Quantitative reconstructions of late Quaternary vegetation, temperature and atmospheric precipitation variability in eastern Siberia: Evaluation of ecosystem stability/instability during episodes of rapid climate change

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The scientific aim of this project is a chronologically well-constrained high-resolution reconstruction of the late Quaternary vegetation and climate fluctuations of eastern Siberia, as basis for the development of future environmental scenarios for this sensitive and economically important region of Eurasia with extreme continental climate and boreal forest vegetation. The vegetation development should be approached on the basis of pollen analysis in combination with phytolith, stomata and testate amoebae analysis, alkanes and preferably ancient plant DNA (aDNA) from lake sediments and peat profiles. The main focus is laid on central Yakutia, with the Lake Billyakh core sediments from the western Verkhoyansk Mountains serving as key palaeoenvironmental archives. The analytical and reconstruction results will valuably contribute to a better understanding of environmental dynamics and ecosystem stability/instability in the study region and will become an important segment in the regional reconstructions of late Quaternary vegetation and climate in northern and central Asia, including north-eastern Siberia and the Lake Baikal region as well as in the climate and vegetation model experiments. Preliminary works (pollen analysis, chronological classification with 14C-dates) in sediment records within the scope of the previous and prevailing projects have clearly proven that the research objectives can be achieved.