The settlement of Iceland is known to have had profound impacts on vegetation and landscape stability, but there remain uncertainties around the spatial variability and timing of environmental change, and the impacts of settlement on aquatic ecosystems. Here a new multiproxy palaeoenvironmental reconstruction spanning the last 3000 years is presented from Kalmanstjörn, a small lake in Mývatnssveit, northeast Iceland. Sedimentology, pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs, and geochemical proxies, dated using tephrochronology, are used to reconstruct terrestrial vegetation, landscape stability and aquatic ecosystems. The data reveal complex environmental dynamics after settlement. At this site, substantial tree populations persisted until the late 15th century, in strong contrast to the rapid deforestation shown by almost all other records from Iceland. The eventual loss of woodland may have been caused by changes in direct human activity and the location of extensive grazing, in combination with Little Ice Age climatic cooling. The loss of woodland was accompanied by increased soil erosion. Conversely, the lake ecosystem showed an immediate response to settlement, becoming more productive for several centuries, perhaps in response to increased availability of nutrients from grazing herbivores. The late persistence of woodland in the Kalmanstjörn record adds to our understanding of the spatial variations in ecosystem responses to settlement in Iceland, while the evidence for decoupling of the aquatic and terrestrial systems suggests that palaeolimnological reconstructions focusing on aquatic ecosystem responses may be important new sources of information on the wider ecological consequences of human settlement.

中文翻译：

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在冰岛东北部 Mývatnssveit 的 Kalmanstjörn 定居后，林地的晚期存活与快速的湖沼学变化形成鲜明对比

众所周知，冰岛的定居对植被和景观稳定性产生了深远的影响，但环境变化的空间变异性和时间以及定居对水生生态系统的影响仍然存在不确定性。在这里，冰岛东北部 Mývatnssveit 的一个小湖 Kalmanstjörn 展示了跨越过去 3000 年的新的多代理古环境重建。沉积学、花粉和非花粉孢粉体以及地球化学替代物，使用地质年代学确定日期，用于重建陆地植被、景观稳定性和水生生态系统。数据揭示了定居后复杂的环境动态。在这个地点，大量的树木种群一直持续到 15 世纪后期，这与冰岛几乎所有其他记录显示的快速森林砍伐形成鲜明对比。林地的最终损失可能是由于人类直接活动和广泛放牧地点的变化以及小冰河时代气候变冷造成的。林地的丧失伴随着土壤侵蚀的加剧。相反，湖泊生态系统显示出对定居的直接反应，几个世纪以来变得更有生产力，这可能是对放牧食草动物养分供应增加的反应。Kalmanstjörn 记录中林地的晚期持久性增加了我们对冰岛定居点生态系统响应空间变化的理解，