AMS radiocarbon dates and pollen analysis of ODP Hole 175-1078C

ODP Site 1078 situated under the coast of Angola provides the first record of the vegetation history for Angola. The upper 11 m of the core covers the past 30 thousand years, which has been analysed palynologically in decadal to centennial resolution. Alkenone sea surface temperature estimates were analysed in centennial resolution. We studied sea surface temperatures and vegetation development during full glacial, deglacial, and interglacial conditions. During the glacial the vegetation in Angola was very open consisting of grass and heath lands, deserts and semi-deserts, which suggests a cool and dry climate. A change to warmer and more humid conditions is indicated by forest expansion starting in step with the earliest temperature rise in Antarctica, 22 thousand years ago. We infer that around the period of Heinrich Event 1, a northward excursion of the Angola Benguela Front and the Congo Air Boundary resulted in cool sea surface temperatures but rain forest remained present in the northern lowlands of Angola. Rain forest and dry forest area increase 15 thousand years ago. During the Holocene, dry forests and Miombo woodlands expanded. Also in Angola globally recognised climate changes at 8 thousand and 4 thousand years ago had an impact on the vegetation. During the past 2 thousand years, savannah vegetation became dominant.

Epiphytic orchid diversity found on trees and shrubs in coffee cultivated Afromontane rainforest, SW Ethiopia

The moist evergreen Afromontane forest of SW Ethiopia has become extremely fragmented and most remnants are intensively managed for cultivation of coffee (Coffea arabica). We investigated the distributions of epiphytic orchids in shade trees and their understory in forests with contrasting management intensity to determine biodiversity losses associated with coffee cultivation and to determine the capacity of coffee shrubs to act as refugia for orchid species. We studied epiphytic orchids in managed forests and natural forests and recorded orchid diversity and abundance in different tree zones of 339 trees and in the understory. Coffee management was associated with a downward shift of orchid species as orchid species were occurring in significantly lower tree zones in managed forest. The number of shrubs in the understory of managed forest was not higher than in natural forests, yet orchid abundance was higher in the understory of managed forests. Local extinctions of epiphytic orchids and species losses in the outer tree zones (a contraction of habitat) in managed forests are most likely driven by losses of large, complex-structured climax trees, and changes in microclimate, respectively. Coffee shrubs and their shade trees in managed forests are shown here to be a suitable habitat for only a limited set of orchid species. As farmers continue to convert natural forest into managed forest for coffee cultivation, further losses of habitat quality and collateral declines in regional epiphytic orchid diversity can be expected. Therefore, the conservation of epiphytic orchid diversity, as well as other components of diversity of the coffee forests, must primarily rely on avoiding coffee management intensification in the remaining natural forest. Convincing farmers to keep forest-climax trees in their coffee forest and to tolerate orchids on their coffee shrubs may also contribute to a more favorable conservation status of orchids in Ethiopian coffee agroecosystems.

Lithology, age determination and pollen records of five profiles for nothern Bavaria, Germany

Palynological investigations in northeastern Bavaria (Bavarian Vogtland, Fichtelgebirge, Steinwald) reveal the Late Glacial and Postglacial history of the regional vegetation. Radiocarbon data in comparison with those from the neighbouring regions (Rhön, Oberpfälzer Wald, Bavarian Forests) show a time lag in the development of the arboreal vegetation due to migration processes. The Fichtelgebirge is the southernmost part ofnortheastern Bavaria where the early Alleröd period (pollen zone IIa) is characterised by a dominance of birch forests. Hazel reached maximal values around 8000 BP in the area from the Fichtelgebirge to the Bavarian Forests, e.g. about 600 years earlier than in the more northern Rhön mountains. For spruce there is a considerable time lag between the Bavarian Forests and the Fichtelgebirge. Spruce spreading started in the Fichtelgebirge during the older part of the Atlantic period (pollen zone VI). At the same time, spruce already was the dominant tree in the Bavarian Forests. During the younger part of the Atlantic period (pollen zone VII) spruce and mixed oak forest tree species frequently occurred in the Fichtelgebirge. At the end of pollen zone VI, spruce came to dominance. At the same time, the immigration of beech started. During the Subboreal period (pollen zone VIII), spruce remained being a dominant member in the forests and at the end of pollen zone VIII, fir began to spread rapidly. During the first part of the Subatlantic period (pollen zone IX) spruce, beech, fir and pine formed the mountainous forests in the Fichtelgebirge. In the area of the Bavarian Vogtland, however, fir was a dominant forest tree during pollen zone IX, while spruce and beech played a less important role. During the 12th century, human colonisation started in the area of the Fichtelgebirge. This is 400 years later as in the area of the Rhön mountains. Indicators for earlier forest clearances are rare or absent.

Urban forest health survey on Roznik in Ljubljana in 2013 by two methods

Urban forest health was surveyed on Roznik in Ljubljana (46.05141 N, 14.47797 E) in 2013 by two methods: ICP Forests and UFMO. ICP Forests is most commonly used monitoring programme in Europe - the International Co-operative Programme on the Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests, which is based on systematic grid. UFMO method - Urban Forests Management Oriented method was developed in the frame of EMoNFUr Project - Establishing a monitoring network to assess lowland forest and urban plantations in Lombardy and urban forest in Slovenia (LIFE10 ENV/IT/000399). UFMO is based on non-linear transects (GPS tracks). ICP forests monitoring plots were established in July 2013 in the urban forest Roznik in Ljubljana .The 32 plots are located on sampling grid 500 × 500 m. The grid was down-scaled from the National Forest Monitoring survey, which bases on national sample grid 4 × 4 km. With the ICP forests method the following parameters for each tree within the 15 plots were gathered according to the ICP forests manual for Visual assessment of crown condition and damaging agents: tree species, percentage of defoliation, affected part of the tree, specification of affected part, location in crown, symptom, symptom specification, causal agents / factors, age of damage, damage extent, and damage extent on the trunk. With the UFMO method, the following parameters for each tree that needed sylviculture measure (felling, pruning, sanitary felling, thinning, etc.) were recorded: tree species, breast diameter, causal agent / damaging factor, GPS waypoint and GPS track. For overall picture in the urban forest health problems, also other biotic and abiotic damaging factors that did not require management action were recorded.

(Table 1) Granulometry, soil pH, carbonate content and color description of soil profiles obtained in Xinghai, Tibet

Large parts of the eastern half of the Tibetan Plateau are covered between (3,500) 4,000 and nearly 6,000 m a.s.l. by alpine sedge mats (key species Kobresia pygmea), which attain an extension of ca. 450,000 km**2. It is considered to be the world's largest alpine ecosystem. Moreover, there exist isolated (relic) forests in the same area up to an altitude of 4,700 m a.s.l. mainly consisting of juniper (Juniperus) and spruce (Picea). Large parts of the Kobresia ecosystem are expected to be a grazing-resistant replacement formation, replacing forests and grass-dominated plant communities due to human and/or climatic impact. Recently, a research project was launched to increase knowledge about the properties and genesis of these forests and sedge mats (Present-day dynamics and Holocene landscape history of fragmented forest biocoenoses in Tibet; headed by G. Miehe, Marburg).

Pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs counting data from Borsteler Moor (Germany)

In order to reconstruct regional vegetation changes and local conditions during the fen-bog transition in the Borsteler Moor (northwestern Germany), a sediment core covering the period between 7.1 and 4.5 cal kyrs BP was palynologically in vestigated. The pollen diagram demonstrates the dominance of oak forests and a gradual replacement of trees by raised bog vegetation with the wetter conditions in the Late Atlantic. At ~ 6 cal kyrs BP, the non-pollen palynomorphs (NPP) demonstrate the succession from mesotrophic conditions, clearly indicated by a number of fungal spore types, to oligotrophic conditions, indicated by Sphagnum spores, Bryophytomyces sphagni, and testate amoebae Amphitrema, Assulina and Arcella, etc. Four relatively dry phases during the transition from fen to bog are clearly indicated by the dominance of Calluna and associated fungi as well as by the increase of microcharcoal. Several new NPP types are described and known NPP types are identified. All NPP are discussed in the context of their palaeoecological indicator values.

Pollen profile and age determination for sediment core M72/5_619-1 (22-GC3)

Sediments from the Black Sea, a region historically dominated by forests and steppe landscapes, are a valuable source of detailed information on the changes in regional terrestrial and aquatic environments at decadal to millennial scales. Here we present multi-proxy environmental records (pollen, dinoflagellate cysts, Ca, Ti and oxygen isotope data) from the uppermost 305 cm of the core 22-GC3 (42°13.53' N, 36°29.55' E) collected from a water depth of 838 m in the southern part of the Black Sea in 2007. The records span the last ~ 18 kyr (all ages are given in cal kyr BP). The pollen data reveal the dominance of the Artemisia-steppe in the region, suggesting rather dry/cold environments ~ 18-14.5 kyr BP. Warming/humidity increase during melt-water pulses (~ 16.1-14.5 kyr BP), indicated by d18O records from the 22-GC3 core sediment and from the Sofular Cave stalagmite, is expressed in more negative d13C values from the Sofular Cave, usually interpreted as the spreading of C3 plants. The records representing the interstadial complex (~ 14.5-12.9 kyr BP) show an increase in temperature and moisture, indicated by forest development, increased primary productivity and reduced surface run-off, whereas the switch from primary terrigenous to primary authigenic Ca origin occurs ~ 500 yr later. The Younger Dryas cooling is clearly demonstrated by more negative d13C values from the Sofular Cave and a reduction of pines. The early Holocene (11.7-8.5 kyr BP) interval reveals relatively dry conditions compared to the mostly moist and warm middle Holocene (8.5-5 kyr BP), which is characterized by the establishment of the species-rich warm mixed and temperate deciduous forests in the low elevation belt, temperate deciduous beech-hornbeam forests in the middle and cool conifer forest in upper mountain belt. The border between the early and middle Holocene in the vegetation records coincides with the opening of the Mediterranean corridor at ~ 8.3 kyr BP, as indicated by a marked change in the dinocyst assemblages and in the sediment lithology. Changes in the pollen assemblages indicate a reduction in forest cover after ~ 5 kyr BP, which was likely caused by increased anthropogenic pressure on the regional vegetation.