This paper examines the possibilities of creating quantified models of past human activities in b... more This paper examines the possibilities of creating quantified models of past human activities in both time and space. The study area lies in the south-eastern Czech Republic and western Slovakia. The spatio-temporal model of behavioural categories was calculated with the help of Monte Carlo simulations and statistical testing. One of the main advantages of our approach is that it admits the probabilistic nature of input data, quantifies them and provides probabilistic results comparable with other proxies. It also presents a less biased way of how archaeological data from regions and periods with low numbers of 14C datings can be incorporated into models of past population dynamics.
Global biodiversity is affected by numerous environmental drivers. Yet, the extent to which globa... more Global biodiversity is affected by numerous environmental drivers. Yet, the extent to which global environmental changes contribute to changes in local diversity is poorly understood. We investigated biodiversity changes in a meta-analysis of 39 resurvey studies in European temperate forests (3988 vegetation records in total, 17-75 years between the two surveys) by assessing the importance of (i) coarse-resolution (i.e., among sites) vs. fine-resolution (i.e., within sites) environmental differences and (ii) changing environmental conditions between surveys. Our results clarify the mechanisms underlying the direction and magnitude of local-scale biodiversity changes. While not detecting any net local diversity loss, we observed considerable among-site variation, partly explained by temporal changes in light availability (a local driver) and density of large herbivores (a regional driver). Furthermore, strong evidence was found that presurvey levels of nitrogen deposition determined ...
The post-glacial fate of central European grasslands has stimulated palaeoecological debates for ... more The post-glacial fate of central European grasslands has stimulated palaeoecological debates for a century. Some argued for the continuous survival of open land, while others claimed that closed forest had developed during the Middle Holocene. The reasons behind stability or changes in the proportion of open land are also unclear. We aim to reconstruct regional vegetation openness and test the effects of climate and human impact on vegetation change throughout the Holocene. We present a newly dated pollen record from north-western fringes of the Pannonian Plain, east-central Europe, and reconstruct Holocene regional vegetation development by the REVEALS model for 27 pollen-equivalent taxa. Estimated vegetation is correlated in the same area with a human activity model based on all available archaeological information and a macrophysical climate model. The palaeovegetation record indicates the continuous presence of open land throughout the Holocene. Grasslands and open woodlands were probably maintained by local arid climatic conditions during the early Holocene delaying the spread of deciduous (oak) forests. Significantly detectable human-made landscape transformation started only after 2000 BC. Our analyses suggest that Neolithic people spread into a landscape that was already open. Humans probably contributed to the spread of oak, and influenced the dynamics of hazel and hornbeam.
Aim Resurveys of historical vegetation plots are increasingly used for the assessment of decadal ... more Aim Resurveys of historical vegetation plots are increasingly used for the assessment of decadal changes in plant species diversity and composition. However, historical plots are usually relocated only approximately. This potentially inflates temporal changes and undermines results.
Forests in Europe have been shaped considerably by human activities during most of the Holocene. ... more Forests in Europe have been shaped considerably by human activities during most of the Holocene. Changes in forest structure, distribution of tree species and forest biodiversity are partly driven by management history, and many current forest types result from former management. The interdisciplinary project "Long-term woodland dynamics in Central Europe: from estimations to a realistic model" (LONGWOOD) aims to reconstruct longterm dynamics of woodland cover, structure and management in the eastern Czech Republic (Moravia, ca. 27,000 km 2 ), compare the historical and present state of forests, and analyze general patterns of changes and stability of woodlands as well as the role of humans in these processes. In the LONGWOOD project, palaeoecological, archaeological, historical and ecological sources of information on woodland cover, species composition, and human activities (management, settlement density) over the past 7500 years are collected and integrated in the form of a geodatabase. Combining data of different origin, scale, degree of spatial precision and detail into a single geodatabase is a challenging task. The level of detail, information content, and spatiotemporal distribution of data varies between layers as well as individual records according to the nature of the data source and the data itself. The limited and incomplete sources of information until ca. 1100 AD provide a coarser view on forest history while the historical period (especially the past ca. 250 years) is covered by large amounts of precisely located ecological and historical data enabling detailed spatial and temporal analyses. Data on forest structure, history and management will be related to environmental factors (soil type, climate, elevation and other topographic variables derived from DEM) and social historical data (settlement distribution, population density, landuse). A spatio-temporal forest landscape model will be built to assess the forest changes and the main drivers of change.
