Reliable quantitative vegetation reconstructions for Europe during the Holocene are crucial to improving our understanding of landscape dynamics, making it possible to assess the past effects of environmental variables and land-use change on ecosystems and biodiversity, and mitigating their effects in the future. We present here the most spatially extensive and temporally continuous pollen-based reconstructions of plant cover in Europe (at a spatial resolution of 1° × 1°) over the Holocene (last 11.7 ka BP) using the ‘Regional Estimates of VEgetation Abundance from Large Sites’ (REVEALS) model. This study has three main aims. First, to present the most accurate and reliable generation of REVEALS reconstructions across Europe so far. This has been achieved by including a larger number of pollen records compared to former analyses, in particular from the Mediterranean area. Second, to discuss methodological issues in the quantification of past land cover by using alternative datasets of relative pollen productivities (RPPs), one of the key input parameters of REVEALS, to test model sensitivity. Finally, to validate our reconstructions with the global forest change dataset. The results suggest that the RPPs.st1 (31 taxa) dataset is best suited to producing regional vegetation cover estimates for Europe. These reconstructions offer a long-term perspective providing unique possibilities to explore spatial-temporal changes in past land cover and biodiversity.

In the eastern Carpathians the legacy of glaciation is preserved in several isolated mountain massifs. This paper presents new mapping results of glaciated valley land systems in the Rodna Mountains, the highest part of the eastern Carpathians (2303 m above seal level). In most of the glacial valleys, the maximal Pleistocene extent is marked by freshly shaped moraines, which are referred in this study as the Pietroasa glacial stage and regarded as the last glacial maximum (LGM) advance. Only in three valleys do older Şesura glacial stage moraines (pre-LGM, likely Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 6) occur. On the basis of the geomorphological record, we reconstruct the extent, surface geometry, and equilibrium line altitude (ELA) of Pietroasa-stage glaciers. The local ELA pattern of north-exposed glaciers in the Rodna Mountains shows a rising trend towards the southeast, which suggests dominant snow-bearing winds and orographically induced precipitation from the west. This finding fits well with the dominant palaeo-wind direction inferred from other Carpathian proxies and confirms the dominance of zonal circulation pattern during the global LGM in central eastern Europe.

Evapotranspiration calculation is an important matter due to agricultural reasons, but also for understanding water resources and runoff amount in a certain territory. Two CMIP5 multimodel projections (2011‐2040 and 2041‐2070) and land cover pattern were used to analyse the seasonal and annual crop evapotranspiration trend in Turkey. The spatial distribution of crop evapotranspiration related to initial season, mid‐season, end‐season and cold season were computed through geographic information system. The maximum values of crop evapotranspiration were found in the mid‐season for present and future, with values of 1072 mm, respectively, 1241 mm. For the future period, an increase in spatial distribution of crop evapotranspiration has been depicted in several places due to climate warming, mainly in the southern and southeastern sides of Turkey and on the Mediterranean Coast. The minimum values of seasonal crop evapotranspiration fall below 154 mm and 164 mm in the present, respective in the future. The annual crop evapotranspiration increased from 1675 mm to 1944 mm from present to future and the significant values of absolute changes were identified in the western, eastern and southeastern regions of Turkey. The findings are useful for scientists in climate, hydrology, and agriculture fields, but also for the management decisions.

Fires influence basic ecosystem processes, including the distribution, the structure and the composition of vegetation, as well as the carbon cycle and climate at the global scale. Long-term knowledge (i.e., centuries or millennia) of fire regime history and forest fire ecology and dynamic in local environments is necessary for sustainable ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation strategies. Charcoal is a widely used proxy for reconstructing fire regime history and vegetation burning. Charcoal analysis is based on the accumulation of charred particles in depositional environments such as lakes and bogs, during and shortly after the occurrence of fire events. Ombrotrophic peat bogs are sensitive to local environmental changes and, given that the deposition of allochthonous material is exclusively atmospheric, they are ideal archives for reconstructing charcoal fluxes resulting from biomass burning. This study quantifies charcoal abundance (number) in a peat sequence extracted from Tăul Mare ombrotrophic peat bog (Văratec Massif, Lăpuş Mts, north-western Romania) aiming to reconstruct local fire history over the last 3000 years and to explore potential drivers. As a novelty, observations concerning the morphology of charred fragments are added to provide additional information on the type of material burnt (woody vegetation or herbs), fire severity and charcoal source area, thus strengthening the interpretation of the charcoal record. Results showed moderate fire activity between 3000 and 2300 cal yr BP, which slightly decreased between 2300 and 700 cal yr BP and varied considerably throughout the last 700 years. Several major fire episodes were further identified around 2500, 1700, 1300, 900 and 500 cal yr BP. Of these, the first four overlapped two phases of progressive landscape opening and extension of pastoral activities, while the latter was unprecedented in the entire history of the bog and was likely associated with the development of mining activities in the area. This study provides the first complementary use of charcoal morphologies in fire history reconstruction in Romania and adds a valuable perspective on the extent of past human impact on the mid-elevation mountain landscape.

The research area is located in the Eastern Carpathians, Romania. This region is rich in various formations and indicates significant potential for paleo-environmental reconstruction. The present research was carried out on sediment cores collected at lake Bolătău-Feredeu, Feredeului Mountains (Eastern Carpathians, Romania). Preliminary examination of the sediment confirmed the possibility for data analysis with high temporal resolution. The aim of the research was to clarify and supplement the findings of previous research at this site, to explore the relationships between proxy parameters and to elucidate the cause for the changes. Core dating was carried out using 210Pb and radiocarbon isotopes and indicated that sediment cores span the past 500 years. The research uses a wide range of methodologies, including organic geochemistry with calculated n alkane indices (Phw and Pwax). Based on these proxies, the changes of woody and herbaceous coverage in the catchment can be estimated. Moreover, element concentration, weathering indices and particle size distribution assist to detect climate changes in the catchment area. The data and conclusions yielded by the analysis were compared with the regional modelled temperature profile, based on which five periods were separated. In addition to natural and anthropogenic events, the main factor among the natural processes is the change in annual temperature. Based on the obtained data, several parameters were found to be suitable for monitoring past temperature changes.