The impact of summer temperature changes on vegetation development in Ireland during the Weichselian Lateglacial Interstadial

Abstract

We analysed pollen from a sediment core from Fiddaun, a small Lateglacial lake basin in western Ireland. Results reflect the general Lateglacial vegetation development in Ireland, as reconstructed from other pollen records. The Fiddaun diagram shows a number of short-lived regressive vegetation phases during the Interstadial. The close similarity between two pollen records from the same region (Fiddaun and Lurga) indicates that these fluctuations probably reflect regional rather than local changes. Comparison with a previously published climate reconstruction, based on a chironomid-inferred mean July air temperature reconstruction, lithology, and oxygen and carbon isotopes of lake marl from the Fiddaun record, allowed us to establish the relationship between summer temperature and vegetation changes. Results reveal that two temporary regressive shifts in the pollen record correspond to cold oscillations, which have been correlated to Greenland Interstadial 1b and 1d. It seems that the first cold oscillation (GI-1d) had the most distinct effect on vegetation in Ireland. In contrast, it appears that the transition from Juniperus shrubland and Empetrum heath to grassland, which is estimated at ∼13.7ka BP, was not caused by decreasing summer temperatures, as no substantial change is observed in the climate proxies. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.