Multidisciplinary approach for reconstructing past local land-use practices: Two case studies from the Ligurian Apennines, north-western Italy

Characterising local pastoral activities and multiple management systems that shaped past and present landscapes is critical for better understanding main historical processes of biodiversification, species distributions and biomass. The aim of the present paper is to add new information on previous studies by combining biostratigraphical proxies (pollen, charcoal and non-pollen palynomorphs) with data from written historical records (cartographic and archival) and archaeological excavations for the last centuries from two sites located in the eastern Ligurian Apennines, north-western Italy. Additionally, a statistical approach was used to calculate the relative importance of temperature variations, fire dynamics, changes in arboreal coverage, presence of stagnant water/temporary pools and grazing pressure on selected groups of pollen taxa associated with different management practices for the specific study area. The use of a multiple analytical methodology allowed highlighting several phases of land-use, which could be related to different socio-economic strategies sometime associated to historical conflicts between local communities. Our analyses identified indicator species of the past presence of cultivated fields, meadows, grazing areas and use of controlled fires, as well as heathlands and wetlands managed for pasture and agriculture, and provided evidences of the disappearance of landscapes more ‘complex’ than today, due to the abandonment of past management practices. These results have relevance for improving the ability to manage ecosystems during current and future environmental changes.