The sharp decline in seminatural areas worldwide is undisputed, but the consequences of this decline, apart from the loss of biodiversity, cannot be fully assessed.To restore ecosystems or landscapes, it is essential to have so-called reference sites.We want to show how reliable reference sites can be found in heavily used landscapes with the help of independent sources, and we present an approach that can be used in other regions, because it is very well suited for developing essential databases in the context of theses at different levels.A forest of seminatural stocking was selected in northeast Germany as a case study.The mapping of archival sources and the analyses of historical maps as well as field investigations were combined to reconstruct the dynamics of vegetation and soil for the last several centuries to thousands of years.Palynological data from nearby sites show that the study area has been forested for several millennia and has been less influenced by humans in the last 450 years.Together with historical maps of tree species composition, it allows to infer that the specific forest has been preserved in good ecological conditions for at least 250 years.Soil inventory and field studies on two catenas and corings support this conclusion, as they rarely show signs of anthropogenic erosion and related colluviation.Using a multisource approach, it is possible to identify potential reference sites that provide a reliable basis for ecosystem or landscape restoration.

BackgroundThe sharp decline in near-natural areas worldwide is undisputed, but the consequences of this decline, apart from the loss of biodiversity, cannot be fully assessed. Biotic components of a landscape are usually more easily assessed than the abiotic components, since biotic components are often more easily detectable. A forest of (semi)natural stocking was selected in the northeastern part of Brandenburg (northeast Germany) to check whether it can serve as reference site for near-natural conditions or not. Analyses of archival sources and historic maps as well as field investigations were combined to reconstruct the dynamics of vegetation and soil as far back in time as possible.ResultsPalynological data from nearby sites provide evidence that the investigated area has been forested for several thousands of years and has hardly been structurally influenced by humans in the last 450 years. This evidence together with historical maps of tree species composition allows us to infer that the specific forest has been very close to a natural state for at least 250 years. Soil investigations support this conclusion, since a soil inventory, field studies on two catenas and corings at selected depressions rarely show signs of anthropogenic erosion and related colluviation. Parts of the area were cleared in prehistory, but near-natural soils have been preserved in other parts. ConclusionsThe area with these undisturbed parts is regarded as an ideal reference site. With this study, we show that using a multi-source approach it is possible to find potential reference sites and that such an approach is applicable in other regions.

Knowledge of historic changes in vegetation, relief, and soil is key in understanding how the uplands in central Europe have changed during the last millennium, being an essential requirement for measures on forest conversion and nature conservation in that area. Evidence of forest-clearing horizons from the medieval period could be systematically documented at four low- to mid-altitudinal sites (360-640 meters above mean sea level) in the Harz (Harz Mountains), Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains), and Ceskomoravska vrchovina (Bohemian-Moravian Highlands). Subfossil trees with traces of human cutmarks and burning were recovered from buried wet-organic soils (paleosols) within a context of mining and settlement archaeology, applying a multiproxy-approach by using data from archaeology, paleobotany, geochronology, dendrochronology, and pedology. Tree stumps and trunks, as well as small-scale wood remains represent an in situ record of local conifer stands (spruce, fir, and pine). Some deciduous tree taxa also occur. Dating of the tree remains yielded ages from the 10th/11th to the 13th/14th centuries A.D. After deforestation, the tree remains were buried by technogenic and alluvial-colluvial deposits. The reconstructed conifer-dominated woodlands on wet soils mirror the local vegetation structure immediately before the medieval deforestation. As such wet sites are common in the uplands, conifers were significantly present in the natural vegetation even at mid and lower altitudes.

Since the twelfth century, forest areas in the upper reaches of the low mountain ranges of central Europe provided an important source of wood and charcoal especially for mining and smelting as well as glass production. In this case study from a site in the upper Erzgebirge region (Ore Mountains), results from archeological, geophysical, pedo-sedimentological, geochemical, anthracological, and palynological analyses have been closely linked to allow for a diachronic reconstruction of changing land use and varying intensities of human impact with a special focus on the fourteenth to the twentieth century. While human presence during the thirteenth century can only be assumed from archeological material, the establishment of glass kilns together with quartz mining shafts during the fourteenth century has left behind more prominent traces in the landscape. However, although glass production is generally assumed to have caused intensive deforestation, the impact on this site appears rather weak compared to the sixteenth century onwards, when charcoal production, probably associated with emerging mining activities in the region, became important. Local deforestation and soil erosion has been associated mainly with this later phase of charcoal production and may indicate that the human impact of glass production is sometimes overestimated.