Linking terrestrial and marine ecosystem responses to climate variability since the Last Interglacial in southeast European refugia (Lake Ohrid and Gulf of Corinth)

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This hybrid ICDP/IODP project aims to: (a) link the sensitive vegetation response from two refugial sites across the Balkan peninsula (Ohrid/ICDP in the north and Corinth/IODP in the south) over the last climatic cycle at a centennial scale, (b) examine lead-lag relationships between terrestrial and marine ecosystem response to global climate variability at a local and regional scale in specific stratigraphical horizons since the Last Interglacial. The two study areas are strategically positioned in the Eastern Mediterranean that is highly sensitive to abrupt climate variability allowing to detect influences from both higher (e.g North Atlantic) and lower latitudes (African monsoon). Constraining the vegetational composition, abundance and succession in the northern- and southernmost refugial sites across the Pindus mountain range will enable us to reconstruct bioclimatic thresholds and vegetation dynamics during a period of abrupt high-amplitude climate oscillations. Besides vegetation shifts, sediments from the Gulf of Corinth also capture changes in marine ecosystems. Hence, leads and lags in the local expression of climate variability between the terrestrial and marine realms can be determined bypassing chronological uncertainties. Understanding the interplay between climatic, environmental and tectonic factors at sub-orbital scale within the rift system will thus allow us to pursue the major objective laid out in the IODP Exp. 381. Whereas, by examining the diversity and abundance of temperate tree populations during the Last Glacial, this project tackles one of the principal scientific goals of the SCOPSCO ICDP project dealing with plant resilience and conservation strategies in southeastern Europe.