Palsa is a peat mound with a permanently frozen core, occurring in the (sub)polar zone. So far, the history of European palsa mires has been investigated mainly by means of analysis of plant macroremains. To better understand how the formation of palsa is reflected in pollen records, we investigated fossil pollen of two sites in northern Fennoscandia: a conical palsa close to Abisko National Park (NW Sweden) and low palsa mire close to Nikel, Kola Peninsula (NW Russia). At both sites, the formation of palsa is demonstrated by the same pattern in pollen record: decrease of Cyperaceae pollen and Pteridophyta and Lycopodiophyta spores, and the associated increase of ericoid dwarf shrubs and Rubus chamaemorus pollen. This pattern represents the change from a wet fen to a dry bog plant community after the uplift of the palsa mound above the surrounding terrain. The age of both palsas formation around 2370 cal BP (Abisko) and 2270 cal BP (Nikel) falls in the two main periods of palsa initiation in Europe and thus represents further evidence of significant cooling in the period 2600-2100 cal BP. At both investigated sites, this cooling is also reflected by the decline of pine and the expansion of birch tundra. Besides new original data, we provide an overview of so-far dated palsa formation in northern Fennoscandia and an interpretative key for identifying palsa in the palaeoecological record, based on plant species typical of the different stages of palsa development.

The Eurasian (née European) Modern Pollen Database (EMPD) was established in 2013 to provide a public database of high-quality modern pollen surface samples to help support studies of past climate, land cover, and land use using fossil pollen. The EMPD is part of, and complementary to, the European Pollen Database (EPD) which contains data on fossil pollen found in Late Quaternary sedimentary archives throughout the Eurasian region. The EPD is in turn part of the rapidly growing Neotoma database, which is now the primary home for global palaeoecological data. This paper describes version 2 of the EMPD in which the number of samples held in the database has been increased by 60 % from 4826 to 8134. Much of the improvement in data coverage has come from northern Asia, and the database has consequently been renamed the Eurasian Modern Pollen Database to reflect this geographical enlargement. The EMPD can be viewed online using a dedicated map-based viewer at https://empd2.github.io and downloaded in a variety of file formats at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.909130 (Chevalier et al., 2019).

Origin and dynamics of spruce woodlands in central Europe is an important topic due to the current disturbances triggered by bark beetle outbreaks and extreme climatic events. We focused on the Late Holocene development of spruce-dominated woodlands at their southern margin in the Western Carpathians. We analysed eight peat profiles along an altitudinal gradient of 730-1358 m a.s.l. and evaluated the pollen spectra separately for the period before and after the start of intense medieval or post-medieval human intervention in the landscape. We focused on the relative proportions of spruce, beech, fir and noble hardwood trees. Spatial variation in the proportions of beech and spruce exceeded the temporal variation, contrary to fir that declined generally. Proportion of spruce significantly increased over time but the effect differed among sites. Proportion of beech was highest at 800- 1000 m a.s.1., while that of spruce increased linearly with annual precipitation rather than altitude and reached the highest values on windward slopes and in wet valleys. Different dominant trees at the two highest altitude sites indicate that attitudinal gradient was less important in the area studied. Although foresters consider spruce woodland on the highest summits as naturally monodominant, we found an apparent admixture of fir, together with a small admixture of beech, in the period before human intervention. An exact reconstruction of the proportions of individual climax trees in past vegetation is, however, not yet possible. Based on macrofossils, spruce unlike beech, has occurred directly on peatlands. Local occurrence of spruce might increase its proportion in a pollen spectrum. Indeed, after anthropogenic deforestation, its proportion decreased. It increased again as late as the establishment of spruce monocultures either by natural succession on abandoned pastures or by forestry. In addition to the effect of local spruce occurrence, modern pollen spectra further demonstrate an over-representation of spruce relative to beech and fir pollen even in a mixed woodland on the highest summit site. We conclude that spruce is a major natural component of mountain woodlands even at its southern margin. Contrary to previous expectation, we demonstrate that the proportion of spruce was not associated with altitude but with mesoclimate and soil humidity. The natural spruce woodlands were mixed or existed as mosaics at all altitudes and the monodominant character of spruce woodlands in the area of summits is not natural.

