Abstract. Since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; end ca. 19 000 cal BP) central European plant communities have been shaped by changing climatic and
anthropogenic disturbances. Understanding long-term ecosystem
reorganizations in response to past environmental changes is crucial to draw
conclusions about the impact of future climate change. So far, it has been
difficult to address the post-deglaciation timing and ecosystem dynamics due
to a lack of well-dated and continuous sediment sequences covering the
entire period after the LGM. Here, we present a new paleoecological study
with exceptional chronological time control using pollen, spores and
microscopic charcoal from Moossee (Swiss Plateau, 521 m a.s.l.) to
reconstruct the vegetation and fire history over the last ca. 19 000 years.
After lake formation in response to deglaciation, five major pollen-inferred
ecosystem rearrangements occurred at ca. 18 800 cal BP (establishment of
steppe tundra), 16 000 cal BP (spread of shrub tundra), 14 600 cal BP
(expansion of boreal forests), 11 600 cal BP (establishment of the first
temperate deciduous tree stands composed of, e.g., Quercus, Ulmus, Alnus) and 8200 cal BP (first
occurrence of mesophilous Fagus sylvatica trees). These vegetation shifts were caused by
climate changes at ca. 19 000, 16 000, 14 700, 11 700 and 8200 cal BP.
Vegetation responses occurred with no apparent time lag to climate change when the mutual chronological uncertainties are considered. This finding is in
agreement with further evidence from southern and central Europe and might
be explained by the proximity to the refugia of boreal and temperate trees
(<400 km) and rapid species spreads. Our palynological record sets
the beginning of millennial-scale land use with periodically increased fire
and agricultural activities of the Neolithic period at ca. 7000 cal BP.
Subsequently, humans rather than climate triggered changes in vegetation
composition and structure. We conclude that Fagus sylvatica forests were resilient to
long-term anthropogenic and climatic impacts of the Mid and the Late
Holocene. However, future climate warming and in particular declining
moisture availability may cause unprecedented reorganizations of central
European beech-dominated forest ecosystems.