Institute of Plant Sciences

Research

Paleoecology - Vegetation Dynamics - Prof. Dr. Willy Tinner

Addresses ecological and climatic questions on annual to millennial time scales and uses quaternary sedimentary sequences (e.g. pollen, macrofossils, charcoal, diatoms, chironomids) and modelling approaches to study the long-term interactions among climate, the biosphere and society.

Collaborative Activities

International Moor Excursion

The International Moor Excursion (IME) aims to extensively discuss new paleoecological and paleoclimatic results in the landscape and at the study site

News

Nature Communications

Decadal-scale pollen records link land use and plant diversity change across European lowlands over seven millennia

This study reconstructs 7,600 years of plant diversity on the Swiss Plateau using lake sediments. It reveals that human land use has been the primary driver of biodiversity change for millennia. Diversity peaked in medieval landscapes but has recently declined due to industrial agriculture, suggesting past sustainable practices could help reverse current losses.

Fabian Rey, Willy Tinner, Erika Gobet, Eric Allan

Quaternary Science Reviews

Climate and human forcing of montane vegetation dynamics during the past 15,600 years in the Simmental, Northern Swiss Alps

Using paleoecological data, our study investigates vegetation, fire, land-use, and environmental dynamics at an intermediate elevation site (941 m). Four major vegetation transitions were identified, with the first three driven by climate and the last—marked by the spread of Picea abies—attributed to human land use. A significant landscape opening during the Bronze Age was linked to nearby settlement activity and is unusually pronounced for this alpine region. Our findings suggest that without sustainable farming practices, future climate change may trigger substantial vegetation shifts, including a return of temperate forests.

Sina Aregger, Lieveke van Vugt, Erika Gobet, Christoph Schwörer, Matthias Erb, Willy Tinner

Nature Communications

Wild and domesticated animal abundance is associated with greater late-Holocene alpine plant diversity

Understanding the drivers of plant diversity in montane regions is critical amid ongoing climate and land-use change. Using sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) from 14 lakes records across the European Alps, we tracked 603 plant taxa and 11 mammal species over the past 14,000 years. Our models show that wild ungulates and cattle have had a stronger influence on alpine plant diversity than temperature, particularly in the last 2,000 years. These findings underscore the long-term ecological impact of herbivores and provide insight into strategies for managing biodiversity under future land-use pressure.

Christoph Schwörer, Boris Vannière, Lieveke van Vugt, Willy Tinner

14.02.2024

Der Kanton stellt das Faulenseemoos vorsorglich unter Schutz

Die Universität Bern forscht seit bald 80 Jahren im stark gefährdeten Geotop, dessen Entdecker war der Spiezer Sekundarlehrer und Universitätsprofessor Max Welten. Im Faulenseemoos geben jahreszeitliche Schichtungen Auskunft über die Geschichte der Vegetation, zu Wasserpflanzen und Tieren, zur Qualität des Wassers, des Klimas zu Temperatur und Niederschlägen und sogar zur Intensität und Art der Landwirtschaft. Es bietet Einblick in 15’000 Jahre Erdgeschichte. Der Schutz durch den Kanton Bern ermöglicht es auch, das Moor als Biotop aufzuwerten.

Berner Oberländer/Thuner Tagblatt

Paleoecology

How open were temperate forests in Europe prior to the expansion of Homo sapiens?

Past interglacials, i.e. periods with similarly warm climatic conditions than today, offer valuable lessons about the vegetation structure and composition under anthropogenically non-disturbed conditions. Based on the fossil pollen data from 96 sites across Europe, an international team led by researchers of the Aarhus University, Denmark, modelled the vegetation structure of the last interglacial period (129’000 – 116’000 years ago). They conclude that temperate forests were possibly more open than generally thought and discuss the potential role of extinct large herbivores like elephants, rhinoceros, and aurochs.

Science Advances