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Research article2015Peer reviewedOpen access

Intensive land use in the Swedish mountains between AD 800 and 1200 led to deforestation and ecosystem transformation with long-lasting effects

Östlund, Lars; Hörnberg, Greger; DeLuca, Thomas H.; Liedgren, Lars; Wikström, Peder; Zackrisson, Olle; Josefsson, Torbjörn

Abstract

Anthropogenic deforestation has shaped ecosystems worldwide. In subarctic ecosystems, primarily inhabited by native peoples, deforestation is generally considered to be mainly associated with the industrial period. Here we examined mechanisms underlying deforestation a thousand years ago in a high-mountain valley with settlement artifacts located in subarctic Scandinavia. Using the Heureka Forestry Decision Support System, we modeled pre-settlement conditions and effects of tree cutting on forest cover. To examine lack of regeneration and present nutrient status, we analyzed soil nitrogen. We found that tree cutting could have deforested the valley within some hundred years. Overexploitation left the soil depleted beyond the capacity of re-establishment of trees. We suggest that pre-historical deforestation has occurred also in subarctic ecosystems and that ecosystem boundaries were especially vulnerable to this process. This study improves our understanding of mechanisms behind human-induced ecosystem transformations and tree-line changes, and of the concept of wilderness in the Scandinavian mountain range.

Keywords

Betula pubescens ssp czerepanovii; Forest history; Indigenous; Modeling; Simulation; Vegetation change

Published in

AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment
2015, Volume: 44, number: 6, pages: 508-520

      SLU Authors

            • Sustainable Development Goals

            Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

            UKÄ Subject classification

            Forest Science

            Publication identifier

            DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-015-0634-z

            Permanent link to this page (URI)

            https://res.slu.se/id/publ/68471