Late Glacial and Holocene landscape dynamics in the southern taiga zone of East European Plain according to pollen and macrofossil records from the Central Forest State Reserve (Valdai Hills, Russia)

Abstract

New pollen and macrofossil data are presented from three peat mires in the Central Forest State Biosphere Reserve, southern Valdai Hills (Russia). Significant changes were recorded in the vegetation during the Late Glacial and the Holocene, caused by climate changes. Three main stages of wetland development, clearly determined in the southern Valdai Hills, were attributed to the Boreal, the onset of Subboreal, and the last two centuries. Intensive peat accumulation and forest paludification were induced by increasing humidity as a result of shifts in precipitation/evaporation rate and, probably, of cooling and increased rainfall. Evidence of agricultural activity in places in the vicinity of the territories with traditional land use is preserved in pollen records since 2500 14C BP. However, the forest ecosystems of the Reserve were not significantly disturbed by anthropogenic activity until the last 200–150 years. Effective agriculture was possible in the southern Valdai Hills only from the 18th century.