TITLE:
Future Climate Impacts in Woodland and Forest Steppe Based on Holocene Paleoclimatic Trends, Paleobotanical Change in Central Part of the Carpathian Basin (Hungary)
AUTHORS:
Katalin Náfrádi, Gusztáv Jakab, Pál Sümegi, Zoltán Szelepcsényi, Tünde Törőcsik
KEYWORDS:
Carpathian Basin; Climatic Change; Forest Transformation; Paleoecological Data
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.4 No.6,
June
10,
2013
ABSTRACT:
The Sirok
Nyírjes-tó peat bog provides an almost full Holocene climatic record
reconstructed by bog surface wetness investigations based on plant macrofossil
analysis. We compared our macrofossil data
to anthracological material derived from archaeological sites
and to the newest bioclimatological models of the Carpathian basin. On the
basis of environmental historical and climatic data we aimed to reconstruct the
expected changes of forested areas in the Carpathian Basin. The results
indicate that the surface wetness decreases in long term. Parallel to
the Sphagnum-peat decline an open forest and forest steppe developed
surrounding the bog. The complete disappearance of Sphagna from the area must
be linked to a steady drop in rainfall, resulting in at least 50 mm deficit in
the local water balance. This could have been achieved by an increased
evapotranspiration as a result of elevated temperatures of the summer growth
season. This deficit value must have exceeded even 100 mm during the Middle
Holocene Transition.