Development of small lakes in Estonia: paleolimnological studies

Abstract

In this paper we give an brief overview of the paleolimnological studies revealing the development of Estonian lakes and their surrounding landscapes during the Holocene. The paper is mostly focused on the studies carried out in the Institute of Ecology (IoE) at Tallinn University. Development of lakes and their ecological environment can be roughly divided into two major periods: natural stage from emergence of lakes after withdrawal of continental ice sheet to signs of first anthropogenic impacts and the period where the human activity has clearly influenced the lake and its environment.