Environmental gradients during Late Glacial in Central Europe

The Lateglacial and Early Holocene are key periods with respect to the understanding of the present-day vegetation and environment. An interdisciplinary approach is important for the study of these changes. Only by interlinking biological and geoscience evidence can we obtain a more comprehensive picture of this key period. It is not possible to interpret any pollen spectrum in the sedimentary record without knowledge of the history of the locality and its vicinity. Rapid climate changes had a crucial effect on the environment and vegetation. Continentality of the climate and a deficit of precipitation amplify the effect of local conditions. Vegetation, as in the case of vertebrates and molluscs, comprises a combination of species of a continental steppe, mountain biotopes and disturbed habitats. This facilitated contact among species and populations that are biogeographically separated at present. Vegetation of the Lateglacial period in the Czech Republic ranges in character from frost barrens in the mountains, through steppe-tundra vegetation at medium altitudes to a continental steppe in the lowlands and pine woodlands constrained to a moist floodplain. The Western Carpathians were covered by a taiga. In the Pannonian Lowland, there were open forests with conifers and broadleaved woody plants...