This paper examines the possibilities of creating quantified models of past human activities in b... more This paper examines the possibilities of creating quantified models of past human activities in both time and space. The study area lies in the south-eastern Czech Republic and western Slovakia. The spatio-temporal model of behavioural categories was calculated with the help of Monte Carlo simulations and statistical testing. One of the main advantages of our approach is that it admits the probabilistic nature of input data, quantifies them and provides probabilistic results comparable with other proxies. It also presents a less biased way of how archaeological data from regions and periods with low numbers of 14C datings can be incorporated into models of past population dynamics.
Global biodiversity is affected by numerous environmental drivers. Yet, the extent to which globa... more Global biodiversity is affected by numerous environmental drivers. Yet, the extent to which global environmental changes contribute to changes in local diversity is poorly understood. We investigated biodiversity changes in a meta-analysis of 39 resurvey studies in European temperate forests (3988 vegetation records in total, 17-75 years between the two surveys) by assessing the importance of (i) coarse-resolution (i.e., among sites) vs. fine-resolution (i.e., within sites) environmental differences and (ii) changing environmental conditions between surveys. Our results clarify the mechanisms underlying the direction and magnitude of local-scale biodiversity changes. While not detecting any net local diversity loss, we observed considerable among-site variation, partly explained by temporal changes in light availability (a local driver) and density of large herbivores (a regional driver). Furthermore, strong evidence was found that presurvey levels of nitrogen deposition determined ...
The post-glacial fate of central European grasslands has stimulated palaeoecological debates for ... more The post-glacial fate of central European grasslands has stimulated palaeoecological debates for a century. Some argued for the continuous survival of open land, while others claimed that closed forest had developed during the Middle Holocene. The reasons behind stability or changes in the proportion of open land are also unclear. We aim to reconstruct regional vegetation openness and test the effects of climate and human impact on vegetation change throughout the Holocene. We present a newly dated pollen record from north-western fringes of the Pannonian Plain, east-central Europe, and reconstruct Holocene regional vegetation development by the REVEALS model for 27 pollen-equivalent taxa. Estimated vegetation is correlated in the same area with a human activity model based on all available archaeological information and a macrophysical climate model. The palaeovegetation record indicates the continuous presence of open land throughout the Holocene. Grasslands and open woodlands were probably maintained by local arid climatic conditions during the early Holocene delaying the spread of deciduous (oak) forests. Significantly detectable human-made landscape transformation started only after 2000 BC. Our analyses suggest that Neolithic people spread into a landscape that was already open. Humans probably contributed to the spread of oak, and influenced the dynamics of hazel and hornbeam.
Aim Resurveys of historical vegetation plots are increasingly used for the assessment of decadal ... more Aim Resurveys of historical vegetation plots are increasingly used for the assessment of decadal changes in plant species diversity and composition. However, historical plots are usually relocated only approximately. This potentially inflates temporal changes and undermines results.
Forests in Europe have been shaped considerably by human activities during most of the Holocene. ... more Forests in Europe have been shaped considerably by human activities during most of the Holocene. Changes in forest structure, distribution of tree species and forest biodiversity are partly driven by management history, and many current forest types result from former management. The interdisciplinary project "Long-term woodland dynamics in Central Europe: from estimations to a realistic model" (LONGWOOD) aims to reconstruct longterm dynamics of woodland cover, structure and management in the eastern Czech Republic (Moravia, ca. 27,000 km 2 ), compare the historical and present state of forests, and analyze general patterns of changes and stability of woodlands as well as the role of humans in these processes. In the LONGWOOD project, palaeoecological, archaeological, historical and ecological sources of information on woodland cover, species composition, and human activities (management, settlement density) over the past 7500 years are collected and integrated in the form of a geodatabase. Combining data of different origin, scale, degree of spatial precision and detail into a single geodatabase is a challenging task. The level of detail, information content, and spatiotemporal distribution of data varies between layers as well as individual records according to the nature of the data source and the data itself. The limited and incomplete sources of information until ca. 1100 AD provide a coarser view on forest history while the historical period (especially the past ca. 250 years) is covered by large amounts of precisely located ecological and historical data enabling detailed spatial and temporal analyses. Data on forest structure, history and management will be related to environmental factors (soil type, climate, elevation and other topographic variables derived from DEM) and social historical data (settlement distribution, population density, landuse). A spatio-temporal forest landscape model will be built to assess the forest changes and the main drivers of change.
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Papers by Martin Macek