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Vegetation and disturbance history of the Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany

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Abstract

National parks are supposed to protect large-scale ecological processes, along with species and ecosystems. Detailed knowledge about past vegetation and disturbance regimes therefore forms an important basis for appropriate management. In the Bavarian Forest National Park in SE Germany, we therefore studied fossil pollen, spores and macrofossils from lake Rachelsee, a nearby mire, and Stangenfilz mire, all lying at higher elevations. Results indicate that deciduous forest on lower slopes (ca. 500–1,000 m a.s.l.) were first affected by humans in Neolithic times ca. 4500 bc with marked declines of Tilia, Ulmus and Fraxinus. High-montane mixed forests (1,000–1,450 m a.s.l.) were in a near-natural state consisting of Picea, Abies and Fagus in comparable proportions up to ca. 500 bc (a natural baseline condition), after which they were impacted by forest grazing and/or logging, starting between early-Roman times to early-Medieval times depending on location. Abies especially declined markedly. Forest partially recovered during the migration period fifth-eighth century ad, especially Carpinus, but not Abies. Subsequently, deforestation increased at lower elevation for food production, and forest grazing and wood extraction at higher elevation led to a further strong decline of Abies around ad 1000 near Rachelsee. After that, nutrient levels increased continually at all elevations, and a forest fire occurred in the 13th century near Stangenfilz. During the 19th century, forests around Rachelsee recovered partially whereas overgrazing of Stangenfilz resulted in a hiatus. Forests declined further in the 20th century around the study sites, but after ca. ad 1960 less so around Rachelsee thanks to local conservation measures. Historically recorded large-scale bark-beetle infestations following heavy storms, such as in the ad 1870s and 1980s, hardly left traces in the pollen data. From a palaeoecological perspective the Park’s no-intervention management strategy is well-suited to facilitate recovery of original forest functioning and diversity, as it is slowly leading to renewal of natural mixed forest of Abies, Picea and Fagus. This development may have considerable influence on the future disturbance regime, and the insights obtained will be important for the park management.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Willi Tanner, Daniele Colombaroli, Carole Adolf, and Martina Bisculm for help during the coring and to Florencia Oberli for pollen sample preparation. Hans Jehl from the Bavarian Forest National Park administration helped in the organisation and logistics of the field work. The study was funded equally by the Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany, and the University of Bern, Switzerland.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, 3013, Bern, Switzerland

    Willem O. van der Knaap, Jacqueline F. N. van Leeuwen, Tanja Studer, Joël Baumann & Willy Tinner

  2. University of Koblenz-Landau, Institute for Environmental Sciences, Fortstraße 7, 76829, Landau, Germany

    Lorenz Fahse

  3. Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, ETH Zurich, Universitätsstraße 16, CHN G73.1, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland

    Willy Tinner

  4. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern, Freiestraße 3, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Sönke Szidat

  5. Department of Conservation and Research, Bavarian Forest National Park, 94481, Grafenau, Germany

    Marco Heurich

  6. Chair of Wildlife Ecology and Wildlife Management, University of Freiburg, Tennenbacher Straße 4, 79106, Freiburg, Germany

    Marco Heurich

  7. Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Hochschulstraße 4, 3rd floor WEST, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Willem O. van der Knaap, Jacqueline F. N. van Leeuwen, Tanja Studer, Joël Baumann & Willy Tinner

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  1. Willem O. van der Knaap
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  2. Jacqueline F. N. van Leeuwen
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Correspondence to Willem O. van der Knaap.

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Communicated by K.-E. Behre.

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Tanja Studer—Deceased.

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van der Knaap, W.O., van Leeuwen, J.F.N., Fahse, L. et al. Vegetation and disturbance history of the Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany. Veget Hist Archaeobot 29, 277–295 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-019-00742-5

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