The Western Carpathians have recently been examined in several palaeoecological studies. However, some of their parts remain underexplored in terms of the Holocene history of mountain woodlands. We analysed an 8000-year-old peat sequence from the southern part of the Western Carpathians (the Bykovo site) for pollen, needles and stomata, and reviewed the data on the occurrence and spread of beech since the Last Glacial times in order to put results from Bykovo into the context of the whole Western Carpathians. For pre-industrial times, we reconstructed mixed beech–fir or beech–fir–spruce woodlands in zonal habitats, noble hardwood woodlands on screes, and spruce woodlands in peaty and wet habitats. A meta-analysis of available pollen data for beech revealed that a few sites in Pannonia and on the southern Carpathian fringes reached beech pollen abundances exceeding 0.5% at the very beginning of the Holocene (12–10 cal BP). Moreover, the pattern of reaching greater pollen abundance limits showed a clear south-to-north gradient starting in the Pannonian lowland. Therefore, the direction of the spread of beech based on pollen abundances and the absence of beech macrofossil evidence during the Last Glacial Maximum do not support local glacial refugia of beech directly in the Western Carpathians. The timing of local beech occurrence (empirical pollen limit of 1.4–2%) and its expansion (rational pollen limit of up to 5%) at the Bykovo site fits well this gradual spread of beech from the south. The first period of beech spread in the Bykovo area around 6250 cal BP coincides well with the period of increased precipitation between 6100 and 6800 cal BP, as reconstructed by different proxies (e.g. stable isotopes) for the Western Carpathians.

Shallow lowland lakes undergo long-lasting natural eutrophication processes, which can be studied through the development of communities of aquatic organisms. However, records showing millennial-scale trophic status variability in these water bodies are rare. Two radiocarbon-dated sedimentary profiles from former (now destroyed by brown coal mining) Lake Komořany (Central Europe, Czech Republic) served for a multi-proxy study of biological remains (diatoms, chironomids, pollen) supplemented by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and loss-on-ignition (LOI). The age–depth model and palynostratigraphy confirm a continuous Late-Glacial to Early-Holocene record. The results suggest consistent in-lake conditions with high nutrient availability since the lake origin in the Late-Glacial period. A distinct shift at the Late-Glacial/Holocene boundary evidenced by an enhancement in diatom valve concentration and a lithological interface was foregone by a qualitative change in diatom and chironomid assemblages along with rise in LOI. It suggests that a major transformation occurred before the onset of the Holocene. As this qualitative change was characterized by a decrease in relative abundance of nutrient-demanding species, we propose an indirect climatic control by means of nutrient availability as the main driver of the aquatic species composition.

Structural settings and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of a polyphase Late Pleistocene deep-seated landslide at the Malenik Ridge in the Eastern part of the Czech Republic are presented. The deep-seated rotational landslide is about 480 m long and 1540 m wide and it is a part of much larger landslide complex. The depositional record of two generations of former near-scarp depressions revealed a multiple deep-seated landslide activity during the last Quaternary climatic cycle. With the minimum age of 47704 +/- 2346 cal b2k, the landslide belongs among the oldest dated landslides in the outer Western Carpathians and Carpathian Foredeep in the Czech Republic. The younger reactivation started at 12662 +/- 73 cal b2k during Younger Dryas. The palaeobotanical and depositional record from the landslide brought unique palaeoenvironmental data for two time intervals of the last Quaternary climatic cycle. The reconstructed MIS 3 forest vegetation with the predominance of stone pine-larch (Pinus cembra - Larix) taiga with Pinus sylvestris and Betula pendula/pubescens are the first evidences of the forest vegetation for the GS13 to GI12 transition in Outer Western Carpathians. Similarly, documented events of MIS 3 landslide activity from Outer Western Carpathians are rather rare. The Late Glacial to Holocene record from the younger near-scarp depression revealed vegetation and landscape changes during the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. The evidenced oldest parts of the landslide at the Malenik Ridge had to originate during more humid interpleniglacial conditions. The geomorphological evidence for landslide activity from this period has almost completely disappeared from the ground surface topography due to intensive periglacial processes operating later during the Last Glacial Maximum and subsequent fluvial and anthropogenic processes of the Holocene. The cold and relatively dry period of the pleniglacial is considered as a time when deep-seated mass movements use to be halted and overprinted by shallow solifluction of the active layer masking former deep-seated landslide features. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

