Summary
Fire has long been associated with boreal forest systems, but its natural role in European temperate forest is poorly known. Fire regimes in Europe have been significantly influenced by human activities for varying lengths of time. We examine the late Holocene records of fire as recorded by charcoal fragments in lakes, peatlands, and small forest hollows in a variety of European forest types. A gradient of vegetation response to fire is apparent, ranging from fire-adapted boreal communities to fire-sensitive deciduous forests. Fire frequencies have varied in space and time in association with both climatic and vegetation changes. Human activity has often exploited pre-existing ‘natural’ fire regimes, having both stimulated and suppressed fire at different times. Our case studies are drawn from Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Ireland. We explore the linkage between fire and certain key ecological processes such as paludification, species immigrations, and changes in soil microbiology.
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© 1997 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Bradshaw, R.H.W., Tolonen, K., Tolonen, M. (1997). Holocene records of fire from the boreal and temperate zones of Europe. In: Clark, J.S., Cachier, H., Goldammer, J.G., Stocks, B. (eds) Sediment Records of Biomass Burning and Global Change. NATO ASI Series, vol 51. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59171-6_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59171-6_16
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