Reconstruction of forest ecosystem Holocene dynamics in the left bank of Kas River (Krasnoyarsk Region)

A reconstruction of forest-cover dynamics in the northern part of the Kas River basin has been done for the first time. This study based on a palynological analysis of the peat profile. Six pollen zones and respective phases of forest evolution are distinguished. It is inferred that changes in the forest species composition over the last 8000 years were determined by variations in the global and regional climate. The warm and humid climate of the Atlantic period promoted the development of dark coniferous birch-spruce-fir forests. Cooling and smaller precipitation in the Subboreal period led to a change in dominant species to Scotch pine and birch-Siberian pine forests with an admixture of spruce and fir. In the Subatlantic period, closed coniferous forests eventually evolved, with Siberian pine-pine remaining dominant.