Pollen indicators of human activity

Abstract

The study of past human activities and their environmental effect is high in the agenda of global change research. A record of pollen assemblages is one of the most common proxies employed for detecting the impact of human activities on the landscape. In this review, we provide a summary and discussion on the recent progress on the use of pollen as indicators of human activity. For most of the studies related to human impact, the following features have been focused on: (1) decline of certain tree pollen; (2) flourishing of pioneer plant pollen; (3) concomitant occurrence of cereal-type pollen and cropland weed pollen; (4) abrupt changes in pollen concentration and richness; and (5) occurrence of nitrophilous plants and pastoral weed. Pollen of anthropogenic plants (weeds and cereal-type plants) is ideal indicators of human activities. Different types of human activities will result in different pollen assemblages. Patterns of human-impacted pollen spectra would vary between forested areas and grassland. In the study of human impact with pollen data, high resolution in both time and space must be considered. High resolution in space will help to inform the complexity of the landscape. More importantly, it can help to reveal the interference of human activities on the landscape, hence avoiding the bias created by the limited data points. Fine resolution in time will make accurate recording of short-lived events possible, hence avoiding the exclusion of events related to human activities. The combination of palynology with other proxies will help to decipher more accurately landscape changes through time. Charcoal is a particularly useful proxy for recording the disturbance of humans on vegetation. Its peak values usually occur with pronounced drop of tree pollen and significant rise of anthropogenic pollen.