High mountain palaeoecology and palaeolimnology fo Central Pyrenees, based on pollen and diatom analyses

High-mountain ranges are suitable ecosystems for studying local environmental shifts driven by large-scale climate changes. Sedimentary records obtained from those regions contain information that allows to understand past environmental changes that would help to predict the influence of the ongoing climate warming. This thesis is focused in the palaeoecology and palaeolimnology of Central Pyrenees. In order to understand the ecosystem responses to past environmental changes and climate, we analysed several proxies from sedimentary sequences extracted from Bassa Nera pond. We combined biological indicators (pollen, diatoms, chrysophytes, non-pollen palynomorphs, microscopic charcoal particles, macroremains, tree-rings and DNA metabarcoding) and inorganic proxies (Loss-on-ignition and chemical elements) to assess the diverse questions proposed in this work. To infer vegetation shifts and aquatic changes during the past millennium, we analysed pollen and diatom at multidecadal resolution. A montane pollen ratio was introduced as a new palaeoecological indicator of altitudinal shifts in vegetation. Results emphasize the sensitivity of the montane ratio to detect upward migrations of deciduous forest and the presence of the montane belt close to Bassa Nera during the Medieval Climate Anomaly. Changes in aquatic taxa allowed to date the development of the peat bog in the coring site around AD 1565. Overall, the studied proxies suggest that Bassa Nera had a low-intensity human pressure and that people changed from farming in the Medieval Climate Anomaly to livestock in the Little Ice Age. To reconstruct the vegetation and lacustrine dynamics during the last 10,000 years we analyzed pollen, plant macroremains, charcoal, chemical elements and loss-on-ignition. The montane ratio was also applied to track altitudinal shifts and it was compared to the ice-rafted debris index. Results revealed upward shifts of deciduous forest and its presence in Bassa Nera from the onset of the Holocene until 4200 cal yr BP. The montane ratio showed a link between vegetation and North Atlantic influence, while changes in macroremains and aquatic taxa allowed the description of the transition from the initial pond to the present peatland. First anthropic pressures were grazing activities by 7300 cal yr BP, while cereal agriculture appeared around 5190 cal yr BP. The late Bronze Age, Roman Period and Middle Ages periods presented the highest human pressure. To assess the dynamics of su