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Late Holocene regime shifts in moorland ecosystems: high resolution data from the Pennines, UK

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Abstract

Identifying critical shifts in ecosystems caused by human impacts has become a priority for understanding resilience to change and setting realistic landscape management goals. Previous work suggests that many British blanket peats have suffered a loss of functional integrity over recent centuries, but it is unclear whether all moorland habitats are equally vulnerable. This study examines the relative sensitivity of four contrasting moorland communities to historic land-use changes and assesses whether these management pressures are pushing some moorlands beyond their Holocene range of variability. Late Holocene dynamics in the Peak District, northern England, were investigated using high resolution pollen, fungal spore and charcoal data, and multivariate analyses. All sites show high Calluna values during the 19th century and converge on local Poaceae dominance during the 20th century. This involved a shift from gradual or cyclical variability and moderate changes in pollen abundance during preceding centuries, to rapid transitions between mono-dominant pollen assemblages and a functional shift to taxa with competitive traits; these are interpreted as a regime shift. Evidence for the recent recovery of dwarf shrubs and Sphagnum is strong at one site, with slight evidence from two others, but disturbance could push the system back to grass dominance. The deep blanket peat site may have crossed a threshold, leading to a persistent grass dominated state. Studying regime shifts on decadal to centennial scales can help bridge the gap between ecology and palaeoecology by providing a robust basis for assessing vulnerability, setting restoration priorities and managing novel peatland states.

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Acknowledgments

I thank landowners and managers for site access and management information, Richard Streeter and Ian Lawson for useful discussions about resilience, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. This research was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council through the Rural Economy and Land-Use Programme (RES-229-27-0003). All raw data have been archived in Davies (2012).

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  1. Department of Geography and Sustainable Development, School of Geography and Geosciences, University of St. Andrews, North Street, St. Andrews, KY16 9AL, Scotland, UK

    Althea L. Davies

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Davies, A.L. Late Holocene regime shifts in moorland ecosystems: high resolution data from the Pennines, UK. Veget Hist Archaeobot 25, 207–219 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-015-0544-9

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