Abstract
There is still not enough palaeoecological data from the southwestern part of the Western Carpathians, where mountain ridges steeply rise from the dry and warm Pannonian basin. The reason is a low availability of sites with sediments harbouring fossil remains. In the Považský Inovec Mts, two small protected calcareous wetlands occur in different geographical position and contain suitable sediments. One represents a foothill site (initiated ca 13,000 cal. BP) whereas the other a low-mountain site (initiated ca 7,400 cal. BP). We investigated fossil pollen, spores, and macroscopic remains of plants and molluscs from their sediments. We further reviewed archaeological data, constructed a macrophysical climate model (MCM) and confronted it with other palaeoclimatic proxies. Temperate deciduous trees (Quercus, Corylus and Ulmus) occurred since the Allerød, but their expansion was blocked by a harsh climate in Younger Dryas, when Larix, Pinus and Betula nana still occurred. The climate firstly moistened at ca 9,500 cal. BP and more distinctly at ca 8,500 cal. BP, which was reflected by a strong calcium carbonate precipitation and expansion of Tilia cordata t., Hedera helix, and Ustulina. Although the MCM predicted a rather stable climate since 8,000 cal. BP, certain changes in aquatic mollusc abundances may indicate hydrological fluctuations, as they are paralleled by changes in climate humidity indicated by other evidence from the Western Carpathians. Younger hydrological fluctuations may be alternatively explained by human activities as they correspond with macro-charcoal abundance and indicators of wetland openness. During their existence, both fens harboured only few fen plant and mollusc species specialized to low-productive sedge-moss fens. In the Middle Holocene both sites were encroached by woody plants (Alnus, Picea and Salix), as most other spring fens in the Western Carpathians. Contrary to some other spring fens with similar site conditions in the Western Carpathians, few fen specialists established in the study sites since deforestation, presumably because of severe disturbances caused by grazing and/or hemp retting instead of the usual mowing.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bača R (1990) Ďalšie prieskumy, nálezy a prírastky Balneologického múzea. Archeol Výsk Nálezy Slov 1988:28–29
Bača R, Krupa V (1995) Dokumentácia a prírastky v Balneologickom múzeu. Archeol Výsk Nálezy Slov 1993:21
Beug HJ (2004) Lietfaden der Pollen bestimmung für Mitteleuropa und angrezende Gebiete. Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, München
Bialeková D (1989) Pramene k dejinám osídlenia Slovenska z konca 5. až 13. storočia. Archeologický ústav SAV, Nitra
Birks HH, Birks HJB (2013) Vegetation responses to late-glacial climate changes in western Norway. Preslia 85:215–237
Botta-Dukát Z, Chytrý M, Hájková P, Havlová M (2005) Vegetation of lowland wet meadows along a climatic continentality gradient in Central Europe. Preslia 77:89–111
Bradshaw RHW, Lindbladh M (2005) Regional spread and stand-scale establishment of Fagus sylvatica and Picea abies in Scandinavia. Ecology 86:1679–1686
Bronk Ramsey C. (2009) Dealing with outliers and offsets in radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon 51:1023–1045
Bronk Ramsey C (2009) Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51:337–360
Bryson AR (2005) Archeoclimatology. In Oliver JE (ed) Encyclopedia of world climatology. Springer Netherlands, pp 58–63
Bryson AR, DeWall MK (2007) A paleoclimatology workbook: high resolution, site-specific, macrophysical climate modelling. The Mammoth Site of Hot Spring, SD, Inc.
Cappers RTJ, Bekker RM, Jans JEA (2006) Digitale Zadenatlas van Nederland. Digital seed atlas of the Netherlands. Barkhuis Publishing, Groningen
Cheben I (2006) Tretia etapa výskumu žiarového pohrebiska lužickej kultúry v Trenčíne. Archeol Výsk Nálezy Slov 2004:102–104
Chrastina P (2009) Vývoj využívania krajiny Trenčianskej kotliny a jej horskej obruby (Genesis of land-use in the Trenčianska kotlina and its surrounding mountains). Univerzita Konštantína Filozofa, Nitra
Dabkowski J, Frodlová J, Hájková P, Dudová L, Horsák M, Hájek M, Petr L, Fiorillo D (2018) Holocene development and climate in the NW White Carpathian: a multidisciplinary approach (including geochemistry, sedimentology and malacology) on Mituchovci tufa in Slovakia. In Colloque Q11 – Au Centre des Enjeux AFEQ-CNF-INQUA, Livret des résumés, pp 36
Dítě D, Hájek M, Svitková I, Košuthová A, Šoltés R, Kliment J (2018) Glacial-relict symptoms in the Western Carpathian flora. Folia Geobotanica (this issue)
Dunn SM, Mackay R (1995) Spatial variation in evapotranspiration and the influence of land use on catchment hydrology. J Hydrol 171:49–73
Dušek M (1975) Hradisko z doby halštatskej v podhradí. Archeol Výsk Nálezy Slov 1974:46–47.
