High-resolution pollen records from Lake Baikal revealed considerable regional differences in the vegetation development and pronounced climate variability during the last glacial-interglacial transition and Holocene. Correlation between cores was successfully based on a chronology constructed from AMS 14 C dating of pollen concentrates. Comparison to other radiocarbon-dated pollen sequences from the Baikal region suggests that the chronology presented is very reliable and thus correlation to other dated events can easily be performed. Pollen indices, which reflect relative changes in major vegetation types and limitations of growing conditions by moisture availability and temperature, demonstrate near-synchronous vegetation changes, which suggest synchronous large-scale climate variation across the Baikal region. Due to the low level or even absence of human impact in the Lake Baikal region, the pollen data illustrate that in the continental interior of NE Eurasia Holocene climate variability was very pronounced. After initial warming and a strong increase in relative moisture (ca. 15-14.6 cal ka BP) the Bölling / Alleröd like event was punctuated by three cool and dry events. These events at approx. 14.2 ka BP, 13.8 ka BP and 13.2 cal ka BP can be compared to coolings as recorded in GISP 2 oxygen isotope records from Greenland ice cores. An expansion of Betula sect.Nane/Fruticosae, Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae marks the Younger Dryas-like cooling event (ca. 12.5-12 cal ka BP). High temperatures and favourable moisture conditions during the first part ofHolocene favoured the optimum development of dark-coniferous taiga between 10-8 cal ka BP in the south and 9.0-7.5 cal ka in the northeast. A fir and spruce decline in the southern mountains (ca. 8-7 cal ka BP) can be related to the 8.2 cal ka BP cooling event. The pronounced mid-Holocene cooling event and a transition towards dry conditions (ca. 7.0-5.5 cal ka BP) preceded the nearly synchronous regional expansion of pine taiga.Maximum distribution of Scots pine forests marks the Holocene thermal optimum (ca. 6.5 -5.7 cal ka BP), which was followed by two subsequent cooling events (ca. 5.5-

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The Eemian interglacial represents a natural experiment on how past vegetation with negligible human impact responded to amplified temperature changes compared to the Holocene. Here, we assemble 47 carefully selected Eemian pollen sequences from Europe to explore geographical patterns of (1) total compositional turnover and total variation for each sequence and (2) stratigraphical turnover between samples within each sequence using detrended canonical correspondence analysis, multivariate regression trees, and principal curves. Our synthesis shows that turnover and variation are highest in central Europe (47-55°N), low in southern Europe (south of 45°N), and lowest in the north (above 60°N). These results provide a basis for developing hypotheses about causes of vegetation change during the Eemian and their possible drivers. Keywords Detrended canonical correspondence analysis • Extrinsic and intrinsic processes • Inertia • Last interglacial dataset • Multivariate regression trees • Neutral processes • Principal curves Communicated by F. Bittmann.

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Jezioro Lake is the only natural lake in southern Poland outside mountainous areas to have existed continuously since the Pleistocene. The record of environmental change in the Late Vistulian (Weichselian) and Holocene is preserved in the deposits and landforms around the lake. This paper presents the results of paleogeographical and paleoecological research that emabled us to reconstruct the history of the Jezioro Lake. At the end of the Vistulian period, the outlet of the lake was blocked by a parabolic dune moving in from the west. Limnic sedimentation was evident in the sediment core at all levels from the Holocene, with remains of Cladocera, Chironomidae larvae, and aquatic plants. The lake did not disappear at that time, although its area decreased by a factor of 12 by the end of the period. Paleobotanical research permitted the reconstruction of sequences of plant communities and changes in nutrient status and water level. An initial oligotrophic lake, as indicated by the presence of Isoe¨tes lacustris L., changed to a eutrophic lake, as indicated by the presence of Potamogeton natans L. and Nuphar sp., then the lake progressed to the present-day dystrophic lake that is surrounded by a swamp. The profile of organic deposits contains a record of environmental change at least since the Younger Dryas in southern Poland.

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A pollen record from the core sediments collected in the northern part of Lake Baikal represents the latest stage of the Taz (Saale) Glaciation, Kazantsevo (Eemian) Interglacial (namely the Last Interglacial), and the earliest stage of the Zyryanka (Weichselian) Glaciation. According to the palaeomagnetic-based age model applied to the core, the Last Interglacial in the Lake Baikal record lasted about 10.6 ky from 128 to 117.4 ky BP, being more or less synchronous with the Marine Isotope Stage 5e. The reconstructed changes in the south Siberian vegetation and climate are summarised as follows: a major spread of shrub alder (Alnus fruticosa) and shrub birches (Betula sect. Nanae/Fruticosae) in the study area was a characteristic feature during the late glacial phase of the Taz Glaciation. Boreal trees e.g. spruce (Picea obovata) and birch (Betula sect. Albae) started to play an important role in the regional vegetation with the onset of the interglacial conditions. Optimal conditions for Abies sibirica-P. obovata taiga development occurred ca. 126.3 ky BP. The maximum spread of birch forest-steppe communities took place at the low altitudes ca. 126.5-125.5 ky BP and Pinus sylvestris started to form forests in the northern Baikal area after ca. 124.4 ky BP. Re-expansion of the steppe communities, as well as shrubby alder and willow communities and the disappearance of forest vegetation occurred at about 117.4 ky BP, suggesting the end of the interglacial succession. The changes in the pollen assemblages recorded in the sediments from northern Baikal point to a certain instability of the interglacial climate. Three phases of climate deterioration have been distinguished: 126-125.5, 121.5-120, and 119.5-119 ky BP. The penultimate cooling signal may be correlated with the cool oscillation recorded in European pollen records. However, such far distant correlation requires more careful investigation. D