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Pollen and charcoal in lake sediments compared with historically documented forest fires in southern Switzerland since AD 1920
Willy Tinner
Institute of Geobotany, Section Palaeoecology, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, CH-3013 Bern, Switzerland
Marco Conedera
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Sottostazione Sud delle Alpi, PO Box 2014, CH-6501 Bellinzona, Switzerland
Brigitta Ammann
Institute of Geobotany, Section Palaeoecology, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, CH-3013 Bern, Switzerland
Heinz W. Gaggeler
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern, Freiestrasse 3, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
Sharon Gedye
Richard Jones
Department of Geography, Edge Hill University College, St Helens Road, Ormskirk, Lancashire L39 4QP, UK
Beat Sagesser
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern, Freiestrasse 3, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
Charcoal in unlaminated sediments dated by 210Pb was analysed by the pollen-slide and thin-section methods. The results were compared with the number and area of forest fires on different spatial scales in the area around Lago di Origlio as listed in the wildfire database of southern Switzerland since AD 1920. The influx of the number of charcoal particles > 75 µm2 in pollen slides correlates well with the number of annual forest fires recorded within a distance of 20-50 km from the coring site. Hence a size-class distinction or an area measurement by image analysis may not be absolutely necessary for the reconstruction of regional fire history. A regression equation was computed and tested against an independent data set. Its use makes it possible to estimate the charcoal area influx (or concentration) from the particle number influx (or concentration). Local fires within a radius of 2 km around the coring site correlate well with the area influx of charcoal particles estimated by the thin-section method measuring the area of charcoal particles larger than 20 000 µm2 or longer than 50 µm. Pollen percentages and influx values suggest that intensive agriculture and Castanea sativa cultivation were reduced 30-40 years ago, followed by an increase of forest area and a development to more natural woodlands. The traditional Castanea sativa cultivation was characterized by a complete use of the biomass produced, so abandonment of chestnut led to an increasing accumulation of dead biomass, thereby raising the fire risk. On the other hand, the pollen record of the regional vegetation does not show any clear response to the increase of fire frequency during the last three decades in this area.
Key Words: Charcoal analysis • forest fires • fire history • pollen analysis • vegetation change • lake sediments • thin sections • pollen slides • Switzerland
The Holocene, Vol. 8, No. 1,
31-42 (1998)
DOI: 10.1191/095968398667205430
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