Holocene Environmental Changes and Human Impact in Mediterranean Landscapes

The Holocene epoch witnessed significant climatic oscillations, from the early postglacial warming to the mid-Holocene thermal maximum and subsequent Neoglacial cooling. Across the Mediterranean, these shifts drove contrasting precipitation regimes between northern and southern sectors and established an east–west dipole in seasonal rainfall. Vegetation responded with the expansion and contraction of temperate forests, the emergence of characteristic Mediterranean scrub and the development of agro-silvo-pastoral mosaics. Concurrently, human societies—from Neolithic farmers to Roman engineers and medieval pastoralists—intensively modified woodland cover, cultivated diverse crops and managed grazing, producing enduring landscape legacies. Interdisciplinary records drawn from sedimentary archives, pollen and biomolecular proxies reveal the tight coupling of environmental drivers and socio-economic decisions, offering insights for modern biodiversity conservation and sustainable land management in a changing climate.

Research from Nature Portfolio

One study reconstructed recurrent forest declines across the central and western Mediterranean over the Holocene, identifying an ~1,860-year cycle linked to shifts in large-scale climate modes, solar activity and ocean–atmosphere interactions. These declines coincided with opposing moisture anomalies on either side of the Tyrrhenian Sea and pointed to a complex interplay of North Atlantic oscillations and North African anticyclones. Another investigation integrated a 2,700-year pollen record from central Italy with high-resolution archaeological and archival data to examine sociopolitical drivers of landscape change. It demonstrated that abrupt shifts in forest composition and the rapid reorganisation of plant communities aligned more closely with political and demographic transformations than with gradual climatic trends, and that forest-management practices established by earlier societies continue to shape ecosystem services today.

Holocene Environmental Changes and Human Impact in Mediterranean Landscapes publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in holocene environmental changes and human impact in mediterranean landscapes across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Palynology: The study of pollen and spores preserved in sediments to reconstruct past vegetation and climate.

Proxy: An environmental indicator (for example, pollen assemblages or geochemical signatures) that infers past climate or ecosystem conditions.

Biomolecular marker: Organic compounds (such as triterpenes or lignin phenols) in sedimentary records used to detect former land-use or vegetation changes.

Agro-silvo-pastoral systems: Integrated land-use regimes combining crop cultivation, forestry and grazing to create a multifunctional landscape mosaic.

Multiproxy approach: The integration of multiple independent palaeoenvironmental indicators within a single study for robust reconstruction of past environments.

References

1. BRAIN - Holocene archaeo-data for assessing plant-cultural diversity in Italy and other Mediterranean regions. Scientific Data (2024).
2. Ecology meets archaeology: Past, present and future vegetation‐derived ecosystems services from the Nuragic Sardinia (1700–580 BCE). People and Nature (2023).
3. Pollen and Molecular Biomarkers from Sedimentary Archives in the Central Po Plain (N Italy): Assessing Their Potential to Deepen Changes in Natural and Agricultural Systems. Sustainability (2023).
4. North–south palaeohydrological contrasts in the central Mediterranean during the Holocene: tentative synthesis and working hypotheses. Climate of the Past (2013).
5. Holocene forest dynamics in central and western Mediterranean: periodicity, spatio-temporal patterns and climate influence. Scientific Reports (2018).
6. Historical ecology reveals landscape transformation coincident with cultural development in central Italy since the Roman Period. Scientific Reports (2018).