The influence of disturbances on Holocene vegetation development in Quaternary refugia

• Thesis title in Czech: Vliv disturbancí na holocenní dynamiku vegetace v kvartérních refugiích
• Thesis title in English: The influence of disturbances on Holocene vegetation development in Quaternary refugia
• Key words: disturbance, lesní refugia, lidský vliv
• English key words: disturbances, tree refugia, human impact
• Academic year of topic announcement: 2023/2024
• Thesis type: dissertation
• Thesis language: angličtina
• Department: Department of Botany (31-120)
• Supervisor: RNDr. Vojtěch Abraham, Ph.D.
• Author: hidden - assigned by the advisor
• Date of registration: 05.10.2023
• Date of assignment: 05.10.2023

References

Blarquez O, Vannière B, Marlon JR, et al (2014) paleofire: An R package to analyse sedimentary charcoal records from the Global Charcoal Database to reconstruct past biomass burning. Computers & Geosciences 72:255–261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2014.07.020
Čarni A, Matevski V, Biološki Inštitut Jovana Hadžija (eds) (2011) Forest vegetation of the Galičica mountain range in Macedonia: = Šumskata vegetacija na planinata Galičica vo Makedonija. Založba ZRC, Ljubljana
Gassner S, Gobet E, Schwörer C, et al (2020) 20,000 years of interactions between climate, vegetation and land use in Northern Greece. Veget Hist Archaeobot 29:75–90. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-019-00734-5
Hafner A, Reich J, Ballmer A, et al (2021) First absolute chronologies of neolithic and bronze age settlements at Lake Ohrid based on dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 38:103107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2021.103107
Hošek J, Verčík M, Pokorný P, et al (2021) Geoarchaeological evidence on a Late Bronze Age earthquake, Ohrid Basin (North Macedonia). J Quaternary Sci 36:1003–1012. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3325
Kuneš P, Abraham V, Herben T (2019) Changing disturbance-diversity relationships in temperate ecosystems over the past 12000 years. Journal of Ecology 107:1678–1688. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13136
Lawson IT, Al-Omari S, Tzedakis PC, et al (2005) Lateglacial and Holocene vegetation history at Nisi Fen and the Boras mountains, northern Greece. The Holocene 15:873–887. https://doi.org/10.1191/0959683605hl860ra
Midolo G, Herben T, Axmanová I, et al (2023) Disturbance indicator values for European plants. Global Ecology and Biogeography 32:24–34. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13603
Verčík M, Kerschbaum S, Tušlová P, et al (2019) Settlement Organisation In The Ohrid Region. Studia Hercynia 23:26–54
Willis KJ (1992) The late Quaternary vegetational history of northwest Greece. II. Rezina marsh. New Phytol 121:119–138. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.1992.tb01098.x

Preliminary scope of work

Kvartérní refugia stromů jsou místa s vysokou biodiverzitou, výskytem reliktních druhů, endemitů a ekologickou stabilitou. Společenské změny v pravěkých komunitách na jihozápadním Balkáně (tektonické pánve: Ohrid, starověká Maliq a Prespanská jezera) však naznačují silný vliv člověka na prostředí (Hošek et al., 2021), takže v této oblasti je znalost dřívějších disturbancí nezbytná. Odezvu disturbancí ve vegetaci lze měřit ekologickým přístupem (Kuneš et al., 2019), protože disturbanční faktory pro evropskou flóru jsou odnedávna k dispozici (Midolo et al., 2023). Ve vrtech z rašelinišť a jezer budou kromě pylu počítány uhlíčky za účelem odhalení četnosti požárů (Blarquez et al., 2014). Disturbance ve vegetaci a požárovou aktivitu nakonec student srovná i s dostupnými archeologickými záznamy (Verčík et al., 2019).

Preliminary scope of work in English

Quaternary tree refugia are places with high biodiversity, occurrence of relict species, endemics and ecological stability. However, social changes in prehistoric communities in the southwestern Balkans (tectonic basins: Ohrid, ancient Maliq and Prespan Lakes) indicate a strong human impact on the environment (Hošek et al., 2021), so knowledge of earlier disturbances is essential in this area. The response of vegetation to disturbance can be measured using an ecological approach (Kuneš et al., 2019), since disturbance indicators for the European flora have recently been available (Midolo et al., 2023). In boreholes from bogs and lakes, charcoals will be counted in addition to pollen to reveal fire frequency (Blarquez et al., 2014). In the end, the student compares disturbance in vegetation and fire activity with available archaeological records (Verčík et al., 2019).