(Table 1) Pollen analysis of peat horizons obtained from sediment cores of Beveroe-lagoon, Outer Flensburg Fjord

Pollen analytical studies were carried out on two sediment cores from Outer Flensburg Fjord taken by N. Exon (1972). 1) Based on the occurrence of Fagopyrum, the lower peat horizon (ca. 40 cm below mean sea level) of the inner lagoon near Beveroe developed after 1400 AD. The dominance of Pinus indicates that its formation may have taken place as late as the end of the 17th. Century. 2) Core No. 10872 from a water depth of 26.5 m contains the pollen zones VIII through the beginning of XI (Overbeck, 1950). Although salinity maxima fall in zone IX, they are not reflected in the pollen curves which show the normal picture found in South Jütland.

Pollen and dinoflagellate cyst counts on sediment core M72/5_628-1 (MD72/5-25-GC1) from the Black Sea

High-resolution pollen and dinoflagellate cyst records from sediment core M72/5-25-GC1 were used to reconstruct vegetation dynamics in northern Anatolia and surface conditions of the Black Sea between 64 and 20 ka BP. During this period, the dominance of Artemisia in the pollen record indicates a steppe landscape and arid climate conditions. However, the concomitant presence of temperate arboreal pollen suggests the existence of glacial refugia in northern Anatolia. Long-term glacial vegetation dynamics reveal two major arid phases ~64-55 and 40-32 ka BP, and two major humid phases ~54-45 and 28-20 ka BP, correlating with higher and lower summer insolation, respectively. Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) cycles are clearly indicated by the 25-GC1 pollen record. Greenland interstadials are characterized by a marked increase in temperate tree pollen, indicating a spread of forests due to warm/wet conditions in northern Anatolia, whereas Greenland stadials reveal cold and arid conditions as indicated by spread of xerophytic biomes. There is evidence for a phase lag of ~500 to 1500 yr between initial warming and forest expansion, possibly due to successive changes in atmospheric circulation in the North Atlantic sector. The dominance of Pyxidinopsis psilata and Spiniferites cruciformis in the dinocyst record indicates brackish Black Sea conditions during the entire glacial period. The decrease of marine indicators (marine dinocysts, acritarchs) at ~54 ka BP and increase of freshwater algae (Pediastrum, Botryococcus) from 32 to 25 ka BP reveals freshening of the Black Sea surface water. This freshening is possibly related to humid phases in the region, to connection between Caspian Sea and Black Sea, to seasonal freshening by floating ice, and/or to closer position of river mouths due to low sea level. In the southern Black Sea, Greenland interstadials are clearly indicated by high dinocyst concentrations and calcium carbonate content, as a result of an increase in primary productivity. Heinrich events show a similar impact on the environment in the northern Anatolia/Black Sea region as Greenland stadials.

Weighted mean depth of zooplankton measured during various cruises to the Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea is the largest brackish water area of the world. On the basis of the data from 16 cruises, we show the seasonal and vertical distribution patterns of the appendicularians Fritillaria borealis, Oikopleura dioica and the cyclopoid copepod Oithona similis, in the highly stratified Bornholm Basin. These species live at least temporarily below the permanent halocline and use different life strategies to cope with the brackish environment. The cold-water species F. borealis is abundant in the upper layers of the water column before the thermocline develops. With the formation of the thermocline abundance decreases and the specimens outlast higher temperatures below the halocline. Distribution and strategy suggest that F. borealis might be a glacial relict species in the Baltic Sea. Although Oikopleura dioica is only abundant during summer, O. similis is present all year round. Both species have in common that their vertical distribution is restricted to the waters below the halocline, most likely due to their requirements of higher salinities. We argue that the observed strategies are determined by ecophysiological constraints and life history traits. These species share an omnivorous feeding behaviour and the capability to utilise a spectra of small particles as food. As phytoplankton concentration is negligible below the halocline, we suggest that these species feed on organic material and heterotrophic organisms that accumulate in the density gradient of the halocline. Therefore, the deep haline waters in the Baltic Sea represent a habitat providing shelter from predation and food supply for adapted species that allows them to gather sufficient resources and to maintain populations.

