Reflections of slash-and-burn cultivation cycles in a varved sediment of Lake Pitkälampi (North Karelia, Finland)

Abstract

Land-use history of a small village from North Karelia, Finland, was studied with pollen and charcoal analyses. The principal aim of the study was to identify and quantify slash-and-hum induced rotational cycles using detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) and rarefaction analysis. Rotational cycles were especially clear in the rye pollen abundances, but were also manifested in the DCA ordination on the pollen assemblage level. Changes in land-use practices were distinct in the pollen richness in species, which was estimated with rarefaction analysis.