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Unraveling the naturalness of sweet chestnut forests (Castanea sativa Mill.) in central Spain

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Abstract

This paper describes the patterns and processes of vegetation change and fire history in the Late Holocene (c. 3,140 cal bp) palaeoecological sequence of El Tiemblo, in a mountainous area in central Spain (Gredos range, Spanish Central System), and provides the first Iberian pollen sequence undertaken within a Castanea sativa-dominated woodland. These new data reassess not only the autochthonous nature of the species in the region and in the Iberian Peninsula, but also the naturalness of well-developed sweet chestnut forests. The study focuses on anthropogenic dynamics linked both to the effects of livestock husbandry and the use of fire for forest clearance. With this aim, non-pollen palynomorphs (coprophilous fungi ascospores) and charcoal accumulation rate are useful indicators for assessing the increasing role of human influence on vegetation.

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Acknowledgments

We sincerely thank three anonymous reviewers and the editor for their constructive suggestions and comments. This work was funded by the project HAR2013-43701-P (Spanish Economy and Competitiveness Ministry) “Dinámicas socio-ecológicas, resiliencia y vulnerabilidad en un paisaje de montaña: el Sistema Central (9,000 cal bc-1850 cal ad) (DESIRÈ)”. J.A. López-Sáez is currently supported by a research Grant (Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport) at Caen Basse-Normandie University. We are grateful to A. López Andreu (RIP) and P. Sáez Navas for their collaboration and assistance during the field work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Grupo de Investigación Arqueobiología, Instituto de Historia, Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales, C.S.I.C., Albasanz 26-28, 28037, Madrid, Spain

    José Antonio López-Sáez, Sandra Robles-López, Sebastián Pérez-Díaz, Daniel Abel-Schaad & Reyes Luelmo-Lautenschlaeger

  2. LETG CAEN GEOPHEN-UMR 6554 CNRS, Université de Caen-Normandie, 14032, Caen Cedex 5, France

    Arthur Glais

  3. Departamento de Botánica, Facultad de Ciencias, Campus Universitario de Fuente Nueva, Universidad de Granada, 18071, Granada, Spain

    Francisca Alba-Sánchez

Authors
  1. José Antonio López-Sáez
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  2. Arthur Glais
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  3. Sandra Robles-López
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  4. Francisca Alba-Sánchez
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  7. Reyes Luelmo-Lautenschlaeger
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Correspondence to José Antonio López-Sáez.

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Communicated by W. Tinner.

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López-Sáez, J.A., Glais, A., Robles-López, S. et al. Unraveling the naturalness of sweet chestnut forests (Castanea sativa Mill.) in central Spain. Veget Hist Archaeobot 26, 167–182 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-016-0575-x

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