Advancing Pleistocene and Holocene climate change research in the Carpathian-Balkan region

摘要

The diversity of relief and dynamic interplay between North Atlantic, continental, and Mediterranean atmospheric circulation patterns that characterize the Carpathian-Balkan region (encompassing the homonymous mountain ranges and large spans of adjacent lowlands) of southeastern Europe, are clearly reflected in the extreme habitat fragmentation and exceptional biodiversity. Although these characteristics currently feature as key topics in conservation policies, land-use management and sustainability, past environmental dynamics are significantly understudied. Although new palaeoclimatic records are continuously being reported, the region, and particularly the Carpathian area is often pictured as a blank-spot in regional climate reconstructions. Undoubtedly, improving knowledge in the field of past and current climate change research, biodiversity patterns and dynamics, or human spread and related cultural-technological interchanges will be accomplished only through a denser network of records sustained by multi-proxy investigations.