IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v6y2017i4p91-d123498.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Constraining the Deforestation History of Europe: Evaluation of Historical Land Use Scenarios with Pollen-Based Land Cover Reconstructions

Author

Listed:
  • Jed O. Kaplan

    (Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
    ARVE Research Sàrl, 1009 Pully, Switzerland)

  • Kristen M. Krumhardt

    (Environmental Studies Program and Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80303, USA)

  • Marie-José Gaillard

    (Department of Biology and Environmental Science, Linnaeus University, 391 82 Kalmar, Sweden)

  • Shinya Sugita

    (Institute of Ecology, Tallinn University, 10120 Tallinn, Estonia)

  • Anna-Kari Trondman

    (Department of Biology and Environmental Science, Linnaeus University, 391 82 Kalmar, Sweden)

  • Ralph Fyfe

    (School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK)

  • Laurent Marquer

    (Laboratoire Géographie de l’Environnement (GEODE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (UMR-CNRS 5602), Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès, 31058 Toulouse, France)

  • Florence Mazier

    (Laboratoire Géographie de l’Environnement (GEODE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (UMR-CNRS 5602), Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès, 31058 Toulouse, France)

  • Anne Birgitte Nielsen

    (Department of Geology, Lund University, 223 62 Lund, Sweden)

Abstract

Anthropogenic land cover change (ALCC) is the most important transformation of the Earth system that occurred in the preindustrial Holocene, with implications for carbon, water and sediment cycles, biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem services and regional and global climate. For example, anthropogenic deforestation in preindustrial Eurasia may have led to feedbacks to the climate system: both biogeophysical, regionally amplifying winter cold and summer warm temperatures, and biogeochemical, stabilizing atmospheric CO 2 concentrations and thus influencing global climate. Quantification of these effects is difficult, however, because scenarios of anthropogenic land cover change over the Holocene vary widely, with increasing disagreement back in time. Because land cover change had such widespread ramifications for the Earth system, it is essential to assess current ALCC scenarios in light of observations and provide guidance on which models are most realistic. Here, we perform a systematic evaluation of two widely-used ALCC scenarios (KK10 and HYDE3.1) in northern and part of central Europe using an independent, pollen-based reconstruction of Holocene land cover (REVEALS). Considering that ALCC in Europe primarily resulted in deforestation, we compare modeled land use with the cover of non-forest vegetation inferred from the pollen data. Though neither land cover change scenario matches the pollen-based reconstructions precisely, KK10 correlates well with REVEALS at the country scale, while HYDE systematically underestimates land use with increasing magnitude with time in the past. Discrepancies between modeled and reconstructed land use are caused by a number of factors, including assumptions of per-capita land use and socio-cultural factors that cannot be predicted on the basis of the characteristics of the physical environment, including dietary preferences, long-distance trade, the location of urban areas and social organization.

