Human impact on vegetation at Lago di Vedana (Dolomites, Northern Italy) during the last seven centuries

Abstract

Studying the legacies of past human-environment interactions is essential for understanding current landscape and biodiversity patterns. Human influences on past terrestrial and aquatic vegetation are reconstructed based on palynological analysis conducted on a sediment core from Lago di Vedana (Province of Belluno, Northern Italy). This study represents the first pollen record from the Dolomitic lowlands with varying anthropogenic influences throughout the last 700 years. The radiocarbon-dated pollen record begins ca. A.D. 1300 with semi-open forest and moderate human impact, possibly due to activities of the nearby hospice of San Gottardo. Human impact increased with the foundation of the Vedana Charterhouse in the immediate catchment of the lake in A.D. 1457. Activities of the monks involved extensive forest clearing, cultivation of Cannabis/Humulus and possibly hemp retting. In the 19th century the composition of cultivated species changed following the transformation of the Charterhouse into a farm. The 20th century is characterized by expansion of forest taxa and a distinct decline of human influences, probably due to a rural exodus and abandonment of agricultural activities. Vegetation development at Lago di Vedana is consistent with general trends in the Italian Alps and reveals local cultivation practices. The results illustrate the close intertwinement of climatic trends and local human influences, modulated by regional socio-cultural developments during the last millennium.