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Holocene vegetation dynamics, fire and grazing in the Sierra de Gádor, southern Spain

Departamento de Biología Vegetal (Botánica), Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain; carrion{at}um.es

Pedro Sánchez-Gómez

Departamento de Biología Vegetal (Botánica), Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain

Juan F. Mota

Departamento de Biología, Universidad de Almería, Spain

Riker Yll

Area de Botánica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, 01893 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

Celia Chaín

Departamento de Información y Documentación, Facultad de Ciencias de la Documentación, Universidad de Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain

This paper examines the mid to late-Holocene (c. 6850–1160 cal. yr BP) environmental history of Sierra de Gádor in southern Spain. The local vegetation dynamics are reconstructed through the palaeoecological record obtained from a lacustrine deposit situated at 1530 m. Various hypotheses are considered to explain the vegetation dynamics apparent in the palaeoecological evidence, including climatic change, fire occurrence and human activity. Although the vegetation in this region is sensitive to climatic change, threshold events driven by ecological factors are also apparent. Climatic events include a thermo-mesophytic optimum with abundance of deciduous trees and maximum lake water level found from c. 6850 to 5500 cal. yr BP. In contrast, changes in the frequency of major fire episodes appear to have shaped interspecific relationships and vegetation change, especially from c. 4200 cal. yr BP onwards. Biotic properties of the ecosystem such as the inertia of established tree populations, interconnected with competition adjustments, appear also to have played a role. Over the last two millennia, overgrazing, combined with natural and/or human-set fires, appears to have pushed mountain forests over a threshold leading to the spread of grassland, thorny scrub, junipers and nitrophilous communities.

Key Words: Holocene • palaeoecology • pollen analysis • vegetation dynamics • climatic change • desertification • fire • anthropogenic disturbance • Spain • arid lands

The Holocene, Vol. 13, No. 6, 839-849 (2003)
DOI: 10.1191/0959683603hl662rp


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