Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Holocène – Europe'

Des cartes isochrones représentant la migration de neuf taxons forestiers sont présentées. Ces cartes permettent l'identification de refuges et des routes de recolonisation. Ces taxons montrent des réponses individuelles aux changements environnementaux durant la période de migration. Ceci renforce la théorie des communautés en tant que structures temporaires. Des études comparatives basées sur les données polliniques et génétiques sont présentées pour deux taxons afin de mieux comprendre la migration postglaciaire observée des cartes polliniques. Des relations significatives ont été trouvées entre ces paramètres historiques et la diversité génétique. Ceci suggère qu'au niveau génétique, la diversité est largement dictée par l'histoire de l'espèce. Ces approches comparatives offrent par conséquent la perspective d'une plus grande compréhension de distribution des arbres forestiers dans le passé et produisent ainsi un savoir vital pour la gestion future des écosystèmes.

L'érosion mécanique des surfaces continentales, ou "détritisme", résulte du forçage climatique mais peut être amplifiée par le forçage anthropique. Cette érosion des sols, et sa compréhension, représentent aujourd'hui un questionnement sociétal majeur. Le présent travail s'est donc intéresse aux relations étroites liant climat, Homme et détritisme, dans les environnements continentaux holocènes. Associée à une démarche analytique multiparamètres, couplant quantification et modélisation de l'érosion des sols, l'étude intégrée et la comparaison de différents systèmes lacustres d'Europe occidentale, d'altitude et de piedmont, alpins et pyrénéens, a permis d'obtenir les informations suivantes. A long terme, la bipartition climatique Holocène (Optimum Climatique/Néoglaciaire) s'illustre par une augmentation de l'humidité, généralisée en Europe occidentale, et de l'ordre de 800 mm/an dans les Alpes françaises. Cette transition résulterait d'un relais entre le forçage solaire et le couplage océan/atmosphère. A court terme, l'Holocène est ponctué de périodes plus humides ou plus sèches, synchrones a l'échelle de l'Europe occidentale, et culminant avec le Petit Age Glaciaire. La présence humaine est d'abord mise en évidence dans les systèmes de piedmont et est synchrone a l'échelle des Alpes (Néolithique). Elle parait plus tardive dans les sites de haute altitude (Age du Bronze). L'implantation humaine en altitude et en piedmont est régulée par l'accessibilité aux sites, mais également par des rétroactions climatiques négatives. En piedmont, ces rétroactions négatives ne sont effectives que jusqu'à l'Age du Fer. Si le détritisme est dans un premier temps principalement controlé par le climat, il subit les conséquences de l'anthropisation des le Néolithique dans les Préalpes. Cette anthropisation est limitée aux systèmes de piedmont, ou elle explique jusqu'à 50% de l'érosion des sols, notamment pendant l'Age du Bronze, l'Age du Fer et le dernier siècle.

Déchiffrer le climat de l’Holocène est la base d’une meilleure compréhension du climat moderne. En effet, à cette époque le climat en Europe est très complexe est montre de fortes variations spatiales et il reste beaucoup à faire pour améliorer la couverture géographique d’enregistrements bien datés et de haute résolution. En tant qu’archives paléoclimatiques, les spéléothèmes ont de larges avantages concernant leur chronologie et leur résolution temporelle et peuvent aider à combler cette lacune. Dans cette thèse, des stalagmites holocènes ont été sélectionnées selon un transect N-S entre les latitudes 35° et 65°N à l’ouest de l’Europe et du bassin méditerranéen (de la Suède à l’Algérie). Elles ont été datées densément par U-Th et échantillonnées à haute résolution pour analyser leur composition isotopique et géochimique. Le climat de l’Holocène a été déduit des analyses isotopiques de la calcite (δ¹³C, δ¹⁸O) et du rapport Mg/Ca. Combinées avec les données existantes et avec les simulations numériques des modèles, ces nouvelles données ont permis d’émettre des hypothèses sur les processus dynamiques contrôlant les changement climatiques régionaux comme les divers modes impliqués dans la circulation océanique et atmosphérique. Sur un site archéologique particulier, le lien climat/activités humaines a aussi pu être étudié. Les principaux résultats de cette thèse sont : 1) les enregistrements en δ¹⁸O, δ¹³C et Mg/Ca d’une stalagmite de la grotte de Villars (sud-ouest de la France), ont révélé une variabilité décennale à multimillénaire du climat au cours des derniers 14200 ans ainsi que les preuves d’une déforestation il y a environ 1000 ans ; 2) deux stalagmites provenant de la grotte de Villars au sud-ouest de la France et de la grotte Korallgrottan au nord-ouest de la Suède ont enregistré de façon remarquable l’événement climatique du 8.2 ka et les différentes étapes qui le composent montrant des différences régionales de température et d’humidité entre les deux sites. Celles-ci sont associées avec une interruption suivie d’une réorganisation de la circulation océanique et atmosphérique ; 3) les enregistrements en δ¹⁸O et en δ¹³C de deux stalagmites de la grotte de Villars suggèrent aussi l’existence d’une période humide multi-centennale il y a ~7200-7600 liée éventuellement à la fonte de la dernière portion de la calotte de la Laurentide ; 4) les isotopes stables (δ¹⁸O, δ¹³C) d’une stalagmite de la grotte du Père-Noël située au sud-est de la Belgique, révèle de larges variations hydro climatiques entre 10500 et 4200 ans. En particulier, une période sèche multi-centennale est mise en évidence il y a ~5600-6000 ans probablement liée à un changement des vents d’ouest ; 5) au nord de l’Algérie, dans la grotte de Gueldaman, plusieurs stalagmites ont montré, par leur δ¹³C et leur δ¹⁸O, l’impact d’une période sèche sur l’occupation humaine et finalement l’abandon du site par les hommes préhistoriques il y a ~4200 ans
Deciphering Holocene climate is the basis to understand modern climate change. The Holocene climate of Europe is highly complex and shows large spatial differences; much is to be done to improve the spatial coverage of well-dated, high resolution climate records. Stalagmite as paleoclimate archive has large advantages in its chronology and their temporal resolution and thus can help in answering this question. In this thesis, stalagmites were collected, broadly along a meridional transect from 35 to 65°N, in the west of Europe and Mediterranean basin (from Sweden to Algeria). They were densely dated by the U-Th method and their isotopic and geochemical compositions were analyzed at high spatial resolutions. The Holocene climate was inferred from the stalagmite δ¹³C, δ¹⁸ and Mg/Ca time series. Combining with existent data and model simulations the collected new data was used to understand dynamic processes involved in driving regional change, such as varying modes of ocean and atmospheric circulation. Uniquely, the possible links between the changes of past climate conditions and human activities at an archeological site were examined, too. The main results of this thesis are summarized as: (1) The δ¹⁸O, δ¹³C and Mg/Ca records of a stalagmite from Villars Cave, Southwestern France document a series of decadal to multi-millennial climatic variations over the last 14200 years as well as deforestation ~1000 years ago; (2) The precisely-dated, sub-decadal δ¹⁸O, δ¹³C and Mg/Ca records of stalagmites from Villars Cave, SW-France, and Korallgrottan Cave, NW-Sweden, reveal multiple stage climatic variations in relation to the 8200 year event. Reconstructed variations in both temperature and humidity exhibit different patterns at the two sites, respectively, in the south and north of Europe, which can be associated with the interruption and reorganization of ocean-atmospheric circulation; (3) The δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C records of two stalagmites from Villars Cave suggest multi-century wetness ~7200-7600 years ago which possibly linked to the demise of last portion of Laurentide Ice Sheet; (4) The δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C records of a stalagmite from Pere Noël Cave, Southeastern Belgium reveal large decadal to millennial hydroclimate variations between 10500 and 4200 years ago. Particularly, multi-century enhanced aridity occurred ~5600-6000 years ago which probably had attributed to the changes in regional atmospheric circulation and the westerly jet; (5) The δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O records of two Mid-Holocene stalagmites from Gueldaman GLD1 Cave, Northern Algeria provide evidence of a prolonged drought ~4200 years ago in Western Mediterranean basin. The drought coincides with, and therefore may have contributed to, an abandonment of ancient human occupation of the cave

L’objectif de cette thèse est d’utiliser la géochimie des spéléothèmes à travers une étude multi-proxy afin de reconstituer des changements environnementaux et climatiques dans le Sud-Ouest de l’Europe au cours de l’Holocène. Ce travail basé sur trois sites répartis entre l’Espagne et la France couvre les 14 000 dernières années. Cette région du sud-ouest de l’Europe, située à la confluence des hautes et des basses latitudes en fait une région particulièrement sensible à la fois à l’influence climatique de la région Nord-Atlantique mais également des régions Méditerranéenne et subtropicales Africaines et Asiatiques. Ce contexte particulier permet d’étudier idéalement l’impact des différents mécanismes climatiques agissant sur les modifications de son environnement. La répartition des sites d’étude a pour but de comparer les sites sous influence majeure Atlantique (Candamo, Nord Espagne), Méditerranéenne (Salamandre, SE France) ou sous influence mixte (Nerjà, sud Espagne). La compréhension des comportements géochimiques d’éléments clés, a constitué la première partie de cette étude. Après avoir établi un cadre temporel bien contraint (14C, U/Th), la géochimie élémentaire (éléments traces et terres rares) a été couplée à l’étude isotopique (87Sr/86Sr, d18O, d13C). Le rapport 87Sr/86Sr traditionnellement utilisé comme traceur de sources du Sr a été couplé à l’étude des variations élémentaires des éléments alcalins (Li, Rb, Cs) afin de déterminer des changements de sources des éléments (roche-mère ou de sol) dans les spéléothèmes. Le comportement de ces alcalins s’est également révélé lié à des modes de transports différents (particulaire, dissous ou liés à des complexes organiques) et l’utilisation du d13C et des terres rares (fractionnement terres rares légères et terres rares lourdes et anomalie en cerium) a permis de confirmer ou non ces hypothèses. La deuxième partie de ce travail a été d’appliquer ces mécanismes géochimiques à la détermination des processus hydrologiques et environnementaux et de les replacer dans le cadre climatique propre à chaque site d’étude. Ainsi, les éléments alcalins (Li, Rb, Cs) se sont révélés de bons indicateurs de phénomènes d'altération pouvant être liés à des changements climatiques (comme la transition entre le Bölling-Alleröd et le Younger-Dryas dans le site de la Salamandre), et/ou environnementaux (période de déforestation ou de mise en place de végétation à l’Holocène moyen dans le cas du site de Nerjà ou de Candamo). Ces événements pouvant donc se dérouler en contexte très différents (climat sec, déforestation, apports détritiques en climat humide par lessivage), le couplage à d’autres proxis est alors nécessaire pour préciser les conditions d'enrichissement de ces éléments alcalins
The purpose of this thesis is to use speleothem geochemistry through a multi-proxy study to reconstruct environmental and climatic variations in southwestern Europe during the Holocene. This work, based on three sites distributed between Spain and France, covers the last 14,000 years. Due to its location at the confluence of the high and low latitudes, this region of south-western Europe is especially sensitive to both the influence of the North Atlantic climate but also the Mediterranean and subtropical African and Asian climate. This particular context allows to study ideally the impact of the different climatic mechanisms driving the modifications of its environment. The choice of the study sites’ distribution aims to compare sites with main Atlantic influence (Candamo, N Spain), Mediterranean (Salamandre cave, SE France) and mixt one (Nerjà, S Spain). The understanding of geochemical behavior was the first part of this study. After the establishment of a chronological frame (14C, U/Th), elemental geochemistry (trace elements and rare earth elements) and isotopic (87Sr/86Sr, d18O, d13C) was coupled. The 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratio, traditionally used as a source tracer for Sr, has been coupled to the study of elementary variations of alkali elements (Li, Rb, Cs) in order to determine changes in the contribution of bedrock and soil in speleothems. The behavior of these alkalis has also been shown to be related to different modes of transport (particulate dissolved or bound to organic complexes) and the use of d13C and rare earths (light rare earth and heavy rare earth fractionation and cerium anomaly) made it possible to confirm or not these hypotheses. The second part of this work was to apply these geochemical mechanisms to the determination of the hydrological and environmental processes and to place them in the specific climatic context of each study site. Thus, the alkali elements (Li, Rb, Cs) have proved to be good indicators of weathering phenomena that may be related to climate change (such as the transition between Bölling-Alleröd and Younger-Dryas in the Salamandre site), and/or environmental changes (period of deforestation or establishment of vegetation in the Middle Holocene in the case of the sites of Nerjà or Candamo). These events can thus take place in very different contexts (dry climate, deforestation, detrital inputs during wet climate by leaching) the coupling to other proxis is then necessary to specify the conditions of enrichment of these alkali elements

Depuis la fin du Pléistocène, l’évolution des conditions environnementales et les pratiques anthropiques ont influencé les dynamiques morpho-sédimentaires des bassins versants du Nord-Ouest européen. Les petits hydrosystèmes sont particulièrement sensibles à ces évolutions qui s’expriment dans les archives sédimentaires. La démarche adoptée confronte les données des géosciences, de l’archéologie et de la géomorphologie, pour appréhender les interrelations Homme/climat/environnement durant l’Holocène en Normandie. En étudiant les archives pédo-sédimentaires de trois sites archéologiques des plateaux aux fonds de vallée, l’objectif est de discriminer les forçages climato-anthropiques pour chaque épisode d’érosion/sédimentation. L’étude des plateaux normands à Villers-Ecalles dévoile une intense troncature érosive des luvisols holocènes à la fin de La Tène. Les colluvions stockées en fond de vallon soulignent la continuité des dépôts et l’intensification de l’érosion à l’époque moderne. Les archives sédimentaires de Brionne, en pied de versant, ont révélé la séquence Tardiglaciaire et la diagenèse tufacée du début de l’Holocène. La séquence holocène d’une vallée littorale, la Scie, permet de reconstituer son évolution diachronique, les dynamiques morpho-sédimentaires et l’évolution du couvert végétal. L’étude des sites met en évidence la synchronicité de certains événements, malgré des épisodes parfois locaux. Les schémas d’évolution s’inscrivent dans le contexte bien documenté du Bassin parisien. La comparaison des séquences témoigne de la complexité des réponses aux interactions Homme/milieu et d’une mosaïque de pression anthropique différentielle pendant l’Holocène
Since the end of the Pleistocene, the variations of environmental and anthropic conditions influenced the morpho-sedimentary dynamics of North-Western european catchments. The small hydrosystem are very sensitive to these evolutions, recorded in sedimentary archives. Our approach confronts geoscience, archaeology and geomorphological data, in order to apprehend the interrelationships between Human activity, climate and environment during the Holocene in Normandy. By studying the sedimentary archives from three settlements, from the plateau to the valleys, our aim is to discriminate climato-anthropic forcing for each episode of erosion and sedimentation. The three sites, located in small catchments, give pedo-sedimentary references for each geosystemic unit. The study a loessic plateau shows an intense erosion of Holocene luvisol since the end of La Tene period. The colluvial deposits, accumulated in a dry valley show the continuity of detrital sedimentation, and the intensification of erosional processes during modern times. At the bottom of a slope, the study of Brionne’s sedimentary archives reveals the Late Glacial sequence and the tufa diagenesis at the early Holocene. The Holocene sequence on a small coastal valley, la Scie, allows to reconstruct its diachronical evolution, the morphosedimentary dynamics and the landcape evolution. The diachronical evolution of these three sites shows the synchronicity of events, even if some ones appear to be local. These data enter in the well-documented context of the Paris Basin. Comparing those sequences has revealed the spatial and chronological complexity of the landscape responses to the human and climate forcing

Les massifs dunaires de la côte picarde ont fait l'objet d'une analyse haute résolution sur des bases stratigraphique, sédimentologique, eustatique et paléoclimatique. Ce travail a été argumenté par plus de 60 nouvelles datations, par la recalibration des données anciennes disponibles et par la décompaction des tourbes et sédiments fins observés en sondages. Cette analyse a permis de bâtir une séquence chronostratigraphique régionale qui a ensuite été élargie aux séquences de la Mer du Nord, de la Manche et de la façade atlantique française. Ce travail d'inter-comparaison, qui a permis de réaliser une séquence d'enregistrements paléoenvironnementaux, a finalement été traduit en termes de stratigraphie séquentielle du prisme holocène. L'apport de cette étude a été de montrer: 1°/ le caractère relativement simple de la transgression holocène tout en incluant les MeltWater Pulses, 2°/ un maximum eustatique à environ 1 m 50 au-dessus de l'actuel (5500 BC), 3°/ une régression temporaire marquée au Subboréal, 4°/ un niveau marin légèrement régressif depuis malgré plusieurs petits maxima voisins de l'actuel et surtout, 5°/ une augmentation de la fréquence et de la violence des tempêtes depuis l'époque romaine. Ce dernier point est caractérisé par la mise en place de massifs dunaires et d'invasions marines épisodiques liées aux surcotes de tempêtes, confondues avec des épisodes transgressifs vrais. Ce travail montre finalement que l'essentiel de la formation des corps dunaires est plutôt contrôlé par le refroidissement progressif du climat depuis l'Optimum Holocène et par la réorganisation de la circulation atmosphérique qui en découle que par une régression eustatique importante.

Le pollen conservé dans les sédiments lacustres constitue un indicateur essentiel pour reconstruire l'évolution de la végétation et du climat passés sur les continents. Actuellement, les reconstructions climatiques se basent sur des modèles statistiques décrivant le lien climat-pollen. Ces modèles posent des problèmes méthodologiques car ils sont tous basés sur l'hypothèse que la relation pollen-climat est constante au cours du temps, impliquant que les paramètres non climatiques déterminant cette relation aient une influence faible. Cela est contredit par les développements récents en écologie et en écophysiologie. C'est pourquoi, dans ce travail, nous développons une approche intégrant un modèle dynamique de végétation et les processus majeurs liant la végétation au pollen capté par les lacs. Le cadre bayésien fournit une base théorique ainsi que les outils pour inférer les paramètres des modèles et le climat passé. Nous utilisons ces nouveaux modèles pour reconstruire le climat de l'Holocène en différents sites européens. Cette approche qui permettra des reconstructions spatio-temporelles requiert encore des développements autour de l'inférence de modèles semi-mécanistes.

La fin du Pléistocène et le début de l’Holocène sont marqués par des bouleversements environnementaux d’une ampleur et d’une intensité exceptionnelles en Europe de l’Ouest. Ces quelque huit millénaires ont été scindés en périodes chronoculturelles principalement à partir de critères typotechnologiques de l’industrie lithique, correspondant au Paléolithique final, et au premier et au second Mésolithique. L’identité biologique des groupes humains de cette période n’avait jusqu’alors jamais été étudiée de façon spécifique et la réalité anthropologique de ces partitions pose question. À partir d’un corpus réactualisé de 70 sites couvrant les territoires actuels de la France, de l’Allemagne, de la Belgique, du Luxembourg, de la Suisse, de l’Italie, de l’Espagne et du Portugal, ce sont 617 spécimens pour les restes osseux et 251 pour les restes dentaires qui ont été analysés. Des caractéristiques squelettiques ont été enregistrées et analysées selon un protocole unique : proportions squelettiques comme la stature, l’indice brachial et l’indice crural, morphométrie crânienne et mandibulaire, analyse par morphométrie géométrique de la conformation du neurocrâne et variations anatomiques non métriques crâniennes et dentaires. L’ensemble des données recueillies a fait l’objet de traitements statistiques adaptés, descriptifs, multivariés et exploratoires. Parmi les résultats obtenus, l’analyse métrique et morphologique de la mandibule révèle des changements microévolutifs de la morphologie mandibulaire en lien avec l’intensification de l’élargissement du spectre des ressources consommées au cours du Mésolithique. Un fonctionnement différent des groupes est proposé entre ceux établis sur les zones côtières et les continentaux. Les groupes côtiers seraient organisés selon un système plutôt fermé, traduit par la structuration régionale des données anthropobiologiques, alors que les groupes continentaux, bien qu’ayant un ancrage local, possèderaient des réseaux d’échanges plus larges et/ou plus réguliers. Enfin, la permanence des groupes humains du Paléolithique final au Mésolithique est avancée, ainsi qu’au sein des zones côtières durant tout le Mésolithique, alors qu’une discontinuité populationnelle entre premier et second Mésolithique est mise en évidence dans l’aire continentale. L’hypothèse d’une arrivée de nouveaux groupes depuis les régions situées plus à l’est, poussés par la progression néolithique en Europe centrale à partir du VIIème millénaire cal BC est avancée, rejoignant un des scenarii proposés à partir de l’analyse de l’ADN ancien
Environmental changes of exceptional magnitude and intensity occurred during the Late Pleistocene and the Early Holocene in Western Europe. These- some eight millennia- have been divided into chronocultural periods based on typotechnological lithic industries, corresponding to the Late Palaeolithic and the Early and Late Mesolithic. The biological identity of the human groups from this lengthy period of time has never previously been studied in a systematic way, and the anthropological meaning of these divisions remains unclear. In order to fill this gap in knowledge, this thesis presents the results of analyses of an up-to-date sample of 617 skeletal specimens and 251 dental remains covering 70 sites from France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Skeletal characteristics, including skeletal proportions- stature, brachial and crural indices -, cranial and mandibular morphometrics, geometric morphometric analysis of the neurocranium, and non-metric skeletal and dental traits were recorded and analysed using a single protocol. All data collected were subjected to suitable descriptive, multivariate and exploratory statistical treatments. Among the results obtained, the metric and morphological analysis of the mandible reveals micro-evolutionary morphological changes related to the intensified exploitation of a broader spectrum of food resources during the Mesolithic. Human groups in coastal zones differ from those located further inland. Coastal groups evince a rather closed system, reflected by a regional structure of bioanthropological data, whereas inland groups, while locally based, are characterized by broader and/or more regular networks of population interaction. Finally, there appears to be continuity between human groups from the Late Palaeolithic to the Early Mesolithic, as well as throughout the Mesolithic in coastal areas, while population discontinuity between the Early and Later Mesolithic is highlighted in the continental area. The arrival of new groups from areas further east, driven by Neolithic population advances through Central Europe from the 7th millennium BC cal is hypothesised, similar to one of the scenarios proposed from the analysis of aDNA

Sediment records of three European lakes were investigated in order to reconstruct the regional climate development during the Lateglacial and Holocene, to investigate the response of local ecosystems to climatic fluctuations and human impact and to relate regional peculiarities of past climate development to climatic changes on a larger spatial scale. The Lake Hańcza (NE Poland) sediment record was studied with a focus on reconstructing the early Holocene climate development and identifying possible differences to Western Europe. Following the initial Holocene climatic improvement, a further climatic improvement occurred between 10 000 and 9000 cal. a BP. Apparently, relatively cold and dry climate conditions persisted in NE Poland during the first ca. 1500 years of the Holocene, most likely due to a specific regional atmospheric circulation pattern. Prevailing anticyclonic circulation linked to a high-pressure cell above the remaining Scandinavian Ice Sheet (SIS) might have blocked the eastward propagation of warm and moist Westerlies and thus attenuated the early Holocene climatic amelioration in this region until the final decay of the SIS, a pattern different from climate development in Western Europe. The Lateglacial sediment record of Lake Mondsee (Upper Austria) was investigated in order to study the regional climate development and the environmental response to rapid climatic fluctuations. While the temperature rise and environmental response at the onset of the Holocene took place quasi-synchronously, major leads and lags in proxy responses characterize the onset of the Lateglacial Interstadial. In particular, the spread of coniferous woodlands and the reduction of detrital flux lagged the initial Lateglacial warming by ca. 500–750 years. Major cooling at the onset of the Younger Dryas took place synchronously with a change in vegetation, while the increase of detrital matter flux was delayed by about 150–300 years. Complex proxy responses are also detected for short-term Lateglacial climatic fluctuations. In summary, periods of abrupt climatic changes are characterized by complex and temporally variable proxy responses, mainly controlled by ecosystem inertia and the environmental preconditions. A second study on the Lake Mondsee sediment record focused on two small-scale climate deteriorations around 8200 and 9100 cal. a BP, which have been triggered by freshwater discharges to the North Atlantic, causing a shutdown of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC). Combining microscopic varve counting and AMS 14C dating yielded a precise duration estimate (ca. 150 years) and absolute dating of the 8.2 ka cold event, both being in good agreement with results from other palaeoclimate records. Moreover, a sudden temperature overshoot after the 8.2 ka cold event was identified, also seen in other proxy records around the North Atlantic. This was most likely caused by enhanced resumption of the MOC, which also initiated substantial shifts of oceanic and atmospheric front systems. Although there is also evidence from other proxy records for pronounced recovery of the MOC and atmospheric circulation changes after the 9.1 ka cold event, no temperature overshoot is seen in the Lake Mondsee record, indicating the complex behaviour of the global climate system. The Holocene sediment record of Lake Iseo (northern Italy) was studied to shed light on regional earthquake activity and the influence of climate variability and anthropogenic impact on catchment erosion and detrital flux into the lake. Frequent small-scale detrital layers within the sediments reflect allochthonous sediment supply by extreme surface runoff events. During the early to mid-Holocene, increased detrital flux coincides with periods of cold and wet climate conditions, thus apparently being mainly controlled by climate variability. In contrast, intervals of high detrital flux during the late Holocene partly also correlate with phases of increased human impact, reflecting the complex influences on catchment erosion processes. Five large-scale event layers within the sediments, which are composed of mass-wasting deposits and turbidites, are supposed to have been triggered by strong local earthquakes. While the uppermost of these event layers is assigned to a documented adjacent earthquake in AD 1222, the four other layers are supposed to be related to previously undocumented prehistorical earthquakes.
Sedimente aus drei europäischen Seen wurden untersucht um die regionale Klimaentwicklung während des Spätglazials und Holozäns und die Reaktion der Ökosysteme auf Klimaschwankungen und menschlichen Einfluss zu rekonstruieren sowie die regionalen Besonderheiten der spätquartären Klimaveränderungen in einen überregionalen Kontext zu setzen. Die Sedimente des Jezioro Hańcza (Nordostpolen) wurden im Hinblick auf die frühholozäne Klimaentwicklung und die Identifikation möglicher Unterschiede gegenüber Westeuropa untersucht. Im Anschluss an die Erwärmung zu Beginn des Holozäns konnte eine weitere Verbesserung der Klimabedingungen zwischen 10 000 und 9000 Jahren vor heute nachgewiesen werden. Offensichtlich herrschten in Nordostpolen während der ersten 1500 Jahre des Holozäns noch relative kalte und trockene Klimabedingungen, höchstwahrscheinlich als Resultat besonderer regionaler atmosphärischer Zirkulationsverhältnisse. Eine antizyklonale Zirkulationszelle als Resultat eines Hochdruckgebiets über dem Rest des Skandinavischen Eisschilds verhinderte wahrscheinlich das Vordringen warmer und feuchter Luftmassen aus Westen und verursachte damit eine Abschwächung der frühholozänen Klimaverbesserung in dieser Region bis zum endgültigen Zerfall des Eisschilds, was grundsätzlich von der frühholozänen Klimaentwicklung in Westeuropa abweicht. Die spätglazialen Sedimente des Mondsees (Oberösterreich) wurden im Hinblick auf die regionale Klimaentwicklung und die Reaktion des Ökosystems auf abrupte Klimaschwankungen untersucht. Während die Erwärmung zu Beginn des Holozäns von einer zeitgleichen Reaktion des Ökosystems begleitet wurde, war die Reaktion des Ökosystems auf die Erwärmung zu Beginn des Spätglazials deutlich verzögert. Insbesondere die Ausbreitung von Nadelwäldern und die Reduktion des klastischen Eintrags folgten der spätglazialen Erwärmung erst mit einer Verzögerung von ca. 500–750 Jahren. Die Abkühlung zu Beginn der Jüngeren Dryas war durch eine deutliche Synchronizität zwischen Temperatur- und Vegetationsänderung gekennzeichnet, wohingegen der Anstieg des klastischen Eintrags erst 150–300 Jahre verzögert folgte. Eine komplexe Reaktion des Ökosystems zeigt sich auch während kurzfristiger spätglazialer Klimaschwankungen. Zusammenfassend lässt sich sagen, dass abrupte Klimaveränderungen durch komplexe und zeitlich variable Reaktionsmuster des Ökosystems gekennzeichnet sind, die hauptsächlich von dessen Klimasensitivität und den ökologischen Ausgangsbedingungen abhängen. Eine zweite Studie an den Sedimenten des Mondsees konzentrierte sich auf zwei Klimaschwankungen vor ca. 8200 und 9100 Jahren, für die Schmelzwassereintrag in den Nordatlantik und ein damit verbundenes Zusammenbrechen der thermohalinen Zirkulation als Ursache angesehen wird. Durch Warvenzählungen und 14C-Datierungen konnten sowohl die Dauer (ca. 150 Jahre) als auch das absolute Alter der Kältephase vor ca. 8200 Jahren zuverlässig bestimmt werden, welche in guter Übereinstimmung mit Resultaten aus anderen Paläoklimaarchiven stehen. Darüber hinaus wurde eine kurze Warmphase direkt im Anschluss an das Abkühlungsereignis identifiziert, die auch in anderen Klimaarchiven im nordatlantischen Raum nachweisbar ist. Diese wurde wahrscheinlich durch ein Wiedererstarken der thermohalinen Zirkulation verursacht, welches darüber hinaus eine Verschiebung ozeanischer und atmosphärischer Frontsysteme zur Folge hatte. Obwohl andere Klimaarchive auch nach dem Abkühlungsereignis vor ca. 9100 Jahren auf ein Wiedererstarken der thermohalinen Zirkulation hindeuten, finden sich in den Sedimenten des Mondsees keine Anzeichen für eine solche Wärmeperiode, was die Komplexität des globalen Klimasystems verdeutlicht. Die holozänen Sedimente des Lago d’Iseo (Norditalien) wurden im Hinblick auf die regionale Erdbebenaktivität und den Einfluss von Klima und Mensch auf Erosionsprozesse im Einzugsgebiet und den klastischen Eintrag in den See untersucht. Zahlreiche kleinere detritische Lagen in den Sedimenten spiegeln Eintrag durch extreme Oberflächenabflussereignisse wieder. Während des Früh- und Mittelholozäns zeigt sich eine deutliche Übereinstimmung zwischen erhöhtem klastischen Eintrag und kühleren und feuchteren Klimaverhältnissen, was auf einen dominanten Einfluss der natürlichen Klimavariabilität hindeutet. Im Gegensatz dazu zeigen Phasen erhöhten klastischen Eintrags während des Spätholozäns teilweise auch eine Korrelation mit erhöhter Siedlungsaktivität, was die Komplexität der Einflüsse auf Erosionsprozesse im Einzugsgebiet verdeutlicht. Darüber hinaus konnten auch fünf größere Ereignislagen nachgewiesen werden, welche durch Rutschmassen und Turbidite gekennzeichnet sind und für die lokale Erdbeben als Ursache vermutet werden. Die jüngste Ereignislage kann mit einem historisch dokumentierten proximalen Erdbeben im Jahr AD 1222 korreliert werden. Für die anderen vier Ereignislagen werden bisher undokumentierte prähistorische Erdbeben als Ursache angenommen.

La variabilité spatio-temporelle de l'évolution morpho-sédimentaire du fond de la vallée de la Choisille (bassin versant : 288 km²), affluent de la Loire moyenne dans le sud-ouest du Bassin parisien (37), a été étudiée par 78 forages (8 transects), prospection géophysique, analyses sédimentologiques et datations 14C et OSL. Huit phases d'évolution du système fluviatile depuis le début Weichsélien ont été définies et corrélées avec les données palynologiques et archéologiques locales, afin de comprendre l'impact des facteurs forçants : climat ou/et anthropisation. Du Weichsélien jusqu'au début du Subatlantique, l'activité d'incision ou de sédimentation de la Choisille a évolué sous contrôle climatique strict. Depuis l'Allerød, cette évolution a été différente de celles observées sur d'autres rivières en Europe du Nord-Ouest, indiquant des spécificités climatiques et géologiques régionales. Dès l'Âge du Bronze, la rivière a évolué sous contrôle climatique et anthropique ; l'impact anthropique sur la sédimentation fut prépondérant, mais très variable dans le temps et l'espace au sein du bassin selon les potentialités agricoles des secteurs considérés.

Winter storms can have devastating social and economic impacts in Europe. The severity of storms and the region they influence (southern or northern Europe) is related to the index of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). However recent findings indicate that over the last millennium the relationship between the NAO and storminess varied and the forcings over centennial timescales are debated. Therefore in this research storminess has been reconstructed from NAO-sensitive regions of southern Europe (Galicia, Spain) and northern Europe (Outer Hebrides, Scotland), to investigate the Late Holocene NAO-storminess relationship and the causes of observed variability. Reconstructions were based on measurements of aeolian sand deposits within ombrotrophic peat bogs and a lake sedimentary archive from the Hebrides. The elemental composition of the lake sediments were analysed (using ITRAX XRF core scanning) to identify aeolian/in-washed sediment resulting from storms, as confirmed by correlations with instrumental data. As this is a relatively new technique there was a methodological focus on assessing its applicability for storm reconstructions and the maximum resolution achievable. It is concluded the reconstruction had a 10-year resolution (equivalent to 2-5 mm sampling resolution). The peat bog reconstructions span 4000 cal yr BP to present and indicate that there was a Late Holocene northward storm track shift. The results suggest that storminess was high in Galicia between 4000-1800 cal yr BP, after which it decreased and then gradually increased in the Outer Hebrides after 1500 cal yr BP. Comparison with an NAO reconstruction supports a consistent NAO-storm relationship through the Late Holocene. Orbital forcing is suggested as causing a steepening of the latitudinal temperature gradient and increasingly zonal circulation. Superimposed on this trend are centennial variations, which spectral analysis and visual comparisons suggest are primarily the result of solar minima (suggested as causing a weakened latitudinal temperature gradient and meridional circulation patterns), with some additional forcing from volcanic and oceanic changes. Therefore there has been a consistent storm-NAO relationship through the Late Holocene; however there appear to have been millennial and centennial shifts as the result of hemispheric circulation reorganisations.

The global extent of past and present biodiversity loss is increasingly well documented, but a focus on investigating timings and correlates of final species extinctions often means that patterns and processes associated with earlier population declines are poorly understood. I used a comprehensive database of zooarchaeological records and regional last occurrence data in order to investigate dynamics of range shift, contraction, expansion and fragmentation of Europe’s large mammals over the past 11,500 years, the Holocene Epoch. As a relatively climatically stable period that also witnessed the rapid growth of human populations, it was an ideal model system for studying human impacts on biodiversity over time. Whilst there were inherent biases associated with zooarchaeological data, I was nonetheless able to identify diverse mechanisms of large mammal decline across different species. Despite low numbers of faunal records I was able to attribute the Late Holocene extinction of the European wild ass (Equus hydruntinus) to habitat fragmentation associated with postglacial climate-driven vegetation change. Using bootstrapping to control for sampling bias, I then reconstructed temporal and spatial patterns of range contraction across Europe’s temperate large mammal fauna from the Mesolithic to the Late Medieval and found that overall, large herbivores experienced significant declines prior to large carnivores. Finally, by combining data from the zooarchaeological, historical and ecological record, I was able to reconstruct through-time patterns of regional extirpation to identify major correlates of species declines as well as calculate species-specific tolerances to human population density. Overall results demonstrate an extinction filter that removed large-bodied species with low tolerance to human impacts from the European landscape from at least the Mid-Holocene onwards. The results from the thesis have relevance across a range of disciplines from palaeontology and zooarchaeology, to ecology and the current day conservation management of large mammals.

Fire has not always been so elusive in the northern European forest yet forest management and active fire suppression has created an ecosystem almost free of fire. This absence of fire is thought to have contributed to the widespread dominance of Picea abies as well as the decline in deciduous species and subsequent loss of floristic diversity. Forest fires in general are driven by a complex interplay between natural (climate, vegetation and topography) and anthropogenic disturbance and through palaeoecology we are able to explore spatio-temporal variability in the drivers of fire and changing fire dynamics. This thesis explores spatial and temporal variability in Holocene vegetation and disturbance dynamics through stand-scale palynology. Pollen and macroscopic charcoal are used to reconstruct past vegetation and fire dynamics with local- and regional-scale pollen-derived quantitative vegetation reconstructions able to identify both large-scale ecosystem response and local-scale disturbance. Spatio-temporal heterogeneity and variability in biomass burning is explored to identify the drivers of fire and palaeo-vegetation reconstruction is compared to process-based, climate-driven dynamic vegetation model output to test the effect of fire frequency as a driver of vegetation composition and dynamics. Early-Holocene fire was driven by natural climate variations and fuel availability. The establishment and spread of Picea abies (Norway spruce) appears to be driven by an increase in continentality although local disturbance cannot be ruled out. The expansion of Picea led to a step-wise reduction in regional biomass burning and the now widespread dominance of Picea abies is responsible for the low fire frequency observed through Fennoscandia. The mid-Holocene decline in deciduous species was primarily driven by localised anthropogenic disturbance and may have been assisted by the shift to cooler, wetter climate conditions. There is an underlying natural fire frequency of approximately 400 years observed in southern Finland and without intensive anthropogenic disturbance floristic diversity may have remained locally, to the present day. Stand-scale palynology is able to record past local disturbance at a high spatial precision however more than one site is required to understand regional disturbance and the variable controls of fire dynamics.