QuestionsHow did the vegetation of a Central European mountain region with a fragmented alpine zone develop during the Holocene? When did human land use start to alter summit grasslands? Which gradient in pollen assemblages was strongest and was it consistent through time? LocationJeseniky Mountains, Czech Republic. MethodsSixteen pollen records were subjected to DCA in order to explore patterns of compositional similarities in the fossil pollen data. Because only the last 6,000years were recorded in the study sites from mountain summits, we restricted further analysis to this period. Twelve radiocarbon-dated pollen records were subjected to DCCA constrained by modelled calibrated age. Responses of individual pollen types to the principal DCCA gradients were tested with GAMs. ResultsIn the DCA, Early Holocene samples were located close to recent ones due to abundant pollen of herbs, Poaceae, Betula, Pinus sylvestris type and rare pollen of climax deciduous trees. In the DCCA for the last 6,000years, the sorting of sites along the first unconstrained axis correlated with altitude, which is a complex factor corresponding to temperature and geomorphology (flat summits vs alluvia of mountain rivulets). This elevational differentiation became more pronounced after 2,250cal BP when summit peatlands started to contain more Vaccinium, Calluna vulgaris, Amaranthaceae, Plantago lanceolata and Rumex acetosa type pollen. In contrast, mid-elevation pollen spectra started to contain more meadow herbs (Caltha, Potentilla type, Cirsium/Carduus). Picea pollen was surprisingly more associated with mid-elevation than high-elevation sites, unlike Fagus. ConclusionIncreasing contrast between summits and middle elevation alluvia seems to be a major feature of vegetation development over the last 6,000years. While alluvial areas were encroached by Alnus-Picea forests, and later locally transformed into wet grasslands, grazing and forest burning at summits gradually increased abundance of acidophytic dwarf shrubs and peatlands, especially since the Iron Age. Human impact might facilitate beech expansion at high elevations, with Picea-dominated forests being restricted to alluvia and around mid-elevation basin peatlands prior to establishment of modern Picea plantations.

The aims of this article are, first, to investigate the middle- and upper-Holocene woodland history along the altitudinal gradient between the lowlands and uplands of Central Europe (190–550 m a.s.l.) and, second, to outline possible biases inherent in the charcoal record based on a comparison with the pollen record and its known biases. Our anthracological data set contains 42,547 determinations made in 120 charcoal samples taken at 69 sites. The lowest elevated part of the study region (below 200 m a.s.l.) is characterized by the long-term presence of a species-rich hardwood forest (mixed oak–elm–ash forest). Quercus charcoals dominated in the rest of the altitude zones during the Neolithic and Aeneolithic; however, shrub charcoals appearing in samples from areas with chernozem soils (generally up to 230 m a.s.l.) indicate open-canopy oak woodlands. The species composition differed along the altitudinal gradient during the Bronze Age period, when Carpinus, Fagus and Abies expanded to altitudes above 230 m a.s.l., while Fagus was more abundant above 290 m a.s.l. Broadleaved trees ( Quercus, Fraxinus, Ulmus, Acer and Carpinus) and shrubs are generally more represented in charcoals than pollen. Since broadleaved trees are usually nutrient demanding and able to re-grow easily after being felled, we suppose that their charcoal record is influenced by two main factors: bias of the initial location of the archaeological site and bias caused by long-term human influence on forest vegetation in the vicinity of settlements. These results underline that combining charcoal and pollen analysis has great potential for studying phenomena in cultural landscapes, as each of the methods approaches nature from the opposite side of the human–nature gradient.

We analysed fifteen samples of a shallow profile “Sverrefjellet Volcano “, located in the NW part of Svalbard – Bockfjord region (see Fig.1). Frequency of pollen grains, spores and NPP (Non Pollen Palynomorphs) was quite low. Only the local taxa (e.g. Salix and Cyperaceae) produced pollen in greater abundance. The pollen spectrum was considerably varied, although pollen grains and spores of most taxa were present in low abundances. This was due to low pollen and spores productivity of the Arctic flora, which propagates mostly in a vegetative way. To obtain as much information from the profile under study as possible, we analysed the non- pollen palynomorphs as well. We succeeded above all in determination of eggs, buccal tubes and claws of the Tardigrada phylum (Jankovská 1991). The determination has been recently verified by specialists in the field, prof. L. Kaczmarek and dr. M. Roszkowska (in Jankovská et al. 2016). The results of the pollen- and NPP analysis are presented in pollen- and NPP diagram, which represents a picture of the species-poor Arctic flora.

