FP 04: Dynamic European Climate-Vegetation Impact and Interactions (DECVEG)
Final Report Abstract
In this joint project eight European research groups used and improved both dynamic vegetation models (DVMs) and palaeovegetation data in order to study climate-vegetation interactions in Europe. DVMs were used to explore past, present and future European scenarios to improve their predictive value. General circulation model (GCM) output, inverse modelling of fossil pollen data, transfer functions and the analogue approach were used to generate independent sets of palaeoclimatic reconstructions. DVMs in normal mode were driven by GCM palaeoclimatic data, and their output compared with palaeoecological datasets. This parallel use of methods, data and models permits assessment of the robustness of the palaeoclimate and palaeovegetation reconstructions and help identify where further model development is needed. A central aim was to maximise the value of European palaeovegetation datasets in palaeoclimate research. We increased the temporal control, spatial resolution and availability to researchers of European palaeovegetation datasets in the form of pollen and macrofossils. The palaeoclimate of the Lateglacial and Holocene had been reconstructed by quantitative methods. The focus was mainly to map reconstructed European palaeoclimate for selected time intervals as well as time series analyses of selected sites. Botanical fossil data (pollen and plant macrofossils) served as proxy data, which were transformed into climate data by means of botanical climatological transfer functions.
Publications
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(2009): A method for climate and vegetation reconstruction through the inversion of a dynamic vegetation model. – Climate Dynamics
Garetta, V., Miller, P.A., Guiot, J., Hély, C., Brewer, S., Sykes, M.T., Litt, T.
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(2009): Vegetation and climate history in the Westeifel Volcanic Field (Germany) during the last 11,000 years based on annually laminated lacustrine sediments. – Boreas 38: 679-690
Litt, T., Schölzel, C., Kühl, N., Brauer, A.