Palynological studies from two lacustrine sites, Lochan An Druim in northern Scotland and NikkupierjaVri in northern Finnmark, have demonstrated quantitative changes in the vegetation of the northwest European continental margin, following deglaciation (са 16.0 - 7.5 ka BP), and these changes have been correlated with the short term fluctuations and rapid changes in climate as recorded in the GRIP ice-core record. It has been shown that the palaeovegetation profiles from these sites, near to the potential extremities of northward penetration of warm ocean surface water during this time have recorded some of these events differentially, indicating a northward lag in response to Holocene warming that is not temporally consistent, and this has been attributed to the relative proximity of the North Atlantic Polar Front. เท addition, evidence is presented for a previously unrecorded early Holocene Icelandic cryptotephra from Lochan An Druim, together with evidence in support of a 'Younger Borroboľ cryptotephra from Lateglacial sediments of Allerød age at the same location.

Can evidence of the so-called 'Broad Spectrum Revolution' be found across southern Europe at the end of the Pleistocene and the early Postglacial? If so, what is its significance? Archaeozoological material from four cave and rock shelter sites on the Mediterranean peninsulae was examined to test the evidence for change or continuity of diet over this important period. The sites are Theopetra, in Greece, Mondeval de Sora and Riparo Tagliente, in Italy, and Gruta do Caldeirao, in Portugal, all of which have evidence for late Upper Palaeolithic and/or early Mesolithic occupations by human groups. In addition to these case studies, the sites were put into context using the literature for other important sites in these regions. The conclusion is that there is considerable inter-site variability and indeed intra-site continuity of diet over the transitionary period, and that 'revolution' is a far too loaded term for what actually appears to have occurred.

En raison de sa présence récurrente dans les ensembles paléontologiques d'Europe au Pléistocène, l'hyène des cavernes (Crocuta crocuta spelaea GOLDFUSS) est un carnivore particulièrement étudié en taphonomie. Depuis le XIXème siècle, la reconnaissance du rôle joué par les grands prédateurs, et plus particulièrement de l'hyène, dans la formation des assemblages osseux, a permis de dégager les grandes tendances écologiques et évolutives de ces carnivores (habitat en grotte, consommation osseuse, chasse vs. charognage, compétition interspécifique, interaction Homme-Carnivores). L'éthologie de l'hyène tachetée fossile (accumulateur d'ossements, ostéophagie) repose largement sur le développement des travaux écologiques et néo-taphonomiques depuis les années 1970. Le présent travail porte sur un bilan paléontologique et taphonomique des hyénidés modernes et Pléistocènes. Une première partie est consacrée à la présentation synthétique des 3 principaux genres (Crocuta, Hyaena, Parahyaena) et concerne leur systématique, biogéographie et ostéométrie. Ce dernier point permet de confirmer d'une part les fluctuations de masse corporelle des hyènes en relation avec les changements climatiques au cours du Pléistocène et d'autre part la difficulté à évaluer le dimorphisme sexuel à partir des éléments squelettiques crâniens et postcrâniens. Une seconde partie porte sur l'étude de 14 échantillons osseux modernes et fossiles produits par les hyénidés. Six accumulations en contexte de repaires et 3 ensembles de plein-air composent les séries modernes. Elles représentent des contextes écologiques et géographiques distincts (Djibouti et Afrique du Sud) et sont rapportées aux trois espèces d'hyènes (repaires : Crocuta : Dumali (NR Ongulés = 421), Heraide (NR Ongulés = 216), Yangula Ari (NR Ongulés = 133), Oboley (NR Ongulés = 259) ; Hyaena : Datagabou (NR Ongulés = 352) ; Parahyaena : Uniab (NR Ongulés = 568) ; kill-sites de Crocuta : Ali Daba : NR Ongulés = 40 ; Dumali : NR Ongulés = 185 ; Heraide : NR Ongulés = 460). L'analyse taphonomique de ces assemblages permet de caractériser les modifications produites par les hyénidés modernes. Ce modèle est ensuite pris en compte dans l'étude de 5 repaires d'hyène tachetée fossile inédits : Artenac c10 (OIS5c ; NRDT = 1301), Peyre (OIS5e ; NRDT = 2815), Grand Abri aux Puces Réseau Supérieur (100ka ; NRDT = 2360), Fouvent (OIS3 ; NRDT = 3347) et Conives (OIS3 ; NRDT = 1717). Afin de caractériser objectivement la signature taphonomique des hyènes fossiles, deux autres séries, plus anciennes (Pléistocène moyen), ont été brièvement prises en considération (Ceyssaguet (Pachycrocuta brevirostris) et Lunel-Viel 1 (Crocuta spelaea intermedia)) ainsi que deux échantillons osseux produits par d'autres grands Carnivores (le jaguar européen (Panthera onca gombaszoegensis) d'Artenac I et II et le loup (Canis lupus) moderne de Pologne). Les analyses comparées d'ensembles osseux créés par les Hyénidés, Félidés et grands Canidés permettent de reconsidérer les critères de caractérisation couramment utilisés en Taphonomie archéologique. Il apparait que les Carnivores partagent des caractéristiques taphonomiques communes (morphométrie des traces de dents, morphotypes de consommation, distribution squelettique des proies), peu favorables à l'identification spécifique ou/et générique des Carnivores ayant consommés des restes osseux. Le comportement ostéophagique de l'hyène (fossile) se distingue de celui des autres grands prédateurs par : une importante production des éclats diaphysaires d'os longs, la présence récurrente de coprolithes et enfin un nombre élevé d'os et/ou d'éclats ingérés. Parmi ces derniers, le spectre anatomique des éléments régurgités d'une part ainsi que leur degré de dissolution important d'autre part caractérisent significativement les séries paléontologiques produites volontairement par les hyènes. Ces critères pourraient constituer les éléments de diagnose taphonomique les plus intéressants.

This thesis builds on the work of previous coleopteran-based climatic reconstructions to recreate the environment and climate of the last 20,000 14C years of northwest Europe using the data and methods available within the Bugs Coleopteran Ecology Package, and aims to assess the ability of the BugsCEP results to provide information regarding events and anthropogenic changes on environment during the Anthropocene. Samples and data from 134 sites across northwest Europe and the British Isles were included in this study. The Mutual Climatic Range method and the BugStats module based on habitat code classifications were used to create the climatic and environmental reconstructions respectively, the results of which are provided in eight isotherm maps for 14.5-9 14C years BP and 2 EcoFigure graphs for 20,000 14C to present. While the results of some isotherm maps align with the changes described in previous studies, other climate trends are muted within these results. Likewise, some previously recognized environmental shifts in Europe are visible, whereas other major events are not distinguishable within the environmental record. An assessment of the environmental reconstruction results finds that though there is not sufficient material to support any proposed Anthropocene start dates, effects of anthropogenic influence upon the environment may be visible starting within the last 2,000 14C years; the results also show some support for the Vera Hypothesis.

This thesis addresses the methodological challenges of determining the variability of large herbivore populations through time and their impact on European vegetation. Large herbivores are at the heart of conservation policy. However, opinions widely diverge on whether we should aim for fewer herbivores and managed populations or, on the contrary as advocated by the rewilding movement, more herbivores and self-regulating populations acting as ecosystem engineers. This controversy has roots in a debate regarding the nature of ecosystems before the prevalence of human activities. Baseline ecosystems are either described as continuous forest cover with passive large herbivores, or, in contrast, as mosaics with patchy forest cover driven inter alia by bison, aurochs and horses, now rare or extinct in Europe. The main obstacle in moving this debate forward is a poor understanding of large-herbivore densities in the past. I analysed modern pollen and spore assemblages from known environmental settings to improve palaeoecological interpretation of fossil assemblages dating from the pre-human (baseline) period. The sites investigated are the rewilded grasslands of the Oostvaardersplassen (The Netherlands), the mosaic habitats of The New Forest (UK) and the old-growth closedcanopy forest of Białowieża (Poland). I demonstrate that the common practice of interpreting pollen percentages fails to estimate past forest cover in situations with natural grazing. As an explanation, I suggest that pollen productivity fluctuates with biotic factors such as herbivory and canopy shading. As a result, new insights into the baseline debate require additional lines of evidence. In this thesis, I develop an existing methodology to reconstruct past herbivore presence using fossil dung fungal spores. I synthesise current knowledge of this method with an emphasis on spore identification and, finally, I demonstrate that dung fungal spore abundance in lake sediments can be translated into large herbivore numbers. The evidence presented in this thesis contributes to the debate on re-wilding and addresses a fundamental challenge of nature conservation in the human-dominated landscapes of Europe.

The major objective of this thesis was to produce descriptions of the land vegetation-cover in Europe for selected time windows of the Holocene (6000, 3000, 500, 200, and 50 calendar years before present (BP=1950)) that can be used in climate modelling. Land vegetation is part of the climate system; its changes influence climate through biogeophysical and biogeochemical processes. Land use such as deforestation is one of the external forcings of climate change.  Reliable descriptions of vegetation cover in the past are needed to study land cover-climate interactions and understand the possible effects of present and future land-use changes on future climate. We tested and applied the REVEALS (Regional Estimates of VEgetation Abundance from Large Sites) model to estimate past vegetation in percentage cover over Europe using pollen records from lake sediments and peat bogs. The model corrects for the biases of pollen data due to intraspecific differences in pollen productivity and pollen dispersion and deposition in lakes and bogs. For the land-cover reconstructions in Europe and the Baltic Sea catchment we used 636 (grouped by 1˚x1˚ grid cells) and 339 (grouped by biogeographical regions) pollen records, respectively. The REVEALS reconstructions were performed for 25 tree, shrub and herb taxa. The grid-based REVEALS reconstructions were then interpolated using a set of statistical spatial models. We show that the choice of input parameters for the REVEALS application does not affect the ranking of the REVEALS estimates significantly, except when entomophilous taxa are included. We demonstrate that pollen data from multiple small sites provide REVEALS estimates that are comparable to those obtained with pollen data from large lakes, however with larger error estimates. The distance between the small sites does not influence the results significantly as long as the sites are at a sufficient distance from vegetation zone boundaries. The REVEALS estimates of open land for Europe and the Baltic Sea catchment indicate that the degree of landscape openness during the Holocene was significantly higher than previously interpreted from pollen percentages. The relationship between Pinus and Picea and between evergreen and summer-green taxa may also differ strongly whether it is based on REVEALS percentage cover or pollen percentages. These results provide entirely new insights on Holocene vegetation history and help understanding questions related to resource management by humans and biodiversity in the past. The statistical spatial models provide for the first time pollen-based descriptions of past land cover that can be used in climate modelling and studies of land cover-climate interactions in the past.

