I CHEMOSPHERE PERGAMON Chemosphere 49 (2002) 845-863 www.elsevier.comllocate/chemosphere Holocene biomass burning and global dynamics of the carbon cycle C. Carcaillet a,*, H. Almquist b' H. Asnong c, R.H.W. Bradshaw ct, J.S. Carri6n e, M.-J. Gaillard r, K. Gajewski g, J.N. Haas h, S.G. Haberle P. Hadorn j' S.D. Müller c,k, P.J.H. Richard c, I. Richoz \ M. Rösch m, M.F. Sanchez Gofii n, H. von Stedingk a, A.C. Stevenson °, B. Talon k C. Tardy P, W. Tinner q' E. Tryterud r, L. Wiek q' K.J. Willis s a Department of Forest Vegetation Ecology, S1redish Unit•ersity of Agriculwral Sciences, S-90183 Umeti. Sireden b 1nstitute for Quaternary and C/inul!e Studies. Unit-ersity of Maine. Orono, ME 04469, USA c Dept de Geographie, Unir. de Mon/real. Montreal Que., Canada H3C 3J7 d Departm.-nt of Enrironmental History and Climate Change, Geologica/ Surrey of Denmark and Green land, DK-2400 Copenhagen NV. Denmark c Depto de Biologia Vegetal, Facultad de Biologia, Univ. de Murcia, E-30100 Murcia, Spain r Schoo/ of Bioseiences and Process Tedmo/ogy IBP, Vtixjö Unir. , SE-35195 Vaxjö, Sweden 8 Department of Geography, Unirersity of Ollawa, Ollawa, Ont., Canada Kl N 6N5 h Department of Botany, Uniz-ersity of lnnsbruck, A-6020 1nnsbruck, Austria i Schoo/ of Geograph)' and Environmental Sch·nce, PO Box I I A, Monash Unirersity, Victoria 3800, Austra/ia j Service cantanal d'archeo/ogie, CH-2000 Neuchiitel, Sll'it:er/and k Jvlusee et Jardins Botaniques cantonaux de Lausanne, CH-1007 Lausanne, 1 Landesdenkmalamt Baden- Wurllemherg, Fieshersteig 9, D- 78343 Hemmenhofen. Germany m Dept de Geologie et Oceanographi e, Ecole Pratique des Hautes E tud es, CNRS/Unir. Bord eaux 1, F-33405 Ta/en ce, France " Department of Geography, Un itwsity of NeH·castle, N ewca.Hie-u pon-Tyne, N EI 7 R V, UK Abstract o Institut MMiterraneen d'i:co/ogie et de Pa/eoecologie. CNRS/Univ. Marseille 3, F-13397 Marseille. France P Institut de Botanique. CNRS/Univ. Montpel/ier 2. F-34090 Montpel/ier, France q Institut flir Pjfan:emrissenschaften, Unirersity of Bern, CH-3013 Bern, Swit:erl and ' Department of Biology and Nature Comerwtion. Agricultural University of Nonray, N-1432 As, Nonmy 'Sc/wo/ of Geography, Unilwsity of Oxf ord, Oxford OXI 3TB. UK Accepted I February 2002 Fire regimes have changed during the Holocene due to changes in climate , vegetation, andin huma n prac tices. Here, we hypothesise that changes in fire regime may have affected the glo bal co2 concentra tion in the atmosphere through the Holocene . Our data are basedonquantitative reconstructions of biomass burning deduced from stratified charcoal records from Europe, and South-, Central- and North America, and Ocea nia to test the fire-carbon r elease hypothesis. In Europe the significant increase of fire activity is dated :::::6000 cal. yr ago. In north-eastern North America burn ing activity was greatest before 7500 years ago, very low between 7500- 3000 ye ar s, and has been incr easing since 3000 years ago. In tropical America, the pattern is more complex and apparently latitudinall y zonal. Maximum burning occurred in the southern Arnazon basin andin Central America during the middle Holocene , and during the last 2000 years in the ·corresponding author. Address: Institut de Botanique, Ecok Prat ique des Hautes Etudes, CNRS/llniv. Montpellier 2, 163 r ue Broussonet, F-34090 Montpellier, France. Tel.: +33-499-23-2\-80; fax : +33-467-54-35-37. E-mail address: carcaillet@univ-montp2.fr (C. Carcaillet ). - see front matter © 2002 Elsevier Sci ence Ltd. All rights reserved. PI!: