Forest vegetation of the last full-glacial period in the Western Carpathians (Slovakia and Czech Republic).

Palaeobotanical data from last full-glacial period in eastern-central Europe repeatedly confirm the existence of parkland landscapes with coniferous trees at relatively northern latitudes. However, up to now, the absence of fossils prevented a study of the full-glacial vegetation in the mountain areas of the Western Carpathians – a region crucial to determining whether there were refugia for present European forest biota during the Last Glacial period. This paper provides new pollen and macrofossil evidence from this key region, dated to a critical period in the Weichselian full glaciation (between 50 and 16 ka 14C BP). Our data from two study sites in the Western Carpathians (part of today’s Slovakia and easternmost Czech Republic – Moravian region) support the hypothesis that well-protected and relatively humid valleys in this mountain range were, as far as climate is concerned, favourable for forest vegetation during the last full-glacial period. These forests were similar to present Siberian coniferous taiga. In the lowlands and highlands that surround the Western Carpathians, there occurred a diversity of parkland landscapes: mosaic of steppe communities and tundra patches. However, we use the example of one site in central Bohemia, near what is the present city of Prague, to show that trees may also have occurred here on sites with a suitable local climate.