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The phytogeographical regions of Slovenia: a consequence of natural environmental variation or prehistoric human activity?
Author(s) -
Andrič Maja,
Willis Katherine J.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.452
H-Index - 181
eISSN - 1365-2745
pISSN - 0022-0477
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2745.2003.00808.x
Subject(s) - prehistory , holocene , geography , tilia , woodland , ecology , vegetation (pathology) , physical geography , archaeology , pollen , biology , medicine , pathology
Summary1 Slovenia is a small but floristically diverse country with at least six distinctive phytogeographical regions. 2 The palaeoecological record was used to examine the vegetational history of this diverse landscape, using cores from four of the phytogeographical regions. 3 All contain records that extend back to at least 9000 cal. bp and indicate that the early Holocene vegetation of Slovenia was rather uniform and that broadleaved woodland containing Corylus , Quercus , Ulmus and Tilia prevailed throughout. 4 From 8800 cal. bp , however, distinctive regional differences became increasingly marked, with the onset of intensive forest clearance and burning from c. 3000 cal. bp . 5 The development of the present‐day landscape in Slovenia varied considerably between phytogeographical regions and in some regions was a consequence not only of climatic variation but also of the intensity of prehistoric human activity.