A new indicator approach to reconstruct agricultural land use in Europe from sedimentary pollen assemblages

The reconstruction of human impact is pivotal in palaeoecological studies, as humans are among the most important drivers Holocene vegetation and ecosystem change. Nevertheless, separating anthropogenic footprint on dynamics from climate other environmental factors (disturbances such fire, erosion, floods, landslides, avalanches, volcanic eruptions) a challenging still largely open issue. For this purpose, palynologists mostly rely cultural indicator pollen types related indices that consist sums or ratios these types. However, high biogeographical specificity plants hinders application currently available to wide geographical settings. Furthermore, achievable taxonomic resolution may hamper their indicative capacity. In study, we propose agricultural land use probability (LUP) index, novel approach quantify intensity European ecosystems based From ‘classic’ indicators, construct LUP index by selecting those with best capacity bioindication criteria. We first train using twenty palynological sequences along broad gradient, spanning treeless alpine subtropical mediterranean evergreen plant communities. then validate independent datasets archaeological proxies. Finally, discuss suitability selected potential for quantifying Europe, concluding careful significantly contribute refining pollen-based land-use reconstructions. • develop test new index. Anthropogenic values (AIV) allow weighting percentages has power all major biomes Europe. shows good correlation proxies activities.