Regional variation in the response of vegetation to Lateglacial climatic events in Europe in Studies in the Lateglacial of North-West Europe.
Europe ; Géographie physique ; Paléobiogéographie ; Pléistocène ; Quaternaire zones moyennes ; Tardiglaciaire ; Variation régionale ; Végétation
There is great regional variation in the intensity of response of vegetation to Lateglacial climatic events in Europe. Between 11,000 and 10,000 radiocarbon years BP, a severe climatic deterioration brought about major changes in the species
composition of vegetation in Ireland and Britain. In continental NW Europe most of the same species persisted from the preceding period and changes in vegetation were largely quantitative, although heaths developed over sandy soils. In the Alps
there was little or no change in vegetation at many sites, although there was inflow of inorganic materials into some lake basins. There is weaker evidence for a climatic deterioration which caused upland erosion between 12,000 and 11,800 BP. This can be seen
productivity at this time. The occurrence of such a sequence is not considered to be due to any stratigraphical discontinuities as there is no change in sediment lithology, but is thought to represent a significant change in the local vegetation communities
with the disappearance of Juniperus and Empetrum. It is suggested that the sequence is comparable to that found by Walker at Corrydon in Glenshee (1977) and may represent the Bolling-Older Dryas-Allerod chronozones. The vegetation record of the later Loch Lomond Stadial
to the Lateglacial vegetation are unlikely to exist at present, one must rely upon what is known of the limits of certain indicator taxa, assuming their requirements to have remained unchanged. The knowledge of current climatic limits of species is still largely