We used fossil records to explore patterns of change in vegetation composition, turnover and diversity along an elevational gradient during the late-glacial to early Holocene, and to locate the elevations most sensitive to past climate changes.

Pollen analysis of a 270 cm deep guano deposit from Mãgurici Cave (NW Romania) was performed to understand the vegetation dynamics and the influence of deforestation and farming activities that unfolded in the Transylvania area over the past 800 years. The study discusses the value of cave guano as a source of palaeoclimate data and tests if guano sequences record the same signals as other proxies (tree rings, speleothems, lakes or peat). The pollen

This paper examines fourteen fossil pollen datasets from Romania. It aims to investigate the temporal and spatial variability in the range distribution and abundance of three forest taxa, Pinus, Picea abies, and Quercus, during the Holocene. This is essential for understanding their current status in the forests of Eastern Europe, the conditions under which they arose, and the timing and processes responsible for their variability. Results from this

Pollen analysis supported by nine AMS 14C dates from the Poiana ªtiol peat sequence (1540 m), in the Rodnei Mountains, Eastern Romanian Carpathians (Romania) is used to reconstruct the Holocene vegetation history in this mountain region. The results are then compared with other sequences from Romania and Eastern Europe in order to better understand the past dynamics of the main forest constituents. The vegetation record at Poiana ªtiol starts at

The carbonate deposit, located in Corund (Romania) area is well-known by the 19th century, because of the spectacular, colored carbonates found in three outcrops. The reptile fossils found in these carbonates are unique, not only because these are first occurrences for the studied area, but also because such type of reptile fossils were not described in the literature related to Europe Pleistocene – Quaternary reptile fauna. The identification

A 4800-year-long sequence of environmental change during the Late Holocene has been reconstructed for southern Transylvania (Romania). The research design used palynological methods to reconstruct vegetation history and human impact in the region. We present here the results of pollen analysis of one sequence of about 11.90 m length, originating from a peat bog near Avrig (113 pollen spectra). The vegetation record, which is supported by four 14C

This paper examines eight fossil pollen datasets from Romania with the aim of exploring regional and elevational patterns in site similarity throughout the Holocene. In particular, we aim to determine whether there are clear intervals of homogenization /differentiation and to ascertain the potential driving factors. We found strong variability in the past vegetation dynamics during the Holocene. Bray-Curtis similarity analyses show large fluctuations

Pollen analysis from a peat core 7.0 m in length, taken from a bog near Bisoca, in a mid-altitude area of the Buzãului Subcarpathian mountains, is used to reconstruct the postglacial vegetation history of the region. The vegetation record, which is supported by twelve 14C dates, starts at the end of the Late Glacial period. At the Late Glacial/Holocene transition, open vegetation was replaced by forest, suggesting a fast response to climatic warming.

A Weichselian Pleniglacial cyclic sedimentation sequence at Floresti, near Cluj-Napoca in western Transylvania, Romania represents an alternation of slope deposits (coarse fan structures and reworked loess-like sediments) and paleosols. Detailed grain-size analysis together with pedological, pollen and malacofaunal investigation allows the recognition of four main morphoclimatic cycles similar to those of stadial-interstadial nature. Boreal forest-steppe

Romania has for a long time been lacking good palaeoenvironmental records, particularly for the Late Quaternary. A chronological framework had been nearly absent and the vegetation development had been reconstructed entirely from pollen data. Data sets from this part of Europe are important for assessing the spatial variability of past vegetation and climatic changes and to reconstruct tree migration routes at the end of the last glacial period.