Denna studie inkluderar resultat från osteologiska analyser från tre stenålderslokaler på Gotland: Visborgs Kungsladugård, Strå samt Gisslause. Dessa tre lokaler är daterade till Mesolitikum, dvs. bland de tidigaste faserna på Gotland. En majoritet av de identifierade benen har varit från säl och därför har uppsatsen kommit att handla om den säljakt som utövats på dessa tre platser. Utifrån de fynd som analyserats har skillnader kunnat uttolkas vad det gäller både åldersfördelning och fördelning av olika sälarter mellan vissa av lokalerna. Visborgs Kungsladugård visar på en majoritet av yngre gråsälar till skillnad från Strå och Gisslause där det existerar en jämn fördelning mellan gråsäl och vikare, likaså en jämn fördelning mellan åldrarna. Tolkningen av detta pekar på en delvis säsongsjakt där populationerna har jagat på olika sätt på olika delar av Gotland. I uppsatsen har även en diskussion angående den marina anpassningen tagits upp. Denna anpassning har setts i tre stadier, lakustrin, littorin och marin. Den mesolitiska populationen på Gotland passar in på det littorina stadiet där en full marin kultur inte ännu varit helt utvecklad. Då det främst jagats säl på och nära stranden samt att ett visst insjöfiske utövats påvisar resultaten att ett fullt utnyttjande av havet ännu inte bedrivits.

Recent studies applying innovative technologies, such as genetic analysis and carbon dating, contradict the palynological based assumption that Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and Norway spruce (Picea abies) vanished from Fennoscandia during the Last Glacial Maximum (c. 20.000 yrs BP) and re-colonized after the cold Younger Dryas (c. 12.000 yrs BP). Instead, those studies indicate glacial survival of boreal trees in ‘cryptic’ refugia within Scandinavia, which is still heavily debated. In this report, I try to get a better grip on the discussion if Norway spruce and Scots pine survived Weichselian glacial periods in isolated ‘cryptic’ refugia within Scandinavia, or either re-colonized Fennoscandia by post-glacial migration from eastern areas such as Russia. To this aim, climatic settings are described and an overview is given on what is already known on the distribution of boreal trees during the Weichselian glaciations and the post-glacial landscape. Several records are important to detect ancient boreal trees: pollen, macrofossils and currently DNA. Macrofossils indicate early post-glacial tree growth in the central Scandes just after the Younger Dryas, aDNA indicates the existence of a ‘cryptic’ refugium on Andøya during the Last Glacial Maximum and modern DNA analysis possibly indicates isolation of spruce in western Norway, which are all contradicted by the current interpretation of low pollen percentages. Altogether, alternative hypotheses supporting glacial survival of plants might have been overlooked and pollen interpretations need revision, which could turn the exclusion from the past into supporting evidence for the glacial survival of P. abies and P. sylvestris in Scandinavia.

Abstract This thesis deals with the Holocene development of palsa mires in continental Europe, especially permafrost dynamics and its consequences on vegetation succession and peat accumulation. Peat deposits of four permafrost mires in boreal and subarctic northeastern European Russia and in northern oroboreal Finland have been studied using plant macrofossil analysis, (AMS) radiocarbon dating, dry bulk density and carbon content measurements. In addition, preliminary results are available from another palsa mire in northeastern European Russia. Modern vegetation has been investigated to support the interpretation of fossil plant assemblages. Earlier literature on vegetation, stratigraphy and dating of permafrost mires in Europe has been reviewed. The vegetation of palsa mires in general is well known. As a rule, palsas are dry ombrotrophic habitats, surrounded by wet flarks of variable trophic levels. There is a lack of information about vegetation in different small-scale habitats within palsa mires, which would have been useful when studying the permafrost-vegetation relationship. Although no functional indicator species of permafrost have been found, permafrost dynamics in peat stratigraphy can often be detected with high degree of probability based on changes in vegetation. Some plant assemblages and vegetation successions are typical on permafrost, while many species rarely grow on or near to permafrost. Relatively sudden changes between dry and wet mire environments and continuously dynamic conditions are good signs of permafrost impact. Also gradual changes towards drier conditions may be caused by permafrost; in these cases the timing of first permafrost aggradation is more difficult to ascertain and can usually be pronounced only in terms of maximum and minimum ages. Changes in peat accumulation rates and even hiatuses in stratigraphy are additional tools to support the interpretation on permafrost history at the studied sites. Dry organic matter and carbon accumulation rates for different developmental stages are calculated for the five studied mires. From earlier studies this information is not available. Accumulation rates in the permafrost environment are very variable: from zero or negative rates in old palsas to as high as 100 gC/m2yr in incipient palsas. On moist plateau palsas, permafrost flarks and in unstable permafrost conditions, accumulation continues at low to moderate rates. Thermokarst processes result in decomposition of former peat deposits with important consequences for the ecosystem carbon balance, especially in plateau palsa mires. Radiocarbon datings are available from 27 permafrost mires in continental Europe; only 5 of these are situated in Russia. Many of the published dates cannot be considered reliable as dating permafrost aggradation. Based on limited material, permafrost started to develop at latest about 3000 BP in mires of northern Russia and 2500 BP in Fennoscandia. Older permafrost formation is suggested for a few sites, but the evidence is insufficient to confirm this interpretation. The oldest preserved palsas are ca. 2500–2000 14C years old. Most of the modern palsas are less than 600 14C years old. Permafrost aggradation follows the major climate development in the Holocene, with formation being most active during the coldest stages. Global warming is expected to greatly affect the Arctic in the near future, which would imply significant changes in ecosystem functioning and carbon balance of permafrost mires. This study contributes to the understanding of the possible impacts of climate change on these ecosystems using paleoecological techniques.

Stable isotopes in ice cores drilled in the polar and high-mountain region have been used intensively to reconstruct past climatic changes and atmospheric dynamics. However, no similar studies have been conducted on perennial ice accumulations in caves due to a limited understanding of the links between the external and cave environments, and the way in which the climatic signal can be recorded by the cave ice. In this thesis, we successfully designed and build a research methodology for the reconstruction of past climatic changes based on perennial ice accumulation in caves, using as example the Scarisoara Ice Cave, Romania. The ice block in this cave preserves a large variety of candidate proxies for both past climate and environmental changes, the most significant ones being the stable isotopic composition of the ice (a proxy for air temperature) and pollen remains. The ice block has formed by the successive accumulation of layers formed by the freezing of water accumulated from late summer through mid-autumn precipitation. An original method has been developed for the reconstruction of the stable isotopic composition of water before freezing, and further, of the late summer air temperature. Pollen in the ice has been found to reflect changes in surface vegetation at both local and regional scale. A 22 m long ice core has been extracted from the ice block, and stable isotope analyses were performed at high resolution on its entire length. Twenty-sex radiocarbon ages have been used to derive a precise depth-age model for this core. The stable isotope data covers almost the entire Holocene, between 0.09 and 9.75 ka BP. The first order fluctuation broadly follows the orbitally induced Northern Hemisphere September insolation, with a minimum in the early Holocene, a slow climb towards a maximum at ~5.0 ka, followed by a very slow cooling towards the present, accentuated after ~0.5 ka. Superimposed on the long-term variations a series of rapid cooling events (RCE) are recorde, the most notable ones being at 9.5 ka, 8.2 ka, 7.9 ka, 6 ka, 4.2 ka, 3.2 ka and 0.9 ka. The timing of these RCEs agrees remarkably well with the Holocene rapid climatic changes and the ice rafted debris (IRD) events in the North Atlantic (NA). Our data suggests that the general trends of temperature changes in mainland Europe during the Holocene were governed by changes in solar output. RCEs were synchronous with NA IRD events, the NA climatic signal originating from sea surface temperature changes and being amplified by atmospheric dynamics. The stable isotope data spanning the past 2000 years clearly shows four climatic events over this interval, attributed to the Roman Warm period (RWP), the Dark Ages Cold Period (DACP), Medieval Warm Period (MWP) and the Little Ice Age (LIA). Our data suggests that air temperature was highly variable during the LIA and more stable during the warm MWP and RWP. As ice caves were described in many parts of the world otherwise poorly represented in ice-based paleoclimatology, the results of this study could open a new direction in paleoclimatic research, so that an array of significant paleoclimate data can be developed based on their study.