Suggested Citation

  • Jed O. Kaplan & Kristen M. Krumhardt & Marie-José Gaillard & Shinya Sugita & Anna-Kari Trondman & Ralph Fyfe & Laurent Marquer & Florence Mazier & Anne Birgitte Nielsen, 2017. "Constraining the Deforestation History of Europe: Evaluation of Historical Land Use Scenarios with Pollen-Based Land Cover Reconstructions," Land, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-20, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:6:y:2017:i:4:p:91-:d:123498
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/6/4/91/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/6/4/91/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stephen Shennan & Sean S. Downey & Adrian Timpson & Kevan Edinborough & Sue Colledge & Tim Kerig & Katie Manning & Mark G. Thomas, 2013. "Regional population collapse followed initial agriculture booms in mid-Holocene Europe," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 4(1), pages 1-8, December.
    2. Shilong Piao & Philippe Ciais & Yao Huang & Zehao Shen & Shushi Peng & Junsheng Li & Liping Zhou & Hongyan Liu & Yuecun Ma & Yihui Ding & Pierre Friedlingstein & Chunzhen Liu & Kun Tan & Yongqiang Yu , 2010. "The impacts of climate change on water resources and agriculture in China," Nature, Nature, vol. 467(7311), pages 43-51, September.
    3. Egorova, Yana, 2017. "Инвестирование Денежных Средств В Условиях Экономического Кризиса В 2017 Году," MPRA Paper 77648, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Zhengang Wang & Thomas Hoffmann & Johan Six & Jed O. Kaplan & Gerard Govers & Sebastian Doetterl & Kristof Van Oost, 2017. "Human-induced erosion has offset one-third of carbon emissions from land cover change," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 7(5), pages 345-349, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Giulio Fusco & Benedetta Coluccia & Federica De Leo, 2020. "Effect of Trade Openness on Food Security in the EU: A Dynamic Panel Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-13, June.
    2. Fan Yang & Fanneng He & Shicheng Li, 2020. "Spatially Explicit Reconstruction of Anthropogenic Grassland Cover Change in China from 1700 to 2000," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-15, August.
    3. Ryan E. Hughes & Erika Weiberg & Anton Bonnier & Martin Finné & Jed O. Kaplan, 2018. "Quantifying Land Use in Past Societies from Cultural Practice and Archaeological Data," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-21, January.
    4. Fan Yang & Fanneng He & Shicheng Li & Meijiao Li, 2019. "Exploring Spatiotemporal Pattern of Grassland Cover in Western China from 1661 to 1996," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-17, August.
    5. Shuangxi Miao & Shuyu Wang & Chunyan Huang & Xiaohong Xia & Lingling Sang & Jianxi Huang & Han Liu & Zheng Zhang & Junxiao Zhang & Xu Huang & Fei Gao, 2023. "A Big Data Grided Organization and Management Method for Cropland Quality Evaluation," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-20, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. He, Liuyue & Xu, Zhenci & Wang, Sufen & Bao, Jianxia & Fan, Yunfei & Daccache, Andre, 2022. "Optimal crop planting pattern can be harmful to reach carbon neutrality: Evidence from food-energy-water-carbon nexus perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    2. Ding, Yimin & Wang, Weiguang & Song, Ruiming & Shao, Quanxi & Jiao, Xiyun & Xing, Wanqiu, 2017. "Modeling spatial and temporal variability of the impact of climate change on rice irrigation water requirements in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 89-101.
    3. Bu, Lingduo & Chen, Xinping & Li, Shiqing & Liu, Jianliang & Zhu, Lin & Luo, Shasha & Lee Hill, Robert & Zhao, Ying, 2015. "The effect of adapting cultivars on the water use efficiency of dryland maize (Zea mays L.) in northwestern China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 1-9.
    4. Wenfeng Chi & Yuanyuan Zhao & Wenhui Kuang & Tao Pan & Tu Ba & Jinshen Zhao & Liang Jin & Sisi Wang, 2021. "Impact of Cropland Evolution on Soil Wind Erosion in Inner Mongolia of China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-16, June.
    5. Xu, Ying & Findlay, Christopher, 2019. "Farmers’ constraints, governmental support and climate change adaptation: Evidence from Guangdong Province, China," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 63(4), October.
    6. Zhongen Niu & Huimin Yan & Fang Liu, 2020. "Decreasing Cropping Intensity Dominated the Negative Trend of Cropland Productivity in Southern China in 2000–2015," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-14, December.
    7. Enrico R Crema & Shinya Shoda, 2021. "A Bayesian approach for fitting and comparing demographic growth models of radiocarbon dates: A case study on the Jomon-Yayoi transition in Kyushu (Japan)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(5), pages 1-26, May.
    8. Yuhong Shuai & Liming Yao, 2021. "Adjustable Robust Optimization for Multi-Period Water Allocation in Droughts Under Uncertainty," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 35(12), pages 4043-4065, September.
    9. Zhang, Fengtai & Xiao, Yuedong & Gao, Lei & Ma, Dalai & Su, Ruiqi & Yang, Qing, 2022. "How agricultural water use efficiency varies in China—A spatial-temporal analysis considering unexpected outputs," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    10. Chen, Qi & Qu, Zhaoming & Ma, Guohua & Wang, Wenjing & Dai, Jiaying & Zhang, Min & Wei, Zhanbo & Liu, Zhiguang, 2022. "Humic acid modulates growth, photosynthesis, hormone and osmolytes system of maize under drought conditions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    11. Kang, Shaozhong & Hao, Xinmei & Du, Taisheng & Tong, Ling & Su, Xiaoling & Lu, Hongna & Li, Xiaolin & Huo, Zailin & Li, Sien & Ding, Risheng, 2017. "Improving agricultural water productivity to ensure food security in China under changing environment: From research to practice," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 5-17.
    12. Zhihai Yang & Amin W. Mugera & Fan Zhang, 2016. "Investigating Yield Variability and Inefficiency in Rice Production: A Case Study in Central China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-11, August.
    13. Xiaoguang Chen & Madhu Khanna & Lu Yang, 2022. "The impacts of temperature on Chinese food processing firms," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 66(2), pages 256-279, April.
    14. Sicong Wang & Changhai Qin & Yong Zhao & Jing Zhao & Yuping Han, 2023. "The Evolutionary Path of the Center of Gravity for Water Use, the Population, and the Economy, and Their Decomposed Contributions in China from 1965 to 2019," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-20, June.
    15. Minghao Bai & Shenbei Zhou & Ting Tang, 2022. "A Reconstruction of Irrigated Cropland Extent in China from 2000 to 2019 Using the Synergy of Statistics and Satellite-Based Datasets," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-27, September.
    16. Yang, Wenjie & Li, Yanhang & Jia, Bingli & Liu, Lei & Yuan, Aijing & Liu, Jinshan & Qiu, Weihong, 2024. "Optimized fertilization based on fallow season precipitation and the Nutrient Expert system for dryland wheat reduced environmental risks and increased economic benefits," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 291(C).
    17. Wang, Guangshuai & Liang, Yueping & Zhang, Qian & Jha, Shiva K. & Gao, Yang & Shen, Xiaojun & Sun, Jingsheng & Duan, Aiwang, 2016. "Mitigated CH4 and N2O emissions and improved irrigation water use efficiency in winter wheat field with surface drip irrigation in the North China Plain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 403-407.
    18. Yoro Diallo & Sébastien Marchand & Etienne Espagne, 2019. "Impacts of extreme events on technical efficiency in Vietnamese agriculture," CIRED Working Papers halshs-02080285, HAL.
    19. Cao, Meng & Chen, Min & Liu, Ji & Liu, Yanli, 2022. "Assessing the performance of satellite soil moisture on agricultural drought monitoring in the North China Plain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    20. Xu, Zhihao & Yin, Xinan & Yang, Zhifeng & Cai, Yanpeng & Sun, Tao, 2016. "New model to assessing nutrient assimilative capacity in plant-dominated lakes: Considering ecological effects of hydrological changes," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 332(C), pages 94-102.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:6:y:2017:i:4:p:91-:d:123498. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.