geosciences Union
Publisher
Copernicus GmbH
Subject
Paleontology,Stratigraphy,Global and Planetary Change
Reference105 articles.
1. Abbasoğlu, H. and Delemen, İ.: Remains from Acient Nicaea, in:
İznik Throughout History, edited by: Akbaygil, I., İnalcık, H.,
and Aslanapa, O., Türkiye İş Bankası, Istanbul, 189–197,
2003. 2. Akbulak, C.: Human and Economic Geographical Investigation of Iznik Basin,
Eurasia Ethnography Foundation Publications, Ankara, 2009. 3. Allen, J. R. M., Watts, W. A., McGee, E., and Huntley, B.: Holocene
environmental variability – the record from Lago Grande di Monticchio,
Italy, Quatern. Int., 88, 69–80, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1040-6182(01)00074-X, 2002. 4. Alpar, B., Öztürk, K., Adatepe, F., Demirel, S., and Balkıs, N.:
Sparker in lakes; reflection data from Lake Iznik, Turk. J. Mar. Sci., 9,
195–206, 2003. 5. Atalay, I., Efe, R., and Öztürk, M.: Ecology and Classification of
Forests in Turkey, Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sci., 120, 788–805,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.02.163, 2014.
Cited by
41 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献
|
|