Aim: The regional co-occurrence of contrasting bioclimatic elements (warm-temperate, continental, boreal, arctic-alpine) may be shaped by the distribution of their glacial or post-glacial refugia. We tested this hypothesis using pollen proxies in a region where such refugia are expected, but not unequivocally demonstrated.Location: East-Central Europe (Western Carpathians and adjacent regions).Methods: We compiled pollen spectra from 112 sites distributed across various landscapes for six time-periods from the Late Glacial to the present. Compositional patterns were assessed by principal coordinates analyses (PCoA) with a sensitivity analysis based on a bootstrap technique. Site PCoA scores were interpolated geographically and correlated with palaeoclimatic models.Results: Consistently over the last 15,000 years, the first ordination axis sorted samples according to the proportion of deciduous temperate trees, while the second axis consistently followed an altitudinal gradient that coincided with temperature. The principal gradient was more important than the altitudinal gradient except for the Late Glacial and Bronze & Iron Ages, when both gradients were of similar importance. The fine-grained pattern in the present mountain landscape was formed as late as during early modern colonization.Main conclusions: Since the Late Glacial, the landscape has been differentiated into temperate, continental and cold regions. This finding supports the hypothesis that refugia are a key factor for understanding current biogeography in Central Europe. The Late Glacial occurrence of temperate trees is unlikely to be explained only by gradual migrations from southern Europe. Humid but relatively warm mountains hence might have acted as glacial refugia of temperate forest species, while lowlands and leeward basins might have acted as post-glacial refugia of steppe grasslands. The strong contrast between forested (temperate) and more open continental landscapes during the Early Holocene seems to correspond with recent diversity patterns. Our results highlight the relevance of integrating past landscape trajectories into modern biogeographical models.

Continental-scale estimates of vegetation cover, including land-surface properties and biogeographic trends, reflect the response of plant species to climate change over the past millennia. These estimates can help assess the effectiveness of simulations of climate change using forward and inverse modelling approaches. With the advent of transient and contiguous time-slice palaeoclimate simulations, vegetation datasets with similar temporal qualities are desirable. We collated fossil pollen records for the period 21,000-0 cal yr BP (kyr cal BP; calibrated ages) for Europe and Asia north of 40 degrees N, using extant databases and new data; we filtered records for adequate dating and sorted the nomenclature to conform to a consistent yet extensive taxon list. From this database we extracted pollen spectra representing 1000-year time-slices from 21 lcyr cal BP to present and used the biomization approach to define the most likely vegetation biome represented. Biomes were mapped for the 22 time slices, and key plant functional types (PFTs, the constituents of the biomes) were tracked though time. An error matrix and index of topographic complexity clearly showed that the accuracy of pollen-based biome assignments (when compared with modern vegetation) was negatively correlated with topographic complexity, but modern vegetation was nevertheless effectively mapped by the pollen, despite moderate levels of misclassification for most biomes. The pattern at 21 ka is of herb-dominated biomes across the whole region. From the onset of deglaciation (17-18 kyr cal BP), some sites in Europe record forest biomes, particularly the south, and the proportion of forest biomes gradually increases with time through 14 kyr cal BP. During the same period, forest biomes and steppe or tundra biomes are intermixed across the central Asian mountains, and forest biomes occur in coastal Pacific areas. These forest biome occurrences, plus a record of dated plant macrofossils, indicate that some tree populations existed in southern and Eastern Europe and central and far-eastern Eurasia. PFF composition of the herbaceous biomes emphasises the significant contribution of diverse forbs to treeless vegetation, a feature often obscured in pollen records. An increase in moisture ca. 14 kyr cal BP is suggested by a shift to woody biomes and an increase in sites recording initialization and development of lakes and peat deposits, particularly in the European portion of the region. Deforestation of Western Europe, presumably related to agricultural expansion, is clearly visible in the most recent two millennia. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