Eliáš P jr, Hajnalová M, Pažinová N (2005) Floristic composition of Triticum monococcum fields in Transylvania (Romania): preliminary results. In Traditional Agroecosystems ´05: 1st International Conference and Satelite Workshops. September 16–21, 2005, Nitra, Slovakia. SPU, Nitra, pp 127–131
Eliáš P jr, Dítě D, Kliment J, Hrivnák R, Feráková V (2015) Red list of ferns and flowering plants of Slovakia, 5th edition (October 2014) Biologia 70:218–228
Faegri K, Iversen J (1989) Textbook of pollen analysis. 4th ed. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester
Feurdean A, Perşoiu T, Stevens S, Magyari EK, Onac BP, Markovič S et al. (2014) Climate variability and associated vegetation response throughout Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) between 60 and 8 ka. Quatern Sci Rev 106:206–224
Feurdean A, Florescu G, Vannière B, Tanţău I, O‘Hara RB, Pfeiffer M, Hutchinson SM, Gałka M, Moskal-del Hoyo M, Hickler T (2017) Fire has been an important driver of forest dynamics in the Carpathian Mountains during the Holocene. Forest Ecol Managem 389:15–26
Gálová A, Hájková P, Čierniková M, Petr L, Hájek M, Novák J, Rohovec J, Jamrichová E (2016) Origin of a boreal birch bog woodland and landscape development on a warm low mountain summit at the Carpathian-Pannonian interface. The Holocene 26:1112–1125
Grimm EC (2011) Tilia software v.1.7.16. Illinois State Museum, Springfield IL
Grootjans AP, Adema EB, Bleuten W, Joosten H, Madaras M, Janáková M, Middleton B (2006) Hydrological landscape settings of base-rich fen mires and fen meadows an overview. Appl Veg Sci 9:175–184
Hájek M, Háberová I (2001) Scheuchzerio-Caricetea fuscae. Rastlinné spoločenstvá Slovenska 3, pp 185–273
Hájek M, Horsák M, Tichý L, Hájková P, Dítě D, Jamrichová E (2011) Testing a relict distributional pattern of fen plant and terrestrial snail species at the Holocene scale: a null model approach. J Biogeogr 38:742–755
Hájek M, Dudová L, Hájková P, Roleček J, Moutelíková J, Jamrichová E, Horsák M (2016) Contrasting Holocene environmental histories may explain patterns of species richness and rarity in a Central European landscape. Quatern Sci Rev 133:48–61
Hájková P, Horsák M, Hájek M, Lacina A, Buchtová H, Pelánková B (2012a) Origin and contrasting succession pathways of the Western Carpathian calcareous fens revealed by plant and mollusc macrofossils. Boreas 41:690–706
Hájková P, Grootjans A, Lamentowicz M, Rybníčková E, Madaras M, Opravilová V, Michaelis D, Hájek M, Wolejko L (2012b) How a Sphagnum fuscum-dominated bog changed into a calcareous fen: unique Holocene history of a Slovak spring-fed mire. J Quatern Sci 27:233–243
Hájková P, Jamrichová E, Horsák M, Hájek M (2013) Holocene history of a Cladium mariscus-dominated calcareous fen in Slovakia: vegetation stability and landscape development. Preslia 85:289–315
Hájková P, Horsák M, Hájek M, Jankovská V, Jamrichová E, Moutelíková J (2015) Using multi-proxy palaeoecology to test a relict status of refugial populations of calcareous-fen species in the Western Carpathians. The Holocene 25:702–715
Hájková P, Pařil P, Petr L, Chattová B, Grygar TM, Heiri O (2016) A first chironomid-based summer temperature reconstruction (13–5 ka BP) around 49°N in inland Europe compared with local lake development. Quatern Sci Rev 141:94–111
Hájková P, Jamrichová E, Petr L, Dudová L, Roleček J, Gálová A, Dresler P, Novák J, Hájek M (2017) Persistence of a vegetation mosaic in a peripheral region: Could turbulent medieval history disrupt Holocene continuity of extremely species-rich grassland? Veg Hist & Archaeobot 27:591–610. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-017-0660-9
Hajnalová E (1980) Nálezy a analýza rastlinných makrozvyškov z archeologických výskumov. Archeol Výsk Nálezy Slov 1978:95–107
Hajnalová M (2012) Archeobotanika doby bronzovej na Slovensku. FF UKF, Nitra
Hampe A, Jump AS (2011) Climate relicts: past, present, future. Ann Rev Ecol Evol Syst 42:313–333
Hanzelyová E, Kuzma I, Rajtár J (1997) Pokračovanie leteckej prospekcie na juhozápadnom Slovensku. Archeol Výsk Nálezy Slov 1995:77–80.
