Vegetation response to rapid climate change in Central Europe during the past 140,000 yr based on evidence from the Furamoos pollen record

The response of Central European vegetation to rapid climate change during the late Quaternary period (Eemian to Holocene) is assessed by data from the new pollen record of Furamoos, southwestern Germany. This record represents the longest late Quaternary pollen record north of the Alps as currently known. Its high degree of completeness allows detailed correlations with Greenland ice cores and sea-surface temperature records from the North Atlantic. Our data show that if climate deteriorations were not long or severe enough to extirpate refugia of arboreal taxa north of the Alps such as during marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 5 (i.e., Wurm Stadial A, Stadial B, and Stadial C), reforestation with the onset of warmer conditions in Central Europe occurred on a centennial scale. If arboreal taxa became completely extinct north of the Alps such as during MIS 4 (i.e., Wurm Stadial D), several thousand years were necessary for the reimmigration from refugia situated in regions south of the Alps. Thus, Dansgaard-Oeschger interstades (DOIS) 24 to 20 and 15 to I I are expressed in Central European pollen records, whereas DOIS 19 to 16 are not recorded due to migration lags. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.