Airborne birch pollen in Poland and Latvia in the light of data obtained from aerobiological monitoring and tauber traps in relation to mean air temperature

Birch pollen contains allergens belonging to those with the strongest allergenic properties. In order to trace pollen season patterns of this taxon and pollen annual sums at a wider regional scale, cooperation was established with the University of Latvia in Riga (Latvia). A comparison of the results obtained in the years 2003-2008 in Lublin and in Riga, using volumetric samplers, shows that there was a similar trend in the abundance of birch pollen. The highest sums were noted at both sites in 2003. In all the study years, more birch pollen grains were recorded in Lublin than in Riga, on the average by 7110. The birch pollen seasons started earlier in Lublin than in Riga, on the average by…

Reconstruction of the Holocene palaeoenvironmental conditions accordingly to the multiproxy sedimentary records from Lake Pilvelis, Latvia

Abstract Reconstruction of the Holocene palaeoenvironment conditions in Southeastern Latvia is based on multiproxy records from Lake Pilvelis: pollen, plant macrofossil and microfossil analysis; loss-on-ignition (LOI) measurements; 14 C dating; humic substances content; humification index; and elemental composition of gyttja organic mass. The data complex obtained in the result of multiproxy studies of sediments in Lake Pilvelis indicates significant changes in the depositional environment during the lake development. Data from Lake Pilvelis show that the start of organic-rich sediments formation before approximately 9750 cal BP, when birch–pine forest dominated in the surrounding landscape…

A Cromerian Complex palaeolake sediment sequence from the Zidini site, south-eastern Latvia

Abstract This study is based upon palaeobotanical reinvestigation of the Pleistocene deposit strata revealed by test drillings in the buried valley at the Zidini site, southeastern Latvia. Up to 100 m thick lake sediment strata covered by three different till layers have been found in three 120–171 m deep test drillings. New palynological and plant macroremain analysis for sediment samples from core No. 43 have been done. These results and data from the earlier investigations at Zidini were compared. Clearer insights into depositional environment and vegetation change during the accumulation of sediments in the palaeolake have been acquired. According to recent studies and correlation of ob…

Statistical modelling of non-stationary processes of atmospheric pollution from natural sources: example of birch pollen

Abstract A statistical model for predicting daily mean pollen concentrations during the flowering season is constructed and its parameterization and application to birch pollen in Riga (Latvia) are discussed. The model involves several steps of transformations of both meteorological data and pollen observations, aiming at a normally distributed homogeneous stationary dataset with linearized dependencies between the transformed meteorological predictors and pollen concentrations. The data transformation includes normalization of daily mean birch pollen concentrations, a switch of the independent axis from time to heat sum, a projection of governing parameters to pollen concentrations, and a …

Accumulation of metals and changes in composition of freshwater lake organic sediments during the Holocene

Abstract The distribution of metals in the strata of sediments deposited in the freshwater environment formed during the Holocene in the territory of Latvia has been studied rather insufficiently. Considering the large volume of accumulated organic matter in sediments, studies on the content of metallic elements in sediments can help to determine the peculiarities of the metal accumulation process in limnic systems and the biogeochemical cycling of metals. Lake Pilvelis, which is located in the eastern part of Latvia (the northern part of Europe), was selected as the main study site. Lake Pilvelis is a small lake of a glacial origin, and >90% of its depression is filled with organic-rich se…

Fen peat in environmentally friendly technologies

Abstract Using peat as an energy source is currently incompatible with Environmental Policy Strategy of Latvia and 2030 Climate and Energy Package of European Union. The European Commission is looking at cost-efficient ways to make European economy more climate-friendly and less energy consuming. Although, fen peat alongside raised bog peat is categorized as fossil fuel, it is not traditionally used as fuel or growth substrate or for any other significant purposes in reasonable amounts. Large areas of fens are neglected where fen peat is slowly mineralizing and emitting greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, that are ones of the main triggers for the Climate Change. Thus, to …