Horsák M, Hájková P (2005) The historical development of the White Carpathian spring fens based on palaeomalacological data. In Poulíčková A, Hájek M, Rybníček K (eds) Ecology and palaeoecology of spring fens in the western part of the Carpathians. Palacký University, Olomouc, pp 63–68
Horsák M, Chytrý M, Danihelka J, Kočí M, Kubešová S, Lososová Z, Otýpková Z, Tichý L (2010) Snail faunas in the Southern Ural forests and their relations to vegetation: an analogue of the Early Holocene assemblages of Central Europe? J Molluscan Stud 76:1–10
Horsák M, Juřičková L, Picka J (2013) Měkkýši České a Slovenské republiky. Molluscs of the Czech and Slovak Republics. Kabourek, Zlín
Horsák M, Čejka T, Juřičková L, Beran L, Horáčková J, Hlaváč JČ, Dvořák L, Hájek O, Divíšek J, Maňas M, Ložek V (2018) Check-list and distribution maps of the molluscs of the Czech and Slovak Republics. Available at http://molluscasav.sk/malacology/checklist.htm (checklist updated on 7 March 2018, maps updated on 7 March 2018)
Horsáková V, Hájek M, Hájková P, Dítě D, Horsák M (2018) Principal factors controlling the species richness of European fens differ between habitat specialists and matrix-derived species. Diversity and Distributions 24:742–754. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12718
Iversen J (1944) Viscum, Hedera and Ilex as climate indicators: a contribution to the study of the post-glacial temperature climate. Geologiska Föreningen i Stockholm Förhandlingar 66:463–483
Jamrichová E, Hájková P, Horsák M, Rybníčková E, Lacina M, Hájek M (2014a) Landscape history, calcareous fen development and historical events in the Slovak Eastern Carpathians. Veg Hist & Archaeobot 23:497–513
Jamrichová E, Potůčková A, Horsák M, Hajnalová M, Barta P, Tóth P, Kuneš P (2014b) Early occurrence of temperate oak-dominated forest in the northern part of the Little Hungarian Plain, SW Slovakia. The Holocene 24:1810–1824
Jamrichová E, Petr L, Jiménez-Alfaro B, Jankovská V, Dudová L, Pokorný P, Kołaczek P, Zernitskaya V, Čierniková M, Břízová E, Hájková P, Hájek M (2017) Pollen-inferred millennial changes in landscape patterns at a major biogeographical interface within Europe. J Biogeogr 44:2386–2397
Jankovská V (1971) The development of vegetation on the western slopes of the Bohemian-Moravian Uplands during the Late Holocene Period: a study based on pollen and macroscopic analyses. Folia Geobot Phytotax Bohemoslov 6:281–303
Juggins S (2003) C2 User Guide, Version 1.5. Software for ecological and paleoecological data analysis and visualization. University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne
Juřičková L, Horsák M, Horáčková J, Abraham V, Ložek V (2014) Patterns of land-snail succession in Central Europe over the last 15,000 years: main changes along environmental, spatial and temporal gradients. Quatern Sci Rev 93:155–166
Juřičková L, Pokorný P, Hošek J, Horáčková J, Květoň J, Zahajská P, Jansová A, Ložek V (2017) Early postglacial recolonisation, refugial dynamics and the origin of a major biodiversity hotspot. A case study from the Malá Fatra mountains, Western Carpathians, Slovakia. The Holocene 28:583–594
Kolář J, Kuneš P, Szabó P, Hajnalová M, Svitavská-Svobodová H, Macek M, Tkáč P (2016) Population and forest dynamics during the Central European Eneolithic (4500–2000 BC). Archaeol Anthropol Sci 8:1–12
Kuneš P, Svobodová-Svitavská H, Kolář J, Hajnalová M, Abraham V, Macek M, Tkáč P, Szabó P (2015) The origin of grasslands in the temperate forest zone of east-central Europe: long-term legacy of climate and human impact. Quatern Sci Rev 116:15–27
Lamentowicz M, Tobolski K, Mitchell EAD (2007) Palaeoecological evidence for anthropogenic acidification of a kettle-hole peatland in northern Poland. The Holocene 17:1185–1196
