Paleoclimate and paleoecology of the continental Eastern Mediterranean region - High-resolution pollen analysis from Lake Van during the Middle Pleistocene (MIS 8 to 10)

我们目前对近东25万年以后的古气候发展的认识相当贫乏。凡湖（土耳其安纳托利亚东部）是研究地中海东部地区气候演变的重要地点。它填补了黎凡特北部和地中海区域之间在数据覆盖方面的差距。该项目提供了独特的机会来评估第三末次冰期-间冰期旋回（海洋同位素阶段（MIS） 8至10）期间当地/区域植被、火灾频率和气候变率的变化；大约240至350 ka BP)，通过结合孢粉学、微观木炭和稳定同位素的跨学科数据。该项目产生的高分辨率孢粉数据集是东地中海地区生物群落建模和气候发展重建的基础，并通过多元统计方法（例如，用于重建温度和降水的概率密度函数）进行了测试。本研究的目的是调查低于米兰科维奇周期频率的全球气候信号，以确定它们是否对该气候敏感地区的植被组成和/或环境条件产生直接影响。

Our current knowledge about paleoclimate development in the Near East beyond 250,000 years is rather poor. Lake Van (Eastern Anatolia, Turkey) represents an excellent key site for the investigation of the climatic evolution in the continental Eastern Mediterranean region. It fills the gap in data coverage between northern Levant and Mediterranean region. The project offers the unique opportunity to evaluate the variability of local / regional vegetation, fire frequency and climate variability during the third-last glacial-interglacial cycle (Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 8 to 10; ca. 240 to 350 ka BP) by combing interdisciplinary data from palynology, microscopic charcoal and stable isotopes. The high-resolution palynological datasets resulting from this project are the basis for biome modelling and reconstruction of the climate development in the Eastern Mediterranean region tested with multivariate statistical methods (e.g., probability density function for reconstruction of temperature and precipitation). The aim of this study is the investigation of global climate signals below the frequency of Milankovitch cycles to determine whether they demonstrate a direct impact on vegetation composition and/or on the environmental conditions in this climatic sensitive region.