Holocene tree-line dynamics and inferred climatic changes in the Abisko area, northern Sweden, based on macrofossil and pollen records
- 1 April 1999
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in The Holocene
- Vol. 9 (3), 253-265
- https://doi.org/10.1191/095968399676322637
Abstract
Lake-sediment records of pollen and macroscopic plant remains of terrestrial origin provide evidence of long-term changes in forest composition close to the altitudinal tree-line in the Abisko area, northernmost Sweden. A dominance of mountain birch ( Betula pubescens Ehrh. ssp. tortuosa (Ledeb.) Nyman) with a field layer of ferns, grasses and sedges suggests that an oceanic climate with relatively high precipitation existed during the early Holocene. Macrofossils of mountain birch were found 300–400 m above the present tree-line which corresponds to a 1.5–2°C higher summer temperature than at present. Scots Pine ( Pinus sylvestris) was present to some extent at altitudes above its present limit during the early Holocene. A pronounced expansion of pine took place above its present limit around 6300 cal. BP (5500 BP). This is interpreted as a result of successively drier and more continental climatic conditions. A decreased abundance of pine from c. 5200 cal. BP (4700 BP), followed by a gradual retraction of the upper limit of pine during the later part of the Holocene, can be attributed mainly to long-term changes in solar radiation. A decline in the upper limit of pine of c. 175 m since 4500 cal. BP (4000 BP) is believed to represent a decrease in growing-season temperature of c. 1.5°C.Keywords
This publication has 37 references indexed in Scilit:
- AMS14C chronologies of Holocene lake sediments in the Abisko area, northern Sweden – a comparison between dated bulk sediment and macrofossil samplesGFF, 1998
- Holocene Tree‐Limit and Climate History from the Scandes Mountains, SwedenEcology, 1995
- Holocene glacier fluctuations at Hardangerjøkulen, central-southern Norway: a high-resolution composite chronology from lacustrine and terrestrial depositsThe Holocene, 1994
- Holocene Thermal Trend Inferred from Tree-Limit History in the Scandes MountainsGlobal Ecology and Biogeography Letters, 1992
- Holocene glacial and climate history of the Jostedalsbreen region, Western Norway; evidence from lake sediments and terrestrial depositsQuaternary Science Reviews, 1991
- Scandinavian glacial and climatic fluctuations during the HoloceneQuaternary Science Reviews, 1988
- Postglasiale skoggrenser i sentrale sørnorske fjelltrakter.14C-datering av subfossile furu- og bjørkerester. (Postglacial forest limits in central south Norwegian mountains. Radiocarbon datings of subfossil pine and birch specimens)Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift - Norwegian Journal of Geography, 1988
- Shoreline relation and prehistoric settlement in northern NorwayNorsk Geografisk Tidsskrift - Norwegian Journal of Geography, 1987
- Late Weichselian glaciation and deglaciation in ScandinaviaQuaternary Science Reviews, 1986
- THE IDENTIFICATION OF BETULA NANA POLLENNew Phytologist, 1968