Dense forests in Europe are a modern invention:
The study is based on a large synthesis of independent lines of evidence. The researchers reviewed paleoecological studies covering the last 23 million years and combined multiple scientific “proxies” that reveal past vegetation structure and ecological processes. These included pollen records, plant macrofossils, charcoal particles from ancient fires, stable-isotope analyses of herbivore teeth and bones, fossil insects and mammals, and ancient environmental DNA preserved in sediments.
“Each type of proxy offers its own perspective, but together they let us see whether the landscapes were covered by dense forests, open grasslands, or a mix of the two. By combining these datasets across time—from the Miocene to the pre-industrial era—we could trace long-term changes in vegetation and the role of large herbivores with much greater confidence than earlier studies that used only one method,” explains the study’s lead author, ECONOVO Ph.D. student Szymon Czyzewski of Aarhus University.
The conclusion is clear: across this long period, the typical landscape was a dynamic tree- and flower-rich mosaic, where large wild herbivores such as elephants, rhinoceroses, aurochs and bison kept vegetation semi-open and diverse—and this was the case in temperate climates similar to those prevalent in Europe today, as well as in warmer and in cooler climates.
I wonder how much of this idea of the ur-forest is due to all that romantic 18th and 19th century Germanic nationalism? On the practical side, having a dense forest is also much easier than trying to reintroduce large herbivores like rhinos into European landscapes…
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