ABSTRACTPollen- and non-pollen-palynomorphs (NPP) analytical studies of the northwestern part of Spitsbergen were conducted between 1988 and 1991. As well as pollen from local native flora and more dispersed species, some well preserved remains of tardigrada exuvia, buccal tubes and eggs were found. This study reviewed the remains of at least six tardigrade taxa reported:Dactylobiotus ambiguous, Paramacrobiotus richtersigroup,Richtersius coronifer, Macrobiotus hufelandigroup,Macrobiotus peterseniandMinibiotuscf.intermedius, which are reassessed and determined more accurately. These findings provide some new insights into the past environmental conditions and changes for Spitsbergen. Based on the present research it can be concluded that tardigrade remains are frequent NPP elements of pollen analyses from lake, peat bogs and detritus sub-fossil sediment cores, at least in polar regions. It can also be stated that tardigrades can be considered indicators in further palaeontological studies helping to reconstruct past environmental conditions (for example humidity) for some regions. However, the knowledge of tardigrades in these types of analyses is still rather poor.

Palaeolimnological reconstruction of the aquatic environment in Lake Komořany, based on sedimentology, geochemistry, and diatom and macrofossil analyses in the littoral part of the basin, reflects the mid‐Holocene history of the profile from its origin c. 9100 cal. a BP to its final transformation into an alder carr c. 4100 cal. a BP. The existence of the littoral zone can be best explained by increased precipitation during the studied interval. A stable diatom community, diatom‐inferred total phosphorus (50–80 μg L−1) and pH (~7.6), along with stable concentrations of elements associated with changes in its watershed indicate a long‐lasting, balanced aquatic environment with no major shifts attributable to external factors, including climate change. From c. 4700 cal. BP, there started a transition to terrestrial conditions, caused by either natural infilling processes or decreased precipitation. Alternation of remarkable dry/wet phases was not detected, in contrast to numerous analogous central European and supraregional records. Potential human impact was revealed through increases of Corylus and Populus pollen in the Neolithic. These anthropogenic changes in the lake surroundings had no detectable influence on the lacustrine environment. The gathered data suggest undramatic, balanced mid‐Holocene environmental and climatic settings for this central European locality, in direct contrast to numerous analogous studies from the region emphasizing fluctuations and shifts found in the sediment record.

This paper describes specimens of Pediastrum argentinense-type in Late Quaternary sediments, focusing on their morphological variability and stressing their value for palaeobotanical studies. Although the taxon strongly resembles P. argentinense Bourrelly et Tell in Tell, known only from South America, some morphological differences between P. argentinense and P. argentinense-type lead to the conclusion that we are dealing with a separate taxon provisionally named P. argentinense-type. To make its taxonomic position clear, there is a need for detailed morphological observations of living specimens and molecular analyses. This taxon was found in sections spanning the entire Late Glacial and Holocene periods across Central Europe. Its affinity to sediments originating in shallow and strongly overgrown water bodies makes it a good indicator of such conditions in past environments.

The distribution pattern of relict and specialised species in calcareous fens was revealed to be non-stochastic, with ancient fens harbouring more of these species than younger ones. This phenomenon could be caused by long-lasting in situ survivals over millennia, but direct palaeoecological evidence is lacking. We addressed the question whether at least some ancient calcareous fens indeed retained open-fen patches throughout the Holocene, using a palaeoecological approach involving proxies with different taphonomies (pollen, vascular plants, bryophytes, molluscs). We identified three old fens in the Western Carpathians, where several postglacial relict species have recently been found, and we reconstructed their histories with respect to sedimentary processes, vegetation structure and dynamics of relict species. The development at all the sites started with a (semi)-open fen community dominated by sedges and brown mosses. The site with the highest recent number of relict species was reconstructed to harbour open patches continually since the late Glacial to the present, including the middle Holocene when open-fen patches were restricted. By contrast, at the site with the lowest recent number of relict species, a large sedimentary hiatus suggested peat mineralisation or erosion that prevented the survival of light-demanding species. At all the sites, characteristic snails of European Glacial periods occurred during fen initiation, but disappeared around the early/middle Holocene transition. The probability of a relict species being present in a modern fen community increases with fen age, but it also depends on the continual existence of open-fen patches and peat accumulation throughout the middle Holocene.