1.36 million years of Mediterranean forest refugium dynamics in response to glacial-interglacial cycle strength.

ABSTRACT: The sediment record from Lake Ohrid (Southwestern Balkans) represents the longest continuous lake archive in Europe, extending back to 1.36 Ma. We reconstruct the vegetation history based on pollen analysis of the DEEP core to reveal changes in vegetation cover and forest diversity during glacial-interglacial (G-IG) cycles and early basin development. The earliest lake phase saw a significantly different composition rich in relict tree taxa and few herbs. Subsequent establishment of a permanent steppic herb association around 1.2 Ma implies a threshold response to changes in moisture availability and temperature and gradual adjustment of the basin morphology. A change in the character of G-IG cycles during the Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition is reflected in the record by reorganization

SUBMITTER: Donders T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8403972 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature