An up to date synthesis of the pollen data concerning Holocene forest vegetation of the Emilia Romagna Plain is presented. Past pollen spectra were joined by recent pollen spectra to link past woody pollen assemblages to today's woody vegetation. It deals only with woody flora and vegetation and not climate reconstruction, which we will consider only when the synthesis has been extended to woody and herb pollen flora /vegetation all over the region.Available pollen data concerned 52 sites and were elaborated with criteria partially inspired by phytosociological methods. Some Indexes which seemed helpful to evidence the human influence on pollen assemblages were tested. Holocene woody pollen flora of the investigated area consisted of 111 AP pollen types (AP = Trees + Shrubs + Lianas + woody Epiphytes) belonging to 57 Families and 107 Genera. The number of pollen types increased from the Preboreal onwards with the maximum in the recent pollen spectra.This synthesis enlightened certain aspects, such as the consistence of forest, the role of Silver Fir and Beech in the Plain, the composition of Mixed Oak wood and the influence of Humans on flora/vegetation. The addition of the recent pollen spectra and an airborne pollen example spectrum, was helpful both in reconstructing the past and looking at what is happening in the pollen rain.The main points which emerged can be summarised as follows:1) Holocene forest consistence decreased significantly in time, with a certain reincrease in the Recent Phase (mean AP sums = 70; 57; 55; 50; 40; 44% from the Preboreal to the Recent Phase); 2) Humans progressively influenced the vegetal landscape; this influence was hinted at in the Preboreal, evident in the Subboreal and significant in the Subatlantic-Recent pollen rain. The human influence, suggested by woody pollen, concerned mainly 4 types of activity: a) forest clearance; b) precultivation and cultivation; c) “urban afforestation”; d) crowding of the pollen flora; 3) the cultural landscape spread from the settlements, and Humans: a) settled in open areas; b) preferred to settle near woods of deciduous broadleaves than conifers; c) grew woody plants in their settlement; d) possibly used Tilia, Ulmus and Acer for animal fodder;4) the forest landscape of the Region underwent some changes in the Holocene; the key points were: a) the dominance of Pinus in the Preboreal; b) the sudden spread of the broadleaves since the Boreal; c) the significant diffusion of Abies in the Atlantic; d) the notable spread of hygrophilous woods in the Atlantic - Subboreal - Subatlantic; e) the presence of Fagus stations in the Plain till the Subatlantic; f) the renewal of the Mixed Oak wood; g) the evident human influence since the Subboreal; h) the explosion of the Exotics in the Recent pollen rain. The originality of the Recent pollen landscape was the trend toward reafforestation whose most striking features were the “Urban Pollen Forest” (urban Parks sites, with high mean AP sums = 75%), and above all the “Town Woods” which had moderate mean AP sums (55%) with a significant amount of Exotics, including many entomophilous low pollen producing plants. In the future, this evident pollution of the pollen flora we have produced will be an useful chronological marker for the end of the second millennium A.D.

Holocene forest vegetation (pollen) of the Emilia-Romagna plain - Northeastern Italy / Accorsi, Carla Alberta; Mazzanti, Marta; Forlani, Luisa; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Trevisan, Giuliana. - STAMPA. - 28:(2004), pp. 1-103.

Holocene forest vegetation (pollen) of the Emilia-Romagna plain - Northeastern Italy

ACCORSI, Carla Alberta;MAZZANTI, Marta;FORLANI, Luisa;MERCURI, Anna Maria;TREVISAN, Giuliana
2004

Abstract

An up to date synthesis of the pollen data concerning Holocene forest vegetation of the Emilia Romagna Plain is presented. Past pollen spectra were joined by recent pollen spectra to link past woody pollen assemblages to today's woody vegetation. It deals only with woody flora and vegetation and not climate reconstruction, which we will consider only when the synthesis has been extended to woody and herb pollen flora /vegetation all over the region.Available pollen data concerned 52 sites and were elaborated with criteria partially inspired by phytosociological methods. Some Indexes which seemed helpful to evidence the human influence on pollen assemblages were tested. Holocene woody pollen flora of the investigated area consisted of 111 AP pollen types (AP = Trees + Shrubs + Lianas + woody Epiphytes) belonging to 57 Families and 107 Genera. The number of pollen types increased from the Preboreal onwards with the maximum in the recent pollen spectra.This synthesis enlightened certain aspects, such as the consistence of forest, the role of Silver Fir and Beech in the Plain, the composition of Mixed Oak wood and the influence of Humans on flora/vegetation. The addition of the recent pollen spectra and an airborne pollen example spectrum, was helpful both in reconstructing the past and looking at what is happening in the pollen rain.The main points which emerged can be summarised as follows:1) Holocene forest consistence decreased significantly in time, with a certain reincrease in the Recent Phase (mean AP sums = 70; 57; 55; 50; 40; 44% from the Preboreal to the Recent Phase); 2) Humans progressively influenced the vegetal landscape; this influence was hinted at in the Preboreal, evident in the Subboreal and significant in the Subatlantic-Recent pollen rain. The human influence, suggested by woody pollen, concerned mainly 4 types of activity: a) forest clearance; b) precultivation and cultivation; c) “urban afforestation”; d) crowding of the pollen flora; 3) the cultural landscape spread from the settlements, and Humans: a) settled in open areas; b) preferred to settle near woods of deciduous broadleaves than conifers; c) grew woody plants in their settlement; d) possibly used Tilia, Ulmus and Acer for animal fodder;4) the forest landscape of the Region underwent some changes in the Holocene; the key points were: a) the dominance of Pinus in the Preboreal; b) the sudden spread of the broadleaves since the Boreal; c) the significant diffusion of Abies in the Atlantic; d) the notable spread of hygrophilous woods in the Atlantic - Subboreal - Subatlantic; e) the presence of Fagus stations in the Plain till the Subatlantic; f) the renewal of the Mixed Oak wood; g) the evident human influence since the Subboreal; h) the explosion of the Exotics in the Recent pollen rain. The originality of the Recent pollen landscape was the trend toward reafforestation whose most striking features were the “Urban Pollen Forest” (urban Parks sites, with high mean AP sums = 75%), and above all the “Town Woods” which had moderate mean AP sums (55%) with a significant amount of Exotics, including many entomophilous low pollen producing plants. In the future, this evident pollution of the pollen flora we have produced will be an useful chronological marker for the end of the second millennium A.D.
2004
La Végétation Postglaciaire du Passé et du Présent Syngenèse, Synécologie et Synsystématique
9783443700164
J. Cramer - Borntraeger
GERMANIA
Holocene forest vegetation (pollen) of the Emilia-Romagna plain - Northeastern Italy / Accorsi, Carla Alberta; Mazzanti, Marta; Forlani, Luisa; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Trevisan, Giuliana. - STAMPA. - 28:(2004), pp. 1-103.
Accorsi, Carla Alberta; Mazzanti, Marta; Forlani, Luisa; Mercuri, Anna Maria; Trevisan, Giuliana
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