RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 The long-term ecology of the lost forests of La Laguna, Tenerife (Canary Islands)
A1 Nascimento Reyes, Lea de
A1 Willis, Katherine J.
A1 Fernández-Palacios, José María
A1 Criado Hernández, Constantino
A1 Whittaker, Robert J.
K1 Carpinus
K1 Forest ecology
K1 Holocene vegetation change
K1 Human impact
K1 Island ecology
K1 Palaeoecology
K1 Quercus
K1 Tenerife
K1 Canary Islands
K1 Canary Islands, Carpinus, forest ecology, Holocene vegetation change, human impact, island ecology, palaeoecology, Quercus, Tenerife.
AB Aim We report the first analysis of the long-term ecology of Tenerife, in order toestablish a pre-colonization base-line and to assess the effect of human activityand the role of climatic variation on vegetation during the Late Holocene.Location A former lake bed in the city of La Laguna (Tenerife, Canary Islands,Spain).Methods A sedimentary sequence of over 2 m was obtained from the formerlake bed. Fossil pollen and microfossil charcoal concentrations were analysed.Radiocarbon dating of the sequence indicates that it spans approximately the last4700 years. The pollen diagram was zoned using optimal splitting withinpsimpoll 4.25.Results Three pollen zones were differentiated: (1) in Zone L1 (c. 4700–2900 cal. yr bp) a mixed forest was dominated by Quercus, Carpinus, Myrica andPinus; (2) in Zone L2 (c. 2900–2000 cal. yr bp) the laurel forest taxa increased,while Pinus, Juniperus and Phoenix declined; and (3) Zone L3 (c. 2000–400 cal. yr bp) was characterized by the decline of Carpinus and Quercus andthe abundance of laurel forest taxa (e.g. Myrica). Neither Carpinus nor Quercuswas hitherto considered to be native to the Canary Islands. Their decline startedc. 2000 years ago, coinciding with microfossil charcoal evidence of increasedburning and with archaeological evidence for the first human settlement onTenerife.Main conclusions Between c. 4700 and 2000 cal. yr bp, the composition of theforest in the valley of La Laguna was very different from what it is at present. Inparticular, Quercus and Carpinus appear to have been significant components,alongside components of the present-day laurel forest, and the native pine (Pinuscanariensis) forest and thermophilous woodland were also more prevalent in theregion (but probably not within the lake basin itself) until 3000 cal. yr bp.The subsequent decline of Quercus and Carpinus led to the establishment of thepresent laurel forest in the region and a shift to more open vegetation types. Thesechanges indicate that the aboriginal inhabitants of the islands, the Guanches, hada far more profound impact on the vegetation of Tenerife than hitherto realized.
PB Blackwell
YR 2009
FD 2009
LK http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/16993
UL http://riull.ull.es/xmlui/handle/915/16993
LA en
DS Repositorio institucional de la Universidad de La Laguna
RD 18-nov-2024