The pollen records tell a various story. The samples revealed that plants that do not prosper in thick forests typically constituted large parts of the plants. This is for instance the case of the hazel, a bush that doesnt grow in big amounts in dense forests, which covered large locations of the landscape in the interglacial period.
For several years, the prevailing belief was that Europe was predominantly covered by thick forests in between ice ages, up till the development of contemporary human beings. Nevertheless, a new study shows this was not the case. Scientists discovered the landscape featured a much higher degree of semi-open and open plant life than formerly believed.
The researchers focused on Europes previous interglacial period, called the Eemian, which lasted from 129,000 years ago to around 115,000 years earlier. The majority of books on biology and forestry will suggest that big parts of Europe were covered by thick forests during this time, which were later on cut down by our forefathers with the development of modern farming.
Big animals, like the elephants in the illustration, most likely assisted keep part of the European landscape semi-open or open during last interglacial period. Image credits: Brennan Stokkerman.
” The concept that the landscape was covered by dense forest across most of the continent is merely not. Our outcomes show that we require to reassess our view of what European nature is,” Elena Pearce, research study author, said in a press release. “Nature during the last interglacial duration (with mild climate, similar to today) was full of variation.”
A team from Aarhus University worked with samples of ancient pollen to identify which plants grew more than 100,000 years ago in the last interglacial duration. Pollen is produced by the majority of flowers, trees and shrubs and normally bugs or the wind will select this pollen up and spread it to other plants. Sadly, a lot of it arrive at the ground– but over hundreds of countless years this pollen can become preserved.
In beech forests (Europes natural wilderness), tall trees take in the majority of the sunshine. This means that smaller sized shrubs and trees, such as hazel, have difficulty growing in a beech forest. “Hazel prospers outdoors countryside and in disturbed or open forest, and tolerates disruption from big animals,” Pearce stated in a press release.
Unmasking misconceptions
The function of large animals
Mercks rhino was one of the animals that liked to feed upon hazel leaves. Image credits: Brennan Stokkerman.
By eating, the animals could keep tree growth in check, Svenning kept in mind. While other aspects might have played a part, such as floods or forest fires, theres no evidence that suggests that this caused adequate disturbance. “Forest fires encourage evergreen, but mainly we did not discover pine as a dominant species,” he included.
While they arent 100% particular, the researchers found strong signs that large animals created the open locations. For one, big animals like bison in present-day Europe have the exact same impact in locations where they presently live. Secondly, beetle fossils (specifically dung beetles) from the last interglacial duration likewise show that many big animals lived in the area.
The researchers approximate that 50% to 75% of the landscape was covered by open or semi-open vegetation. And this was likely due to the large mammals that lived there, consisting of elephants, rhinos and horses. “They must have taken in large quantities of plant biomass,” study author Jens-Christian Svenning said.
An argument for rewilding
The findings not just recommend that we need to rewrite biology books but likewise that big animals may have a crucial role to play in biodiversity repair, the scientists said. They required nations to consider trophic rewilding, an environmental repair method that utilizes types introductions to restore top-down trophic interactions.
The samples revealed that plants that dont grow in thick forests frequently made up big components of the plant life. “Hazel grows in the open countryside and in disturbed or open forest, and tolerates disruption from big animals,” Pearce stated in a news release.
While they arent 100% particular, the researchers found strong signs that big animals developed the open areas. Beetle fossils (particularly dung beetles) from the last interglacial duration also show that lots of large animals lived in the location.
The research study was released in the journal Science Advances.
“Without large animals, natural areas become controlled by dense vegetation, in which many types of butterflies and plants, for example, can not prosper.
” Many of the large animals from the interglacial period are now extinct, but we still have bison, horses and oxen,” Pearce stated. “Without large animals, natural locations become dominated by dense plants, in which lots of species of plants and butterflies, for instance, can not flourish. Its essential we bring back large animals.”