Modern pollen/land-use relationships as an aid in the reconstruction of past land-uses and cultural landscapes: an example from south Sweden

An on-going, integrated project concerning modern pollen/vegetation/land-use relationships in south Sweden is outlined. Some preliminary results and their potential uses in palaeoecological reconstructions are discussed. Moss polsters were collected from 92 examples of vegetation/land-use areas of south Sweden (e.g. nonfertilized grazed areas, burned and grazed heaths, traditionally managed fodder-producing meadows, etc.). A total of 23 land-use (e.g. management type) and environment variables (e.g. soil chemistry) is available for 84 sites. The 84 sample data-set was analysed by canonical correspondence analysis and associated statistical testing using Monte Carlo permutation tests to explore and test patterns of modern pollen variation in relation to the environment, and by weighted averaging regression and calibration to derive local-scale environmental and land-use reconstructions from fossil pollen assemblages preserved in a soil profile.