Holocene history and environmental reconstruction of a Hercynian mire and surrounding mountain landscape based on multiple proxies

• Published in: Quaternary Research
• Main Authors: Dudová, L. (Lydie), Hájková, P. (Petra), Opravilová, V., Hájek, M. (Michal)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: fen-bog transition; transfer functions; macrofossil and pollen analysis; Betula nana
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2014.04.017; http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0236319

We discovered the first peat section covering the entire Holocene in the Hrubý Jeseník Mountains. We analysed pollen, plant macrofossils (more abundant in bottom layers), testate amoebae (more abundant in upper layers), peat stratigraphy and chemistry. The mire started to develop as a calcium-rich percolation fen with some species recently considered to be postglacial relicts (Meesia triquetra, Betula nana), shifted into ombrotrophy around 7450 cal yr BP by autogenic succession and changed into a pauperised, nutrient-enriched spruce woodland due to modern forestry activities. Further, we found that the landscape development differed from other Hercynian mountains located westward. This is represented by Pinus cembra and Larix during the Pleistocene/Holocene transition, the early expansion of spruce around 10,450 cal yr BP, and survival of Larix during the climatic optimum. From a methodological viewpoint we demonstrated how using multiple biotic proxies and extensive training sets in transfer functions may overcome taphonomic problems.