Holocene history of the landscape at the biogeographical and cultural crossroads between Central and Eastern Europe (Western Podillia, Ukraine)

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F67985939%3A_____%2F22%3A00561019" target="_blank" >RIV/67985939:_____/22:00561019 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/00216224:14310/22:00126213

Result on the web

<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107610" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107610</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107610" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107610</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Holocene history of the landscape at the biogeographical and cultural crossroads between Central and Eastern Europe (Western Podillia, Ukraine)

Original language description

Biologists have postulated the refugial character of the local steppes in Western Podilia, but a modern paleoecological reconstruction of the environmental history of the region has been lacking. We fill this gap here with a multi-proxy study (pollen, plant and mollusc macrofossils, microcharcoal, geochemistry) of two profiles sampled in calcareous fens adjacent to species-rich steppe grasslands. To link the reconstructed environmental history with the history of human settlement, we compiled available archaeological records from the studied region. All studied proxies support the hypothesis that an open or semi-open landscape existed in Western Podillia during the Holocene. The complete absence of wood remains in Holocene sediments, and the persistence of fen specialists showed the exceptional long-term stability of open wetlands. The continuous presence of pollen of light-demanding plants, low abundance of closed-canopy trees compared to open-canopy trees, and stable concentrations of geochemical indicators of erosion suggest a semi-open landscape with a mosaic of forests, steppe grasslands, and other open habitats. Multivariate analysis revealed the similarity of pollen assemblages with sites in the forest-steppe zone at the interface between the Pannonian Basin and the Western Carpathians. The continuous presence of non-woody microcharcoal in high abundance suggests a role of fire in maintaining open habitats, and the archaeological record provides evidence of human activity throughout the Holocene near the study sites. Our results indicate that Western Podillia has become a biogeographic crossroads not only because of its location on the border between Central and Eastern Europe, but also because of the unusual combination of relatively humid climate and continuity of open or semi-open landscapes since the Last Glacial.

Czech name

—

Czech description

—

Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10611 - Plant sciences, botany

Project

<a href="/en/project/GA20-09895S" target="_blank" >GA20-09895S: Biodiversity, disturbance history and soil memory: testing the Holocene continuity of species-rich forest-steppe ecosystems</a><br>

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2022

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Quaternary Science Reviews

ISSN

0277-3791

e-ISSN

1873-457X

Volume of the periodical

288

Issue of the periodical within the volume

Jul 15

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

16

Pages from-to

107610

UT code for WoS article

000823268600003

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85132528423