a b s t r a c tHolocene climatic variability and human impact on vegetation are reconstructed from a region in central European Russia, which lies at an important ecotone between broadleaf forest and steppe. For the first time in this region we adopt a multi-proxy approach that combines analysis of local mire conditions from plant macrofossil and testate amoeba analyses with pollen-based quantitative climate reconstruction. The proxies indicate a long-term warming trend from 9700 to 7500 cal yr BP, interrupted by a series of short-term cold events. From 7500 to 5000 cal yr BP the results imply a relatively stable climate, warmer and drier than present, spanning the Holocene Thermal Maximum. Since 5000 cal yr BP the data suggest a change to cooler climate, but with centennial-scale variability. This shift at around 5000 cal yr BP is supported by extensive evidence from other sites. In the early Holocene, the region was occupied mainly by pine and birch forests. Broad-leafed forests of oak, lime and elm expanded after 7800 cal yr BP and remained dominant until the last few centuries. During the historical period, vegetation changes have been driven mainly by human activities.

Despite their huge extent, the peatlands of Russia are an under-exploited source of data on palaeoenvironmental change. We investigated the Holocene history of Staroselsky Moch, an ombrotrophic peatland in the Tver Region of European Russia by analysis of testate amoebae, peat physical properties, plant macrofossils and pollen. The peatland developed through a classic hydroseral succession in the early Holocene with a sharp decline in mineral input to 6200 cal. BC followed by an abrupt transition from fen to bog vegetation around 5500 cal. BC. Through the Holocene, the peatland has accumulated carbon at a mean apparent rate of 21.5 g C m−2 yr−1 suggesting that carbon accumulation rates in peatlands of European Russia lie close to the global average, and contrasting with a short sequence of eddy-covariance data which implies a net loss of carbon. The testate amoeba record shows considerable variability which may be driven by climate, but changes are not well replicated in the macrofossil or pollen data. We tentatively infer (1) a phase of early Holocene warming commencing around 7200 cal. BC, (2) dry peatland surface conditions c. 3700–3900 cal. BC, (3) a shift to wetter conditions from c. 3900 cal. BC, and (4) drier conditions from c. 400 cal. BC onwards. More robust and precise hydroclimatic reconstructions for this region will require the development of a regional transfer function and the replication of results between cores and sites.

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