Etude de la flore des diatomees de forages oceaniques et de coupes situees a terre: site 647 de l'odp pour l'oligocene; formation des moronites et coupes de cobatillas en espagne, coupes de saint-laurent la vernede et d'uzes dans le gard, coupes du "tripoli di contignaco" en italie et forages dsdp des sites 116, 334, 335 et 545 pour le miocene; site 646 de l'odp pour le plio-pleistocene. L'interpretation biostratigraphique permet de mettre en evidence des hiatus de la sedimentation ,lies a la circulation oceanique profonde et a la presence d'upwellings cotiers

La variabilité spatio-temporelle de l’évolution morpho-sédimentaire du fond de la vallée de la Choisille (bassin versant : 288 km²), affluent de la Loire moyenne dans le sud-ouest du Bassin parisien (37), a été étudiée par 78 forages (8 transects), prospection géophysique, analyses sédimentologiques et datations 14C et OSL. Huit phases d’évolution du système fluviatile depuis le début Weichsélien ont été définies et corrélées avec les données palynologiques et archéologiques locales, afin de comprendre l’impact des facteurs forçants : climat ou/et anthropisation. Du Weichsélien jusqu’au début du Subatlantique, l'activité d'incision ou de sédimentation de la Choisille a évolué sous contrôle climatique strict. Depuis l’Allerød, cette évolution a été différente de celles observées sur d’autres rivières en Europe du Nord-Ouest, indiquant des spécificités climatiques et géologiques régionales. Dès l’Âge du Bronze, la rivière a évolué sous contrôle climatique et anthropique ; l'impact anthropique sur la sédimentation fut prépondérant, mais très variable dans le temps et l'espace au sein du bassin selon les potentialités agricoles des secteurs considérés
The spatio-temporal variability of the Choisille valley morpho-sedimentary evolution (catchment: 288 km²), a tributary of the middle Loire River in the south-western Parisian Basin (37), was studied through 78 core-drillings (8 transects), geophysical prospecting, sedimentological analyses and 14C and OSL dating. Eight phases of fluvial system evolution were defined and correlated with palynological and archaeological dataset, in order to highlight the impact of forcing factors: climate and/or human activity. From the Weichselian up to the Subatlantic, the fluvial incision or sedimentation activity has strictly evolved under climate control. Since the Allerød, this evolution was different from what has been observed on other rivers of north-western Europe, indicating regional climatic or geological specificities. Since the Bronze Ages, the river has evolved under climatic and human control; the anthropogenic impact on sedimentation was dominant, but spatio-temporaly variable in the catchment, in relationship with the agricultural potentialities of the different areas

Tese de mestrado em Ciências do Mar, apresentada à Universidade de Lisboa, através da Faculdade de Ciências, 2012
Understanding past climate variability, especially abrupt climate events, is essential for predicting future climate, as they may provide crucial information about the climate system’s sensitivity to perturbations. Accordingly, this research is focused on documenting the vegetation response to the natural evolution of the current interglacial period, the Holocene, and on evaluating the anthropogenic contribution to it. Also, we intend to identify the nature, timing and causes of Holocene climate variability at orbital and suborbital time scales in a key region of the North Atlantic region. The present study reveals the vegetation and climate changes in southwestern France and northern Spain for the last ca. 9000 cal. yr BP in a well dated shelf core, KS05-10, retrieved in the southwestern margin of the Bay of Biscay (Basque country). The continuous high resolution pollen record shows orbital and suborbital climate fluctuations contemporaneous with those noticed for the North Atlantic region, Greenland and Europe. The gradual decline of pine and oak trees and the general increase of herbaceous plants, reflecting a gradual cooling between 9000 and 1000 yr cal. BP, follows the cooling in Greenland as well as the decrease of mid-latitude summer insolation. The gradual replacement of the oak forest by beech also reveal the reduction of seasonality, probably triggered by the gradual increase of the precession, and the increase of moisture conditions in mid- to late Holocene. Superimposed on the orbitally induced long-term cooling, KS05 10 pollen record detects an abrupt millennial scale climatic event between 8.3 and 8.1 ka in the southwestern Bay of Biscay, which is related to the well-known 8.2 ka event. The vegetation changes (reduction of temperate and humid trees, particularly Corylus, increase of ubiquist plants, principally Cyperaceae, and the presence of Carpinus) point to a cold and wet episode. The relatively cold conditions were probably the result of the weakening of the Meridional Overturnig Circulation triggered by the final catastrophic drainage of the Laurentide Lakes and consequent input of freshwater in the North Atlantic region. However this mechanism can not explain the wet conditions detected in the KS05 10 pollen record. These wet conditions could probably be the result of the influence of the Atlantic Westerly Jet stream and prevalence of strong zonal flow and frequent low pressure systems (associated with less blocking events located in the northern Iberian Peninsula and southwestern France). The blockage of sunlight by clouds, which is associated to high precipitation, may be responsible for the particular decline of Corylus (light-demanding tree) during this climatic downturn event. Small-amplitude millennial-scale cooling events after the 8.2 ka event and until the late Holocene may be reflected in the oscillations of the hazel trees. Spectral analysis of Corylus percentages shows a climatic cyclicity of ~500yr from 9 to 3 ka, comparable with those recognized in the North Atlantic region and Greenland ice cores, suggesting common climate forcing mechanisms such as changes in solar activity and perturbation of the North Atlantic circulation. The impact of human activity on vegetation over the last 1000 years is superimposed on the climatic natural changes.
O aquecimento global é na atualidade inequívoco, sendo evidentes o aumento das temperaturas médias do ar e do oceano à escala global, o degelo de neve e gelo e o aumento dos eventos meteorológicos extremos tais como: secas, cheias, ondas de calor, vagas de frio e furacões. Dada a gravidade das consequências que as alterações climáticas acarretam, o estudo destas temáticas constitui uma prioridade na agenda de diversas nações a nível socio-económico e científico. É vital, portanto, compreender o sistema climático ampliando o conhecimento sobre os mecanismos forçadores de clima e respetivas consequências nas condições climáticas no Atlântico Norte. Neste contexto, o estudo das variações climáticas registradas no presente período interglacial, o Holocénico, representa especial relevância. Estudos sobre os interglaciários e em particular sobre o Holocénico (últimos 11500 anos) são um dos principais temas de investigação atuais. Nos últimos anos foram efetuados estudos em variadíssimos registos naturais (ex. lagos, sedimentos marinhos) de modo a compreender a natureza, duração e causas das oscilações climáticas que ocorreram durante o Holocénico. Todavia, muitas das reconstituições climáticas existentes até à data, não se baseiam na correlação direta entre o oceano, o continente e o gelo, tornando difícil obter com precisão o conhecimento das interacções entre os sistemas atmosfera-oceano-continente e do seu real impato na variabilidade climática global. Acresce ainda, à impossibilidade de se estabelecer uma correlação direta, o fato de nenhum destes registos isolados ser adequado para identificar a variabilidade temporal e espacial necessária à comparação das variações climáticas regionais com modelos climáticos. Consequentemente, o tipo de mecanismos responsáveis pela variabilidade climática Holocénica está longe de ser reconhecido. Os principais objetivos deste trabalho são a) determinar e caraterizar a evolução do clima e da vegetação no Holocénico no sudoeste da margem continental Francesa/Norte de Espanha ; e b) detetar e compreender a frequência, duração e amplitude da variabilidade climática no Holocénico, assim como inferir sobre os principais mecanismos forçadores. Para tal, foi efetuado um estudo polínico de alta resolução temporal numa sondagem colhida num ponto geograficamente estratégico Atlântico Norte: norte da Península Ibérica/sudoeste da margem continental Francesa. Este estudo mostra que a vegetação na região de estudo ao longo do Holocénico respondeu à variabilidade climática orbital e sub-orbital, e em particular ao evento abrupto designado por 8.2 ka. A diminuição gradual da floresta temperada, em particular do Pinus e do Quercus decíduo, acompanhada de um aumento sucessivo de plantas herbáceas, sugere um arrefecimento progressivo compatível com a diminuição da insolação de verão das médias latitudes do Hemisfério Norte e a diminuição gradual do δ18O nos registos de gelo na Gronelândia. Durante o Holocénico médio e superior, a substituição do Quercus decíduo e Pinus pelo Fagus, sugere, além do arrefecimento progressivo, um aumento das condições de umidade e uma diminuição da sazonalidade. A redução da sazonalidade é contemporânea com o aumento geral da precessão. Superimposta a esta variabilidade climática orbital, verificou-se um episódio caracterizado pela diminuição da floresta temperada, especialmente de Corylus, juntamente com um aumento significativo das herbáceas, sobretudo Cyperaceae e a presença de Carpinus. Estes indicadores atestam a presença do evento frio e húmido designado por “evento 8.2 ka” no norte da Península Ibérica/sudoeste da margem continental Francesa. Todas as evidências apontam para os episódios terminais de expulsão dos lagos de “Agassiz” e de “Ojibway” e a consequente redução gradual da “MOC” (meridional overturning circulation), como as principais causas para o súbito arrefecimento durante o evento 8.2 ka. A diminuição da intensidade da circulação termohalina terá impedido o transporte de calor para as altas latitudes provocando a diminuição da temperatura registada no Atlântico Norte e na Europa. Este trabalho propõe que o mecanismo atmosférico que explica as condições húmidas durante este evento nas latitudes médias da Europa envolve alterações na atividade ciclónica e na posição da Corrente de Jato no Atlântico, e a prevalência de situações de forte circulação zonal com frequentes sistemas depressionários tipicos de uma ausencia de eventos de bloqueio na zona de estudo. Além disso, o aumento na quantidade de nuvens durante este evento abrupto pode ter induzido à particular diminuição de Corylus (árvore dependente de bastante luz para o seu desenvolvimento) através do bloqueio da luz solar e consequente diminuição da sua disponibilidade. A variabilidade climática sub-orbital não é muito evidente após o evento 8.2 ka no nosso registo polínico. No entanto, as percentagens de todos os taxa foram submetidas a uma análise espetral (Wavelet), de forma a determinar a evolução temporal das amplitudes e periodicidades prevalentes das variações climáticas holocénicas na região da Atlântico Norte em estudo. Foi obtida uma ciclicidade de ~500 anos para o Corylus. Esta ciclicidade é semelhante à detectada em registos na Gronelândia e no Atlântico Norte, o que sugere que esta espécie, em particular, terá respondido aos mesmos mecanismos climáticos forçadores (variações na atividade solar e/ou perturbações da circulação termohalina). Contudo, o nosso registo não possui resolução temporal suficiente para explorar esta possibilidade, sendo necessário para isso efetuar estudos adicionais. No último milénio, tornou-se evidente que o impato antropogénico através da presença contínua de espécies indicadoras de atividade antropogénica, como Castanea sativa, Juglans e cereais. O impacto humano aparenta ter sido sobreposto à variabilidade climática natural milenar durante este milénio. Este estudo contribuiu para a reconstrução das condições paleoclimáticas e a resultante resposta da vegetação ao longo do Holocénico no Norte da Península Ibérica/Sul de França; bem como para a compreensão dos mecanismos forçadores responsáveis por esta variabilidade climática orbital e sub-orbital. Os resultados desta pesquisa serão integrados nos dados existentes de alta resolução de várias regiões geográficas “chave” do Atlântico Norte incluídas no projeto CLIMHOL " Variabilidade climática Holocénica registada no Atlântico Norte e continente adjacente: correlação directa oceano-continente" (referência PTDC/AAC- CLI/100157/2008), financiado por fundos nacionais através da FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) e co-financiado pelo Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional – FEDER- através do COMPETE – Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade – POFC. É importante realçar que a avaliação do tempo e a natureza de resposta da vegetação a eventos abruptos como o 8.2 ka é de particular importância pois os modelos climáticos preveem uma redução na intensidade da “MOC” devido ao aquecimento global. Em termos de investigação no futuro, pretende-se continuar a aprofundar o conhecimento dos mecanismos envolvidos nas alterações climáticas. Deste modo, é essencial detectar e compreender a frequência, duração e amplitude e os mecanismos responsáveis pela variabilidade climática natural em períodos interglaciares com condições análogas ao Holocénico, mas que não são influenciadas pelas atividades humanas.