Latałowa M, Pędziszewska A, Maciejewska E, Święta-Musznicka J (2013) Tilia forest dynamics, Kretzschmaria deusta attack, and mire hydrology as palaeoecological proxies for mid-Holocene climate reconstruction in the Kashubian Lake District (N Poland). The Holocene 23:667–677
Ložek V (1950) Měkkýši maďarovské kulturní vrstvy na krasovém ostrohu Bašta u Ivanovců nad Váhem. In Sborník MSS 43–45. MSS, Martin, pp 199–200
Ložek V (1964) Quartärmollusken der Tschechoslowakei (Vol. 31). Nakladatelství Československé akademie věd, Praha, p. 375
Magyari E, Jakab G, Rudner E, Sümegi P (1999) Palynological and plant macrofossil data on Late Pleistocene short-term climatic oscillations in NE-Hungary. Acta Palaeobot 2:491–502
Magyari E, Buczkó K, Jakab G, Braun M, Pál Z, Karátson D, Pap I (2009) Palaeolimnology of the last crater lake in the Eastern Carpathian Mountains: a multiproxy study of Holocene hydrological changes. Hydrobiologia 631:29–63
Magyari E, Chapman J, Fairbairn AS, Francis M, de Guzman M (2012) Neolithic human impact on the landscapes of North-East Hungary inferred from pollen and settlement records. Veg Hist & Archaeobot 21:279–302
Marhold K, Hindák F (1998) Zoznam nižších a vyšších rastlín Slovenska (Checklist of non-vascular and vascular plants of Slovakia). Veda, Bratislava
Medzihradszky Z (2005) Holocene vegetation history and human activity in the Kis-Balaton area, W. Hungary. Stud Bot Hung 36:77–100
Nešporová T (1999) Regionálny prieskum v Trenčianskom kraji. Archeol Výsk Nálezy Slov 1997:120–121
Nešporová T (2000) Neolitické sídlisko v Soblahove. Archeol Výsk Nálezy Slov 1999:90–91
Nešporová T (2003) Prieskum vo Veľkej Hradnej. Archeol Výsk Nálezy Slov 2002:100–101
Pidek IA (2013) Pollen-based vegetation and climate reconstruction of the Ferdynandovian sequence from Łuków (eastern Poland). Acta Palaeobot 53:115–138
Pieta K (2006) Hradiská Bojná II a Bojná III. Významné sídlisko z doby sťahovania národov a opevnenia z 9. storočia. In Pieta K, Ruttkay A, Ruttkay M (eds) Bojná. Hospodárske a politické centrum Nitrianskeho kniežatstva / Wirtschaftliches und politisches Zentrum des Fürstentums von Nitra. Archeologický ústav SAV – Ponitrianske múzeum, Nitra
Pieta K, Ruttkay A (2006) Bojná – mocenské a christianizačné centrum Nitrianskeho kniežatstva / Bojná – neues Macht- und Christianisierungszentrum des Fūrstentums von Nitra. Vorbericht. In Pieta K, Ruttkay A, Ruttkay M (eds) Bojná. Hospodárske a politické centrum Nitrianskeho kniežatstva / Wirtschaftliches und politisches Zentrum des Fürstentums von Nitra. Archeologický ústav SAV – Ponitrianske múzeum, Nitra
Pieta K, Haruštiak J, Jakubčinová M, Vangľová T (2011) Výskum včasnostredovekého hradiska Bojná I v rokoch 2007 a 2008. Archeol Výsk Nálezy Slov 2008:205–210
Pieta K, Haruštiak J, Jakubčinová M, Vangľová T (2013) Výskum včasnostredovekej aglomerácie Bojná v roku 2009. Archeol Výsk Nálezy Slov 2009:182–187
Pieta K, Robak Z, Jakubčinová M and Vangľová T (2015) Výskum včasnostredovekej aglomerácie Bojná. Archeol Výsk Nálezy Slov 2010:182–184
Poschlod P (2015) The origin and development of the central European man-made landscape, habitat and species diversity as affected by climate and its changes – a review. Interdisciplinaria archaeologica 6:197–221
Procházka J, Pišút P, Jamrichová E. (2015) Zazemňovanie Gbelčianskej depresie počas holocénu vo svetle analýzy rastlinných makrozvyškov (profil Nová Vieska 2). Geogr J 67:85–103
Rasmussen SO, Vinther BM, Clausen HB, Andersen KK (2007) Early Holocene climate oscillations recorded in three Greenland ice cores. Quatern Sci Rev 26:1907–1914
Reille M (1995) Pollen et spores d’Europe et d’Afrique du nord. Supplement 1. Laboratoire de Botanique Historique et Palynologie, Marseille
