LAUSR

Abstract The threats posed by current and future changes in land use and climate have recently stressed the importance of evaluating the efficiency of present conservation measures that seek to restore or protect the naturalness of the wooded landscape. In Romania, the remaining old-growth forests in national parks have been consistently degraded by commercial logging and inappropriate forestry practices. This study provides an 8800 cal BP old history of compositional changes and disturbance regimes (natural and human induced) recorded in the old-growth Picea abies forests and P. abies–Fagus sylvatica–Abies alba mixed forests from the Rodna Mountains National Park. Our results reveal moderate turnover between 8800 and 5000 cal BP when vegetation dynamics were marked by the expansion of a closed P. abies forest and moderate disturbance intensity. The most stable compositional changes were recorded between 5000 and 1750 cal BP, primarily associated with the expansion of F. sylvatica and a low disturbance regime. The last 1750 years, but in particular over the last 50 years, correspond to the highest degree of turnover as a response to increased anthropogenic disturbance. This led to the reduced extent of the old-growth forest and extension of secondary forest (Pinus, Betula, Corylus avellana and Alnus glutinosa). This pollen based reconstruction of major forest cover loss over the last fifty years is also depicted in modern satellite imagery. Our long-term record indicates that the conservation status of the forests in this region is not efficiently implemented and in the future we may lose large tracts of the remaining old-growth forests.