Cluster analysis in pollen data of Holocene vegetation in Northern Ireland: 12,000 to 1,000 years BP - II. Phytogeographical reconstruction

Abstract

In a previous paper (Evans, 1992) non-hierarchica! unconstrained cluster analysis has been applied to a selection of Northern Ireland pollen data. In the present paper the identified vegetation types are mapped at intervals of 1,000 years starting from 12,000 BP. The effects of migrating taxa and man-induced forest clearance on the Holocene distribution of vegetation types in the area are described. Local vegetational chronosequences (Jessen, 1949; Mitchell, 1951), the European vegetation types described by Huntley & Birks (1982) and the post-glacial distribution of arboreal species in the British Isles as described by Birks (1990) are compared with the groups identified by the cluster analysis.