Quantification of the population dynamics of Pinus and Ulmus in Europe

Abstract

This thesis addresses the need to elucidate tree population dynamics at a local and regional scale. Herein tests and develops a variety of methods to quantify tree population dynamics at varying temporal and spatial scales. In doing so it achieves new ecological insight into populations of Pinus sylvestris in Ireland and Pinus and Ulmus across Europe. These aims were achieved by capitalising on the new opportunities created by open source online databases and recent advancements in the sophistication of age-depth modelling tools. There were four principal components to the work: (1) A local fine resolution fossil pollen analysis for a P. sylvestris stand in the west of Ireland. (2) A regional study of pine stump macrofossils in Irish bogs. (3) An analysis of the spatio-temporal distribution of population peaks in Pinus and Ulmus in Europe during the Holocene. (4) An analysis of the spatio-temporal distribution of the post-glacial population rise and mid-Holocene decline events of Pinus and Ulmus in Europe during the Holocene.