Pollen profile and age determination for sediment core M72/5_619-1 (22-GC3)

Sediments from the Black Sea, a region historically dominated by forests and steppe landscapes, are a valuable source of detailed information on the changes in regional terrestrial and aquatic environments at decadal to millennial scales. Here we present multi-proxy environmental records (pollen, dinoflagellate cysts, Ca, Ti and oxygen isotope data) from the uppermost 305 cm of the core 22-GC3 (42°13.53' N, 36°29.55' E) collected from a water depth of 838 m in the southern part of the Black Sea in 2007. The records span the last ~ 18 kyr (all ages are given in cal kyr BP). The pollen data reveal the dominance of the Artemisia-steppe in the region, suggesting rather dry/cold environments ~ 18-14.5 kyr BP. Warming/humidity increase during melt-water pulses (~ 16.1-14.5 kyr BP), indicated by d18O records from the 22-GC3 core sediment and from the Sofular Cave stalagmite, is expressed in more negative d13C values from the Sofular Cave, usually interpreted as the spreading of C3 plants. The records representing the interstadial complex (~ 14.5-12.9 kyr BP) show an increase in temperature and moisture, indicated by forest development, increased primary productivity and reduced surface run-off, whereas the switch from primary terrigenous to primary authigenic Ca origin occurs ~ 500 yr later. The Younger Dryas cooling is clearly demonstrated by more negative d13C values from the Sofular Cave and a reduction of pines. The early Holocene (11.7-8.5 kyr BP) interval reveals relatively dry conditions compared to the mostly moist and warm middle Holocene (8.5-5 kyr BP), which is characterized by the establishment of the species-rich warm mixed and temperate deciduous forests in the low elevation belt, temperate deciduous beech-hornbeam forests in the middle and cool conifer forest in upper mountain belt. The border between the early and middle Holocene in the vegetation records coincides with the opening of the Mediterranean corridor at ~ 8.3 kyr BP, as indicated by a marked change in the dinocyst assemblages and in the sediment lithology. Changes in the pollen assemblages indicate a reduction in forest cover after ~ 5 kyr BP, which was likely caused by increased anthropogenic pressure on the regional vegetation.

Pollen profile from Wurzacher Becken

Interglacial lacustrine sediments of 0.3-0.6 m thickness are found in the basin of Wurzach over a distance of about 9 km as detected by 5 borings. The interglacial bed is intercalated between lacustrine sediments of Würm (above) and glaciolacustrine sediments of the Younger Riss (below). Most of the Würmian sediments are silty-sandy, calcareous and varved deposits. They were deposited as bottom sediments of a delta, which had formed in the glacial lake filling the Wurzach basin during the Upper Würm. The terminal moraine of the Younger Riss is found in the N and S of the Reed of Wurzach. In the NE it is overlain by sediments of Würm and Holocene age. The pollen bearing part of the new profile represents the last interglacial period (except its earliest phases), the two Lower Würm interstadials, which are equivalents of the Brørup and Odderade interstadial phases, and a third interstadial, the Dürnten, known from other localities in the forelands of the Alps with a forest vegetation, which consisted mainly of spruce and larch trees, and the intercalated stadial phases. These interstadials are different from those described earlier by FILZER, which on the contrary represent cold periods with highly increased reworking of pollen. The equivalents of the Brørup, Odderade and Dürnten interstadials are the "Kiefer-Fichten-Kampfzeit" and part of the "Kiefernzeit mit Fichte" of FILZER. The characteristic series of climatic events known already from a great number of sites scattered all over Europe and again at Wurzach proves that the Riss/Würm- and the Eem interglacial periods are time-equivalents. Differing amounts of Carpinus and Abies at different places in the northern foreland of the Alps are related to the migration history of the two species during the last interglacial period and must not be used to distinguish different types of interglacials (type Zeifen, type Pfefferbichl).