Various studies using pollen stratigraphies have demonstrated significant correlations between Holocene plant diversity, climate, and human activities. Studies that have analyzed longer Holocene timescales tend to discuss cultural data very superficially. This is remarkable because detailed insights into past human activities may be key to gain an understanding of the observed trends in biodiversity. This study aims to reconstruct and explain spatio-temporal trends in past plant diversity (alpha, temporal, and spatial beta diversity) by integrating data on vegetation dynamics, human subsistence economy, and land-use patterns. The landscape of Northwest France during the greater part of the Iron Age and the start of the Roman period (600 BC–AD 100) is selected as a case study. In total, 30 high-quality pollen-stratigraphical sequences allow for the reconstruction of the main long-term trends in plant diversity and more generally of the changing fabric of the landscape. Additionally, increasingly detailed images of the Iron Age rural landscape are available because of a steep increase in archaeological data (aerial photography, surveys, and excavations). These different types of data are integrated and used as input for a wider discussion on the relation between human activities and plant diversity. In general, the taxonomic richness increases steadily during the period under study. Some spatio-temporal differences are observed. The increasing richness values correspond with the growing impact of human activities on the landscape. Archaeologically documented land-use changes on smaller timescales are less clearly reflected in the richness values and vegetation dynamics, which might result from the (large-scale) research design.

中文翻译：

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铁器时代法国西北部的土地利用、定居点和植物多样性

使用花粉地层学的各种研究表明，全新世植物多样性、气候和人类活动之间存在显着的相关性。分析更长的全新世时间尺度的研究往往非常肤浅地讨论文化数据。这是值得注意的，因为对过去人类活动的详细了解可能是了解所观察到的生物多样性趋势的关键。本研究旨在通过整合植被动态、人类生存经济和土地利用模式的数据来重建和解释过去植物多样性的时空趋势（α、时间和空间β多样性）。选择铁器时代大部分时间和罗马时期初期（公元前 600 年至公元 100 年）法国西北部的景观作为案例研究。总共 30 个高质量的花粉地层序列可以重建植物多样性的主要长期趋势，更广泛地重建景观结构的变化。此外，由于考古数据（航空摄影、调查和挖掘）的急剧增加，铁器时代乡村景观的图像越来越详细。这些不同类型的数据被整合并用作更广泛讨论人类活动与植物多样性之间关系的输入。总体而言，在研究期间，分类丰富度稳步增加。观察到一些时空差异。丰富度值的增加与人类活动对景观影响的增加相对应。考古记录的较小时间尺度的土地利用变化不太清楚地反映在丰富度值和植被动态中，这可能是（大规模）研究设计的结果。