This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Stähli, M. Articles by Allgöwer, B. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Wildfire history and fire ecology of the Swiss National Park (Central Alps): new evidence from charcoal, pollen and plant macrofossils

Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland

Walter Finsinger

Institute of Environmental Biology, Paleoecology, Laboratory of Paleobotany and Palynology, 3584 CD Utrecht, the Netherlands

Willy Tinner

Institute of Plant Sciences, Section Palaeoecology, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, CH-3013 Bern, Switzerland

Britta Allgöwer

Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland, britta{at}geo.unizh.ch

Microscopic (> 10 mm) and macroscopic (> 200 mm) charcoal particles were analysed in sediments from two mires in subalpine coniferous forests at c. 1800 m a.s.l. in southeastern Switzerland. Pollen and plant macrofossils suggest that since 6000 BC, Pinus mugo ssp. uncinata (DC) Domin (‘upright mountain pine’) has mostly been the dominant tree species at one of the study sites (Il Fuorn). In contrast, forests dominated by Picea abies (Norway spruce) have formed the vegetation since c. 4000 BC around the mire ‘Fuldera-Palü Lunga’. Mean fire-return intervals (MFI) varied from 250 to > 600 years, depending on forest type, climate and land use. In mountain-pine forests (Il Fuorn), local fires occurred approximately every 250 years, even before the region was agriculturally used (ie, before 3600 BC). About 2000 years ago, intensified human impact as documented by the pollen record resulted in increased fire activity at Fuldera. Post-fire vegetation dynamics suggest that the mountain-pine stands at Il Fuorn had a moderate fire regime with a mix of surface and crown fires. In alpine ecosystems, the impact of fire is generally overshadowed by other disturbance factors such as windthrow, landslides, fungal decay and by climate changes or human land use. Nevertheless, our results show for the first time that natural wildfires exerted a major control on the subalpine coniferous forest ecosystems of the Swiss National Park and its neighbouring areas, eg, by contributing to maintain Pinus mugo ssp. uncinata forests throughout the mid and late Holocene.

Key Words: Charcoal analysis • macroscopic charcoal • fire history • fire intervals • central Alps • Pinus mugo ssp. uncinata • mountain pine • Holocene

The Holocene, Vol. 16, No. 6, 805-817 (2006)
DOI: 10.1191/0959683606hol967rp


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. Payette, L. Filion, and A. Delwaide Spatially explicit fire-climate history of the boreal forest-tundra (Eastern Canada) over the last 2000 years Phil Trans R Soc B, July 12, 2008; 363(1501): 2299 - 2314. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]