Peat stratigraphy and changes in peat formation during the Holocene in Latvia

Mires represented by raised bogs, fens, and transitional mires cover approximately 10 % of Latvia. They started to form towards the end of the last glacial period and the beginning of the Holocene under varying geological and palaeoecological conditions. The aim of the study was to evaluate how the results of peat palaeobotanical investigation can reveal changes in the conditions of peat formation and allow a subdivision to be made of the Holocene according to the scheme suggested by the INTIMATE group (Walker et al. 2012). Records from 21 mires have been evaluated to find evidence of changes in mire vegetation and peat formation, and to discover whether these records define boundaries allo…

Holocene land-cover reconstructions for studies on land cover-climate feedbacks

The major objectives of this paper are: (1) to review the pros and cons of the scenarios of past anthropogenic land cover change (ALCC) developed during the last ten years, (2) to discuss issues related to pollen-based reconstruction of the past land-cover and introduce a new method, REVEALS (Regional Estimates of VEgetation Abundance from Large Sites), to infer long-term records of past land-cover from pollen data, (3) to present a new project (LANDCLIM: LAND cover – CLIMate interactions in NW Europe during the Holocene) currently underway, and show preliminary results of REVEALS reconstructions of the regional land-cover in the Czech Republic for five selected time windows of the Holocene…

Regional climate model simulations for Europe at 6 and 0.2 k BP: sensitivity to changes in anthropogenic deforestation

International audience; This study aims to evaluate the direct effects of anthropogenic deforestation on simulated climate at two contrasting periods in the Holocene, ∼ 6 and ∼ 0.2 k BP in Eu-rope. We apply the Rossby Centre regional climate model RCA3, a regional climate model with 50 km spatial resolution, for both time periods, considering three alternative descriptions of the past vegetation: (i) potential natural vegetation (V) simulated by the dynamic vegetation model LPJ-GUESS, (ii) potential vegetation with anthro-pogenic land use (deforestation) from the HYDE3.1 (History Database of the Global Environment) scenario (V + H3.1), and (iii) potential vegetation with anthropogenic land …

Pollen and Plant Macroremain Analyses for the Reconstruction of Environmental Changes in the Early Metal Period

A sharp increase in human population density and the same time fundamental changes in the location of settlement, moving away from earlier inhabited places points to significant changes in the environment. This period with a sharp decrease in anthropogenic indicators and poor records of slash and burn cultivation and field crop-growing is named “transition” period (Vasks et.al.1998) and indicates the lack of stable and continuous inhabitant sites. This phenomena can be explained by the small size of settlements at the Early Iron Age, expressed by a weak cultural layer and these could be defined as separate farmsteads. Modern farming practices, especially modern tillage, adversely affected t…

Environment and Vegetation Changes During the Neolithic Settlement at Sarnate Site, Western Latvia

Plant macrofossil, pollen and invertebrate analysis of a mid-14th century cesspit from medieval Riga, Latvia (the eastern Baltic): Taphonomy and indicators of human diet

The paper presents the results of an integrated environmental analysis on the fill of an exceptionally well-preserved mid-14th century cesspit from the historic centre of Riga (Latvia, eastern Baltic). Palynological, plant macrofossils and invertebrate analysis yielded important new information about the use of plants by the indigenous community living within the medieval city, including their socio-economic status. The taphonomy of the botanical and invertebrate data is considered to largely reflect the input of undigested food waste and human faecal material with a subordinate component derived through the input of cereal waste-products. The results show that the diet of the indigenous co…

Upper Pleistocene biostratigraphy and traces of glaciotectonics at the Satiki site, western Latvia

Structural, lithological, palynological and plant macroremain investigations of test-boring cores and gravel pit walls at the Satiki site suggest that gyttja and sandy gyttja units of basin sediments were deposited during the Felicianova (Eemian) Interglacial. A pollen diagram reflects the characteristic forest succession of the Eemian Interglacial: Betula, Pinus, Ulmus, Corylus, Quercus, Fraxinus, Tilia, Carpinus, Picea and Pinus. Forests of broadleaved trees and thermophilous plants dominated in the surroundings of the lake during the interglacial climatic optimum. The basin sediments contain a large number of warmth-demanding water plants such as Salvinia natans and Trapa sp. Paleobotani…