Spatio-temporal patterns of Holocene vegetation change in southern Sicily

2012

Few examples of natural forest remain near the Mediterranean coast. Therefore, it is difficult to study how coastal forests respond to climatic change or their resilience to human impact. We developed new sedimentary record of Holocene vegetation and fire history at Lago Preola, a coastal lake in southwestern Sicily (Italy). In order to verify the existence of forest at large scale on the coast, we compare pollen from Lago Preola, a medium-sized lake (33 ha), to Gorgo Basso, a small lake (3 ha) located nearby with the aim of separating local from extra-local vegetation dynamics through time using pollen percentages and influx. We then compare Lago Preola pollen to the record from Biviere di…