Natural forest disturbances palaeoecology

This Bc. thesis deals with the disturbances, which form an integral part of many ecosystems. The main foci are natural disturbances (in contrast to anthropogenic ones) of temperate and boreal forests. I deal with the causes of major disturbancy factors (fires, storms, disease and insect pathogens) and their impact on the ecosystem. I focused in detail on fires, because they represent an essential factor in the development of many ecosystems. Moreover, they can be studied in the past by using several tools of palaeoecological analysis: dendroecology, anthracology and pollen analysis combined with micro-charcoal particles quantification. The last part of the thesis discusses the role of disturbances in the secular succession of Holocene vegetation in Central Europe. It contains a chapter that describes a research strategy focused to the study of natural disturbances through paleoecological methods in a specific location (Rynholec, Central Bohemia). Key words disturbances, vegetation dynamics, fire dynamics, secular succession, palaeoecological method