Reimer PJ, Bard E, Bayliss A, Beck JW, Blackwell PG, Ramsey CB, Buck CE, Cheng H, Edwards RL, Friedrich M, Grootes PM, Guilderson TP, Haflidason H, Hajdas I, Hatté Ch, Heaton TJ, Hoffmann DL, Hogg AG, Hughen KA, Kaiser KF, Kromer B, Manning SW, Niu M, Reimer RW, Richards DA, Scott EM, Southon JR, Staff RA, Turney ChSM, Grootes PM (2013) IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55:1869–1887
Ruttkay A, Rejholec E (1982) Výsledky prieskumu v údolí Bebravy a v Ponitrí. Archeol Výsk Nálezy Slov 1981:258–259
Rybníček K, Rybníčková E (2008) Upper Holocene dry land vegetation in the Moravian-Slovakian borderland (Czech and Slovak Republics). Veg Hist & Archaeobot 17:701–717
Rybníčková E, Rybníček K (1972) Erste Ergebnisse palaogeobotanischer Untersuchungen des Moores bei Vracov, Südmähren. Folia Geobot Phytotax Bohemoslov 7:285–308
Somogyi J, Hodálová I (2002) Nová lokalita vzácnych rastlín na Záhorí (západné Slovensko). Bull Slov Bot Spoločn Bratislava 24:143–145
Stammel B, Kiehl K, Pfadenhauer J (2003) Alternative management on fens: response of vegetation to grazing and mowing. Appl Veg Sci 6:245–254
Starkel L, Michczynska DJ, Krapiec M, Margielewski W, Nalepka D, Pazdur A (2013) Progress in the Holocene chrono-climatostratigraphy of Polish territory. Geochronometria 40:1–20
Sümegi P, Gulyás S, Jakab G (2008) Holocene paleoclimatic and paleohydrological changes in Lake Balaton as inferred from a complex quantitative environmental historical study of a lacustrine sequence of the Szigliget embayment. Doc Praehist 35:33–43
Tinner W, Lotter AF (2006) Holocene expansions of Fagus silvatica and Abies alba in Central Europe: Where are we after eight decades of debate? Quatern Sci Rev 25:526–549
Tuhkanen S (1980) Climatic parameters and indices in plant geography. Acta Phytogeogr Suec 67:1–105
Valsecchi V, Fisinger W, Tinner W, Ammann B (2008) Testing the influence of climate, human impact and fire on the Holocene population expansion of Fagus sylvatica in the southern Prealps (Italy). The Holocene 18:603–616
Velichkevich FY, Zastawniak E (2006) Atlas of the Pleistocene vascular plant macrofossils of Central and Eastern Europe. Part 1. Pteridophytes and monocotyledons. W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków
Velichkevich FY, Zastawniak E (2008) Atlas of the Pleistocene vascular plant macrofossils of Central and Eastern Europe. Part 2. Herbaceous dicotyledons. W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków
Vychronová M (2011) Středověké využití lnu setého a konopě seté dle archeologických nálezů. Bachelor thesis. University of West Bohemia, Plzeň, Czech Republic
Walker MJ, Berkelhammer M, Björck S, Cwynar LC, Fisher DA, Long AJ et al. (2012) Formal subdivision of the Holocene Series/Epoch: a discussion paper by a Working Group of INTIMATE (Integration of ice-core, marine and terrestrial records) and the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (International Commission on Stratigraphy). J Quatern Sci 27:649–659
Zlinská J (1994) Das Juncetum subnodulosi W. KOCH 1926 in der Slowakei. Phyton (Horn) 33:295–303
Acknowledgements
This study was funded by Masaryk University (Project No. MUNI/M/1790/2014) and partially by the Czech Science Foundation (P504/17-05696S). PH and EJ were further supported by the long-term developmental project of the Czech Academy of Sciences (RVO 67985939). We are grateful to all colleagues and friends that helped us with coring in the field (K. Devánová, V. Horsáková, S. Němejc, L. Petr and S. Rezník). J. Novák helped us with the identification of wood fragments and charcoals. We thank J. Roleček and anonymous referees for valuable comments.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jamrichová, E., Gálová, A., Gašpar, A. et al. Holocene development of two calcareous spring fens at the Carpathian-Pannonian interface controlled by climate and human impact. Folia Geobot 53, 243–263 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12224-018-9324-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12224-018-9324-5