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1 2013

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Lightning-caused and human-induced forest fires as evidenced by Pteridium spores in selected Quaternary records from Poland

Bińka K., Nitychoruk J.

Studia Quaternaria

2013

Vol. 30, Nr 1

29--40

The occurrence of Pteridium spores - the common fire-adapted plant - was observed in Poland's Pleistocene (three interglacials and numerous interstadials) and Holocene pollen sequences. Until the onset of the middle Holocene, bracken was recorded relatively rarely. This marks climatic conditions with sporadic wildfires, followed by quick removal of the clones (or maintenance of the clones in a suppressed state) in the subsequent, post fire successional stages. In each interglacial we can also identify short periods (most often synchronous) of somewhat higher frequency of Pteridium, indicating a possible increase in natural fires as an effect of stormy conditions. These short periods are placed mainly within phases dominated by coniferous woodlands. The very high content of bracken found from a reanalysis of the long Saalian sequence at Ossówka as three regular culminations just above three non-tree phases, eastern Poland is the unique exception. To explain this we found the close modern analogue of the above phenomenon in the Alaskan region, at the boundary between the tundra and the boreal zone where in a very narrow forest zone, especially with the continental signature, lightning-initiated fires are very frequent (the edge effect). Pleistocene records of bracken during forest periods might indicate that thunderstorms and lightning strikes were responsible for its higher content. This is not to exclude the possibility that interglacial fires were set by Palaeolithic humans. However, it is more likely that the wildfires were utilized and to some extent controlled, especially at Ossówka, where the palaeolake existed for a long time after the interglacial; and this surely attracted the attention of game and humans. Our investigations show that rare, more abundant Pteridium in the Pleistocene sequences can be traced throughout the corresponding periods even at distant sites. This might be indirect evidence of a climatic pattern that promote stormy conditions and fires at that time. In the Holocene, different factors seem to be responsible for the long-term dynamics in Pteridium clones. Both in Poland and in adjacent areas bracken peaked in the middle Holocene from 8000 to 5000 BP, when this territory was occupied by deciduous woodlands. There is agreement that this is due to burning of forests by the hunter-gatherer societies of the Late Mesolithic. However, in spite of increased clearings in the subsequent phases bracken substantially decreased in abundance. This means first of all that fires rather than clearings were responsible for the rise in Pteridium spores in the Holocene pollen sequences.