Herbivory and vegetation openness in a pre-farming European landscape
Goslinga, William D de Wolf, Iris K Witteveen, Nina H de Zwaan, Suzanne B van Teulingen, Corné Föllmia, Dante Thissen, Waas Woutersen, Amber Philip, Annemarie L van Herk, Maria J
Goslinga, William D
de Wolf, Iris K
Witteveen, Nina H
de Zwaan, Suzanne B
van Teulingen, Corné
Föllmia, Dante
Thissen, Waas
Woutersen, Amber
Philip, Annemarie L
van Herk, Maria J
Series / Report no.
Open Access
Type
Article
Language
en
Date of publication
2025-11-14
Year of publication
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Title
Herbivory and vegetation openness in a pre-farming European landscape
Translated Title
Published in
Plant Ecol Divers 2026; 19(1-2):1-22
Abstract
Background
The role and relative importance of ecological processes (herbivory, fire) and human actions in shaping the pre-farming landscape of temperate north-west Europe is controversial, particularly in relation to processes that could have led to an open vegetation structure.
Aims
Reconstruct the changing role of herbivory, fire, and human activity in shaping a landscape in north-west Europe.
Methods
We present a multi-proxy study from a sedimentary record at an archaeological site on the Meuse floodplain (Netherlands). We reconstruct local vegetation cover (phytoliths, macrofossils), regional vegetation cover (pollen), depositional and aquatic environment (sediment physical properties, diatoms and aquatic macrofossils), herbivory (non-pollen palynomorphs) and fire (charcoal).
Results
High herbivory and low fire activity characterised the pre-farming landscape. Regional-scale vegetation dynamics were stable, the vegetation being dominated by trees, but local vegetation fluctuated periodically between open and closed canopy. Cultivation commenced around 6500 years ago (elevated Cerealia-type pollen), and subsequently, fire activity increased (c. 6500 years ago), and herbivores disappeared (c. 5200 years ago).
Conclusions
Herbivory in the pre-farming landscape maintained a dynamic mosaic of open vegetation within a forest matrix, which ceased when cultivation began. Our data show that humans have fundamentally changed the balance between herbivory and fire dynamics over thousands of years.