Zur Entwicklung eines montanen Quellmoores im Thüringer Wald und des Vegetationsmosaiks seiner Umgebung

Abstract

Summary Using a combination of palynological and phytosociological methods, the stages of development of a spring fen in the central Thuringian mountains and of the surrounding mosaic of vegetation have been reconstructed. Around the 6th century a spring fen with dominant Carex rostrata took the place of a swampy spruce-alder-forest with Athyrium filix-femina. Until the 9/10th centuries beech forests were widely spread, but in the surroundings of the fen there were not only mixed deciduous woods with Tilia platyphyllos and Corylus avellana but also spruce stands on some small special places (nearly 900 m above sea level) according to the different expositions. During the 16th century the spring fen turned into a high moor rather quickly, and Picea abies began to penetrate the beech forests. Not only in the fen, but also in the surrounding mineral soils the nutritive substances became less and the acidity of the soil rose. The origin of the bog, the stages of its development, and the changes of the entire mosaic of the vegetation are only understandable by climatical and hydrological variation in this area. The change from the spring fen to the raised bog gives the first direct proof for the change of climate in the Thuringian mountains during the late middle ages; it caused the natural tendency of spreading of Picea abies and the origin of the altitudinal belt of spruce. This process was increased by anthropogenic influence. In the ridges the genesis of raw humus under spruce began around the 14th century.