Last 1000 years of environmental history in Southern Bucovina, Romania : a high resolution multi-proxy lacustrine archive

Geo-ecological and landscape change studies at a local scale are scarce in Central-Eastern Europe and particularlyin Romania. However, this focus is directly relevant to ecosystems and humans as both are dependent on localenvironmental changes. We perform a high-resolution, multi-proxy analysis of physical and geochemical sedimentproperties, coupled to plant macrofossil, pollen and charcoal analysis at Iezerul Sadovei Lake and presentthe first palaeoenvironmental reconstruction from Bucovina Mountains, the north-eastern Romania. The sedimentaryrecord, spanning the last 950 years, is laminated throughout and reveals high intensity catchment responsesto changes in hydrological conditions and human impact. Results show major landscape disturbances950 years ago and during the last 200 years. The enhanced catchment instability from the onset of sedimentationto 1400 CE was characterised by landsliding and subsequent erosion and related mainly to natural factors. However,the most recent (since c.1800 CE) environmental changes, i.e. deforestation, enhanced channel and slopeerosion and lake in-filling are a consequence of direct human interventions. Changes in the composition and extentof forest cover were also driven by the combination of natural disturbances, climate variability and anthropogenicactivities. From 1400 CE, and more clearly over the last 200 years, early successional and disturbedhabitat taxa appeared to respond primarily to anthropogenic drivers, including forest management. The higherproportion of Abies alba (30%) and Fagus sylvatica (20%) in the local forest, and their dramatic decline, was recordedearlier (i.e., 1150 CE and 1400 CE respectively) than reported in other parts of the Romanian Carpathians.Using this palaeoenvironmental evidence as an analogue, projected climate changes, i.e., increased seasonalheavy precipitation and more frequent extreme events, superimposed on increasing human pressure are likelyto lead to the destabilisation of the catchment through erosion and possible reactivation of landslides