Vegetation dynamics in the Kostomuksha State Nature Reserve (Russia) and surroundings against changes in the natural environment during the Holocene

• Published in: Nature Conservation Research
• Main Author: Ludmila V. Filimonova
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Russian
• Published: Fund for Support and Development of Protected Areas "Bear Land" 2021
• Subjects: palaeovegetation reconstructions; peat deposition; plant macrofossils; radiocarbon dating; republic of karelia; spore-pollen analysis; Geography. Anthropology. Recreation; G; Isosuo; Dwarf birch; Fennoscandia; karelia*; Republic of Karelia; taiga; Tundra
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.24189/ncr.2021.019; https://doaj.org/article/8edb798e47f2484cb4241b6636764055

In the current situation of climate instability, research on the natural trends of vegetation development against global climate change is of high relevance, especially in areas once covered by the latest glaciation (Weichselian), and not altered substantially by human activities afterwards. The Kostomuksha State Nature Reserve, which is part of the Russian-Finnish Nature Reserve and the Green Belt of Fennoscandia, is a model area of well-preserved natural north-taiga pine (Pinus sylvestris) forest. To re-construct the history of its formation in post-glacial time, stratigraphic, radiocarbon, and palaeobotanical (determination of pollen, spores, plant macrofossils, Pediastrum algae) studies of lacustrine-paludal deposits were carried out in two sections of the mire Mezhselgovoe. The general trends and local features of vegetation development on dry land, and of the paludification process in the study area were investigated by comparing data derived by the author anew or previously from the cores taken from the Härkösuo and Isosuo mires, situated in the Finnish part of the Russian-Finnish Nature Reserve with published palaeogeographic material from nearby areas. The vegetation reconstructions cover the period from ice retreat from the study area in Preboreal time until present. Concurrent changes in the natural environment (including palaeoclimate) are specified, and the geomorphology and human impact in the territory are taken into account. The reconstructions are based on 25 radiocarbon datings. Deglaciation of the Russian-Finnish Nature Reserve area started around 9700 radiocarbon-dated years before present (14С BP) / 11 160 calibrated years before present (cal BP) and ended not later than 9500 ± 70 14C BP (10 830 ± 160 cal BP). As ice was retreating, the area got occupied by Artemisia-Chenopodium-forbs-dominated periglacial steppe, tundra (dwarf birch and dwarf shrub-true moss, willow and sedge-grass types), and birch-dominated forest-tundra communities. The first category occupied a relatively minor ...