This dataset contains archaeological occupancy values, plant diversity values and environmental conditions in regular grids (5x3 arc minutes) over the study area (Czech Republic). These data were compiled from plant diversity database PLADIAS (Chytrý et al., 2021; Wild et al., 2019), archaeobotanical evidence (Pokorná et al. 2018), archaeological occupancy model (Kolář et al. 2022), climatologies (Karger et al., 2017; Karger et al., 2021), soil types (Tomášek, 2003) and forest cover (UHUL, www.uhul.cz). Data were processed in R using code which is part of this dataset. References: Chytrý M., Danihelka J., Kaplan Z., Wild J., Holubová D., Novotný P., Řezníčková M., Rohn M., Dřevojan P., Grulich V., Klimešová J., Lepš J., Lososová Z., Pergl J., Sádlo J., Šmarda P., Štěpánková P., Tichý L., Axmanová I., Bartušková A., Blažek P., Chrtek J., Fischer F.M., Guo W.-Y., Herben T., Janovský Z., Konečná M., Kühn I., Moravcová L., Petřík P., Pierce S., Prach K., Prokešová H., Štech M., Těšitel J., Těšitelová T., Večeřa M., Zelený D. & Pyšek P. (2021) Pladias Database of the Czech flora and vegetation. Preslia 93: 1–87. https://doi.org/10.23855/preslia.2021.001 Karger D.N., Conrad O., Böhner J., Kawohl T., Kreft H., Soria-Auza R.W., Zimmermann N.E., Linder H.P. & Kessler M. (2017) Climatologies at high resolution for the earth’s land surface areas. Scientific Data 4: 170122. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.122 Karger, D. N., Nobis, M. P., Normand, S., Graham, C. H., and Zimmermann, N. E.: CHELSA-TraCE21k v1.0. Downscaled transient temperature and precipitation data since the last glacial maximum, Clim. Past Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2021-30, in review, 2021. Kolář J., Macek M., Tkáč P., Novák D. & Abraham V. (2022) Long-term demographic trends and spatio-temporal distribution of past human activity in Central Europe: Comparison of archaeological and palaeoecological proxies. Quaternary Science Reviews 297: 107834. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107834 Pokorná A., Kočár P., Novák J., Šálková T., Žáčková P., Komárková V., Vaneček Z. & Sádlo J. (2018) Ancient and early medieval man-made habitats in the Czech Republic: Colonization history and vegetation changes. Preslia 90: 171–193. https://doi.org/10.23855/preslia.2018.171 Tomášek M. (2003) Půdy České republiky, 3rd edn. Česká geologická služba. ISBN 80-7075-607-1 Wild J., Kaplan Z., Danihelka J., Petřík P., Chytrý M., Novotný P., Rohn M., Šulc V., Brůna J., Chobot K., Ekrt L., Holubová D., Knollová I., Kocián P., Štech M., Štěpánek J. & Zouhar V. (2019) Plant distribution data for the Czech Republic integrated in the Pladias database. Preslia 91: 1–24. https://doi.org/10.23855/preslia.2019.001

Human population has affected natural ecosystems since prehistoric times in many ways, causing disturbances in existing ecosystems and creating novel habitats, and altering the colonisation and extinction rates with potentially long-lasting effects on biodiversity. Here, we explored the pervasive effects of past human occupancy on present-day diversity and the distribution of plant species introduced by humans in the distant past – archaeophytes – at the regional spatial scale. We analysed spatial relations between the present-day species richness of archaeophytes and native flora, the environmental setting, archaeological evidence, and the relationship between the residence time of archaeophytes and their regional range size. We used fine-scaled gridded information on plant diversity and archaeological records for the period 6000 BCE to 1000 CE summarised as average occupancy probability (AOP) in Czechia, Central Europe. The proportion of archaeophytes in local flora positively correlated to AOP. Variation partitioning revealed largely overlapping effects of AOP, environmental conditions, and present-day land use on the relative diversity of archaeophytes in local flora. The relationship between the minimum residence time of introduced species and their regional range size was weak and non-significant. Synthesis. Our results suggest that the present-day regional diversity of archaeophytes mirrors the intensity of past human settlement. However, the main underlying mechanism is the dispersal and environmental filtering of non-native species pools, while dispersal limitation plays a minor role in the regional patterns of archaeophyte diversity.

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