Land-use changes in the Alps (Slovenia) in the fifteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries AD: A comparative study of the pollen record and historical data

Abstract

This paper compares a high resolution, near-annual pollen record from the Šijec raised bog (1194 m a.s.l., Pokljuka, Slovenia) with historical land-use maps in order to understand how the Alpine environment has altered because of changeable economic trends in the fifteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries AD. In the fifteenth century AD the study site was surrounded by mixed forest ( Fagus, Abies, Picea, Quercus) and agricultural fields and pastures, but by the beginning of the nineteenth century AD the landscape had become more open, with very intensive agricultural land-use and grazing. The forest composition also changed: Fagus and Abies declined because of intensive grazing and ironworks (forest clearance and charcoal production). In the second half of the nineteenth and at the beginning of the twentieth century AD, forest recovered, but farming activities continued and, as a result of the forestry policy, Picea prevailed. After AD 1945 agricultural economy declined and mixed forests, which today cover more than 70% of land, are still expanding.