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25万年以上古气候发展的了解相当贫乏。货车湖（土耳其安纳托利亚东部）是研究地中海东部大陆气候演变的一个极好的关键地点。它填补了北方黎凡特和地中海地区之间数据覆盖的差距。该项目提供了一个独特的机会，以评估当地/区域植被的变化，火灾频率和气候变化在第三末次冰期-间冰期循环（海洋同位素阶段（MIS）8至10;约。240 ~ 350 ka BP）。该项目产生的高分辨率孢粉学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，并采用多变量统计方法进行了测试（例如，温度和降水重建的概率密度函数）。本研究的目的是调查全球气候信号低于米兰科维奇周期的频率，以确定它们是否表现出对植被组成和/或在这个气候敏感地区的环境条件的直接影响。

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.