The Lateglacial and Early Holocene are key periods with respect to the understanding of the present-day vegetation and environment. An interdisciplinary approach is important for the study of these changes. Only by interlinking biological and geoscience evidence can we obtain a more comprehensive picture of this key period. It is not possible to interpret any pollen spectrum in the sedimentary record without knowledge of the history of the locality and its vicinity. Rapid climate changes had a crucial effect on the environment and vegetation. Continentality of the climate and a deficit of precipitation amplify the effect of local conditions. Vegetation, as in the case of vertebrates and molluscs, comprises a combination of species of a continental steppe, mountain biotopes and disturbed habitats. This facilitated contact among species and populations that are biogeographically separated at present. Vegetation of the Lateglacial period in the Czech Republic ranges in character from frost barrens in the mountains, through steppe-tundra vegetation at medium altitudes to a continental steppe in the lowlands and pine woodlands constrained to a moist floodplain. The Western Carpathians were covered by a taiga. In the Pannonian Lowland, there were open forests with conifers and broadleaved woody plants....

Dissertação de Mestrado em Quaternario e pré-história
Embora se conheçam muitos artigos publicados sobrea anatomia e sistemática do cavalo do Quaternário,a história de alguns Equus mostra a falta de alguns elos de ligação  na  história natural do cavalo. No presente trabalho pretende‐se fazer uma tentativa de classificar Cavalos (discriminar entre espécies ou grupo de espécies), com base no tamanho, sexo e forma, com em dois métodos estatísticos. Os objectivos são traçar o racio sexual e estabelecer o grau de dimorfismo sexual nos fósseis de cavalos da península italian; caracterizar a estrutura dos ossos do cavalo, com base no tamanho e forma do Pleistoceno ao Holoceno, com a ajuda da análise e Mistura Principal de componentes de analises. Em conclusão, podemos dizer que a razão sexual está situada entre 68% ‐32% aproximadamente, e também que quase não existe uma separação clara entre os dados dos fósseis, (não são sobrepostos uns aos outros, excepto os Dados de Eisenmann, que são heterogénios) utilizados no presente trabalho, na análise do tamanho e formato, o que indica três factores que podem ser os que têm diferentes taxonomía e cronología e diferentes condições ambientais. O presente trabalho é apenas uma tentativa de estudo dos Equinos.
Although so many articles have been published about the anatomy and systematic of Quaternary horse but still the story of Equus showing some missing links between the natural history of horse. In this present work applicant make an attempt to classify Horses (discriminate between species or group of species) on the basis of Size, Sex and shape analysis with using two Multivariate statistical methods. The objectives is two trace out the sex ratio, and establish degree of sexual dimorphism in fossil horses from Italian peninsula; to characterized the structure of horse bones on the basis of size and shape analysis occurs from Pleistocene to Holocene with the help of Mixture analysis and Principal Component Analysis. In the conclusion, one can say that the sex ratio is lying between 68%-32% approximately and also there is almost clear separation between the fossil data have been (they are not overlapping each other except Eisenmann Data which is a heterogeneous one) used in the present work in Size and Shape analysis, which indicating three factors that may be they have different taxonomy, different chronology and different environmental conditions. This present work is just a primarily attempt in Equine studies.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (31 ° 49'N, 70 ° 55'E bis 35 ° 50'N, 71 ° 47'E) liegt im Nordwesten Pakistans im Süden Asiens. Das Hindukusch-Gebirge in Afghanistan liegt im Westen, dem indischen Himalaya im Nordosten und die Karakorum Berge südlich vom tibetischen Hochland auf der Nordseite. Diese Arbeit besteht überwiegend aus drei separaten Studien entlang eines 200 km langen Transekts mit einem Höhengradienten ausgehend von den Sedimentbecken im Peshawar Tal (275 m ü.M.) bis hinauf zu den Malam Jabba Hills im Swat-Tal (2600 m ü.M.). Die erste Studie, die auf einer Datengrundlage von 160 Poaceae Arten beruht, zeigt Trends, dass polyploide C3- und C4-Poaceae-Arten größere Pollenkkörner als die jeweiligen diploiden Arten haben. In diesem Datensatz haben alle C4-Arten größere Pollenkörner als die C3-Arten. Ob Grassländer von C3 oder C4 Arten dominiert werden kann in verschiedenen Regionen und Lebensräumen durch die Untersuchung der Muster des Trends von zu- oder abnehmenden Pollenkorngrößen ermittelt werden. In unserem Datensatz ist Polyploidie bei C4-Gräsern häufiger als bei den C3 Arten. Die verwendete Methode kann auf Poaceae-Pollenkörner in Umweltarchiven angewendet werden, um das Klima der Vergangenheit zu rekonstruieren und die Dynamik der früheren Graslandökosysteme zu bewerten. Dieser Ansatz wird nicht nur bei laufenden paläoökologischen Studien helfen aufzuklären, wie die Änderungen der Vegetations-zusammensetzung und die Veränderungen in Biomen vergangener Graslandökosysteme zu entschlüsseln sind, sondern auch nützliche Erkenntnisse für die Vorhersage zukünftiger Entwicklungen ermöglichen. Die zweite Studie befasst sich mit modernen Pollenspektren aus Oberflächenproben und ihre Beziehung zu der umgebenden Vegetation, die nützliche Daten für die Interpretation von holozänen Pollenprofilen bietet. Dabei konnten entlang eines 200 km langen Höhengradienten vier verschiedene Höhenstufen unterschieden werden, wo die dominierenden Pflanzenfamilien, Poaceae, Asteraceae, Cyperaceae, Verbenaceae, Acanthaceae und Euphorbiaceae eine signifikante Korrelation mit dem gefunden Pollenniederschlag hatten, während sich bei anderen Familien, den Boraginaceae, Saxifragaceae, Apiaceae, Balsaminaceae und Rubiaceae große Unterschiede zu der zugehörigen Vegetationszusammensetzung ergaben. Für die Kalibrierung und Interpretation fossiler Pollendaten sollte also immer auch die aktuellen Beziehungen von Pollenniederschlag und Vegetationsdaten zumindest auf der Familienebene berücksichtigt werden. Die dritte Studie befasst sich mit einem Pollenprofil aus der Kabal Swat-Region, welches eine detaillierte Geschichte der Vegetation und des Klimas des Hindukuschs der letzten 3300 Jahre, also dem späten Holozäns enthält. Von 3300 bis 2400 cal BP, war eine subtropische semiaride krautige Vegetation hauptsächlich durch Cyperaceae- und Poaceae-Arten vertreten. Sie wurde ersetzt von gemischten Nadelwäldern mit Taxus, Pinus, sowie Juglans, Poaceae und Cyperaceae während der Zeit von 2400 bis 900 cal BP, was auf eine vergleichsweise moderate Klimaschwankung während des späten Holozäns weist. Der Rückgang der Poaceae von 2400 bis1500 cal BP und eine erneute Zunahme von 1500 bis 1200 cal BP Jahre zeigen, dass das Kabal Swat nass-kühlere und trocken-wärmere Phasen durchmachte. Nadelbäume in den gemischten Nadelwäldern treten heute bei größeren Höhe im alpinen Bereich auf. Weitere hochauflösende holozäne Pollenprofile des Hindukusch sind notwendig, um einen ausführlicheren Vergleich zu anderen süd- und zentralasiatischen Paläo-Archiven zu ermöglichen, die auch ein detaillierteres und anwendbares Wissen für Management und Naturschutzfragen ergeben.