Agricultural activity and its impact on terrestrial and marine ecosystems in the Baltic Sea region during the past 6000 years

拟议的项目旨在评估过去6000年间的农业活动以及波罗的海地区气候以及陆地和海洋生态系统的同时代变化。这将通过检查4个IODP-探险-347个地点的多年孢粉记录来实现。这些项目的主要假设是：a)农业活动在波罗的海地区沿海地区较早开始，并从南部蔓延到北部；b)农业活动导致相关的环境变化，如砍伐森林；c)气候参数，如降水，影响谷物种植强度；d)农业活动对海洋生态系统产生影响，这可以从水生孢粉和其他微型化石的组合中看出。选定的四个地点分别位于西南部(M0059号地点)、中部(M0063号地点)和波罗的海西北部(M0061/M0062号地点)。农业活动应通过栽培植物，特别是黑麦(黑麦)或小麦(小麦)的花粉粒的出现来识别。过去的~1600年应该在特别高的时间分辨率(~25年到~50年)下进行分析。该项目将有助于分析农业活动的时间，例如，在选定地点所反映的不同波罗的海地区推广谷类耕作需要多长时间，或者何时出现特别密集的农业活动阶段。在沿海地区和内陆地区采用谷物耕作的时间差异，应通过与已经公布的陆地记录进行比较来评估。该项目还将有助于更好地了解陆地生态系统的同步变化，例如过去6000年来的森林砍伐或植物类群迁移。通过应用不同的气候重建方法，可以对农业活动的气候框架条件进行评估。此外，由于应对海洋沉积物进行分析，因此可以通过对水生孢粉的检查来确定水生生态系统的同时代变化。因此，可以查明农业活动是否影响了海洋领域，例如通过增加养分投入。合作者产生的数据(例如基于硅藻和有孔虫的数据集)应包括在分析中。已钻探现场的盆地中的高沉积率保证了能够实现适当的时间分辨率。IODP-Expedition-347陆上项目期间和正在进行的项目框架内的试点研究表明，孢粉在不同地点保存得非常完好，北部地点之一的沉积物含有摇蚊遗骸，保存完好。拟议研究的结果将大大有助于更详细地了解波罗的海区域农业活动以及环境和气候动态的发展和影响。

The proposed project aims at the assessment of agricultural activity during the past 6000 years and of coeval changes in climate and in terrestrial and marine ecosystems in the Baltic Sea region. This shall be achieved by the examination of multi-decadal palynological records from four IODP-Expedition-347 sites. The main hypotheses of the projects are that a) agricultural activity started earlier in coastal areas of the Baltic region and spread from the South to the North, b) agricultural activity resulted in related environmental changes such as deforestation, c) climate parameters such as precipitation influenced the intensity of cereal farming, and d) agricultural activity had an impact on marine ecosystems which can be identified in assemblages of aquatic palynomorphs and other microfossils. The four selected sites are situated in the south-western (Site M0059), the central (Site M0063), and the north-western Baltic Sea (Sites M0061/M0062). Agricultural activity shall be recognized via occurrences of pollen grains of cultivated plants, particularly cereals such as rye (Secale) or wheat (Triticum). The past ~1600 years shall be analysed in particularly high temporal resolution (~25 to ~50 years). The project will allow to analyse the timing of agricultural activity, e.g., how long it took until cereal farming was introduced to the different Baltic Sea areas reflected by the selected sites, or when phases of particularly intensive agricultural activity occurred. Differences in the timing of the introduction of cereal farming in coastal areas and in the hinterland shall be assessed by comparison with already published terrestrial records. The project will also contribute to a better understanding of synchronous changes in terrestrial ecosystems, such as deforestation or migration of plant taxa over the past 6000 years. By applying different methods of climate reconstruction, the climatic frame conditions of agricultural activity can be assessed. Moreover, since marine sediments shall be analysed, coeval changes in aquatic ecosystems can be identified by the examination of aquatic palynomorphs. Thus, it can be found out if agricultural activity influenced the marine realm, e.g. via increased nutrient input. Data generated by collaborators (e.g. diatom- and foraminifer-based datasets) shall be included in the analyses.High sedimentation rates in the basins where the sites have been drilled guarantee that an appropriate temporal resolution can be achieved. Pilot studies during IODP-Expedition-347 onshore party and in the framework of ongoing projects have shown that palynomorphs are very well-preserved at the different sites, and that sediments from one of the northern sites contain chironomid remains in excellent preservation. The results of the proposed study will significantly contribute to a more detailed view on the development and impact of agricultural activity and of environment and climate dynamics in the Baltic Sea region.