• Here, palaeobotanical and genetic data for common beech (Fagus sylvatica)in Europe are used to evaluate the genetic consequences of long-term survival in refuge areas and postglacial spread. • Four large datasets are presented, including over 400 fossil-pollen sites, 80 plant-macrofossil sites, and 450 and 600 modern beech populations for chloroplast and nuclear markers, respectively. • The largely complementary palaeobotanical and genetic

We present here the results of pollen analysis of two sequences of about 8.06m and 11.90 m length, originating from two adjacent peat bogs in the southern part of Transylvania province, Romania (155 and 122 pollen spectra. The vegetation record, which is supported by 17 14C dates,begins in the Late Glacial interstadial when forest recolonisation began with the development of Pinus, without a pioneer Betula phase. Picea began to expand from regional

Two sequences of about 10.5 m originating from a peat bog in Romania were analysed for pollen (202 and 127 pollen spectra). The vegetation history, supported by 24 14C dates is described since the Late Glacial. At the onset of the Holocene Ulmus first appears, together with Betula. Among the main components of the Quercetum mixtum (Quercus, Fraxinus, Tilia, Corylus) that became established almost simultaneously by around 9000 B.P., Quercus frequencies