The reliability of pollen analysis as a tool for the reconstruction of past vegetation and landscape depends on our knowledge of modern ecosystems. These reconstructions involve precise understanding of modern plant communities and how they are reflected in pollen assemblages.The calibration between present pollen deposition and vegetation has been studied with two approaches in pastoral areas of middle range mountains. In Pays Basque, the comparative approach differentiated well dispersed pollen taxa and a pool of pollen which indicates local grazing activities. These results were used to reconstruct local pastoral activity from fossil pollen records for the last 2000 years. Multiscale interpretation of pollen assemblages, use of multiprox...