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 Peglar, S. M. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The mid-Holocene Ulmus decline at Diss Mere, Norfolk, UK: a year-by-year pollen stratigraphy from annual laminations

Botanical Institute, University of Bergen, Allegaten 41, N-5007 Bergen, Norway

3 m of annually laminated sediments were recovered from a small steep-sided lake, Diss Mere, Norfolk, UK. In an 8 cm section, known to include the mid-Holocene 'elm decline', the laminae were sampled separately, as far as possible, resulting in 181 samples covering 252 years. Relative pollen percentages, pollen influx, and charcoal were analysed. They show evidence of two phases of human disturbance within the woodland around the Mere, the first starting at least 160 years before the 'elm decline', and involving cereal growth. At the 'elm decline', Ulmus pollen values fall by 73% over six years. This is comparable in rate and magnitude with the fall, as recorded palynologically, in Castanea dentata from North America known to have been caused by a pathogen earlier this century, with the mid-Holocene Tsuga canadensis decline also attributed to a pathogen, and with the present-day Ulmus decline caused by Dutch elm disease at Scords Wood, England. Exponential and logistic models of population change are applied to the Diss Mere Ulmus decline data. The form, magnitude, and rate of decrease of the Ulmus decline at Diss Mere are all consistent with the hypothesis of a pathogenic attack. All the available evidence from Diss supports the hypothesis that the mid-Holocene 'elm decline' was caused by a combination of disease and human activity.

Key Words: Annual laminations • lake sediments • pollen analysis • mid-Holocene 'elm decline' • elm disease • human activity • charcoal • Ulmus.

The Holocene, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1-13 (1993)
DOI: 10.1177/095968369300300101


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

This article has been cited by other articles:

				H. Joosten and P. de Klerk In search of finiteness: the limits of fine-resolution palynology of Sphagnum peat The Holocene, November 1, 2007; 17(7): 1023 - 1031. [Abstract] [PDF]

				J. INNES, J. BLACKFORD, and F. CHAMBERS KRETZSCHMARIA DEUSTA AND THE NORTHWEST EUROPEAN MID-HOLOCENE ULMUS DECLINE AT MOEL Y GERDDI, NORTH WALES, UNITED KINGDOM Palynology, January 1, 2006; 30(1): 121 - 132. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. Rasmussen Mid-to late-Holocene land-use change and lake development at Dallund S0, Denmark: vegetation and land-use history inferred from pollen data The Holocene, December 1, 2005; 15(8): 1116 - 1129. [Abstract] [PDF]

				J. E. Schofield and M. J. Bunting Mid-Holocene presence of water chestnut (Trapa natans L.) in the meres of Holderness, East Yorkshire, UK The Holocene, July 1, 2005; 15(5): 687 - 697. [Abstract] [PDF]

				K. Milecka, K. Mileckal, and K. Szeroczynska Changes in macrophytic flora and planktonic organisms in Lake Ostrowite, Poland, as a response to climatic and trophic fluctuations The Holocene, January 1, 2005; 15(1): 74 - 84. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. McCarroll, D. McCarroll, R. Jalkanen, S. Hicks, M. Tuovinen, M. Gagen, F. Pawellek, D. Eckstein, U. Schmitt, J. Autio, et al. Multiproxy dendroclimatology: a pilot study in northern Finland The Holocene, September 1, 2003; 13(6): 829 - 838. [Abstract] [PDF]

				A. G. Parker, A. S. Goudie, D. E. Anderson, M. A. Robinson, and C. Bonsall A review of the mid-Holocene elm decline in the British Isles Progress in Physical Geography, March 1, 2002; 26(1): 1 - 45. [Abstract] [PDF]

				C. E. Wells, C. E. Wells, D. Hodgkinson, and E. Huckerby Evidence for the possible role of beaver (Castor fiber) in the prehistoric ontogenesis of a mire in northwest England, UK The Holocene, May 1, 2000; 10(4): 503 - 508. [Abstract] [PDF]

				J. Adams, M. Maslin, and E. Thomas Sudden climate transitions during the Quaternary Progress in Physical Geography, March 1, 1999; 23(1): 1 - 36. [Abstract] [PDF]

				O. Akeret, J. N. Haas, U. Leuzinger, and S. Jacomet Plant macrofossils and pollen in goat/sheep faeces from the Neolithic lake-shore settlement Arbon Bleiche 3, Switzerland The Holocene, February 1, 1999; 9(2): 175 - 182. [Abstract] [PDF]

				M. Dinnin and B. Brayshay The contribution of a multiproxy approach in reconstructing floodplain development Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 1999; 163(1): 179 - 195. [Abstract] [PDF]

				A. N. Rhodes and A. N. Rhodes A method for the preparation and quantification of microscopic charcoal from terrestrial and lacustrine sediment cores The Holocene, January 1, 1998; 8(1): 113 - 117. [Abstract] [PDF]

				K.A. Moser, G.M. MacDonald, and J.P. Smol Applications of freshwater diatoms to geographical research Progress in Physical Geography, March 1, 1996; 20(1): 21 - 52. [Abstract] [PDF]