Stand-scale reconstruction of late Holocene forest succession on the Gdańsk Upland (N. Poland) based on integrated palynological and macrofossil data from paired sites

This study concerns the stand-scale palaeoecological reconstruction of the subsequent stages of late Holocene vegetation development on habitats recently covered by beech-dominated woodland in the southern Baltic region. The data, based on pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs, macrofossil and charcoal analyses from two close-lying sites, demonstrated that each of the subsequent late Holocene shifts in dominating forest communities took place because of human impact coupled with climatic events or episodic human-made disturbances. Shifts from the Tilia dominated forest to the Quercus-Corylus plant community at around 3300 bc was most probably driven by the coupled effect of climate change and human activity. Human impact was the primary driver of the final Corylus decline and concurrent major Carpinus expansion at c. 460 bc, and the Carpinus decline followed by Fagus expansion at c. ad 900. Carpinus had been lingering on the edge of a major expansion in the local forest for at least 2,500 years while Fagus had persisted in a small admixture for no fewer than 1,500 years before becoming important forest constituents. Our data illustrate the role of episodic disturbances as turning points that initiate long-term vegetation changes.