Climatic control of the biomass-burning decline in the Americas after AD 1500

Power, M. J., Mayle, F. E. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9208-0519, Bartlein, P. J., Marlon, J. R., Anderson, R. S., Behling, H., Brown, K. J., Carcaillet, C., Colombaroli, D., Gavin, D. G., Hallett, D. J., Horn, S. P., Kennedy, L. M., Lane, C. S., Long, C. J., Moreno, P. I., Paitre, C., Robinson, G., Taylor, Z. and Walsh, M. K. (2013) Climatic control of the biomass-burning decline in the Americas after AD 1500. The Holocene, 23 (1). pp. 3-13. ISSN 0959-6836 doi: 10.1177/0959683612450196

Abstract/Summary

The significance and cause of the decline in biomass burning across the Americas after AD 1500 is a topic of considerable debate. We synthesized charcoal records (a proxy for biomass burning) from the Americas and from the remainder of the globe over the past 2000 years, and compared these with paleoclimatic records and population reconstructions. A distinct post-AD 1500 decrease in biomass burning is evident, not only in the Americas, but also globally, and both are similar in duration and timing to ‘Little Ice Age’ climate change. There is temporal and spatial variability in the expression of the biomass-burning decline across the Americas but, at a regional–continental scale, ‘Little Ice Age’ climate change was likely more important than indigenous population collapse in driving this decline.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/32924
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science > Earth Systems Science Science > School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science > Department of Geography and Environmental Science
Publisher	Sage Publications
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