Pollen records, postglacial. Southern Europe

Southern Europe numbers more than 400 postglacial terrestrial pollen sequences and more than 60 spanning the whole period. Such wealth is also visible in the composition of single pollen diagrams showing a high degree of phytobiodiversity, and different patterns of vegetation dynamics against millennial-scale climate variability. The trees found in the region have been here since the end of the last glacial period, indicating that refuge areas were present in the area. The interplay of climate forcing and human agency, enhanced in the last four millennia, produced the present mosaic of vegetation and reduction of biodiversity.