Late Holocene Vegetation and Environmental Changes of Coastal Lowlands in Northern Iran: Possible Role of Climate, Human Impact and Caspian Sea Level Fluctuations

Abstract Coastal forests and wetlands play an important role in supporting biodiversity, protecting the hinterlands shorelines from erosion also contributing to carbon sequestration freshwater storage. To reconstruct late Holocene vegetation environmental dynamics coastal lowlands of northern Iran detect possible climate, human Caspian Sea level fluctuation on ecosystems, multi-proxy analysis was applied sediment cores inland Eynak (EYK) lagoon near coast Bibi Heybat (BBH) alder swamp. Results shows that last 170 years, strong reduction forest occurred around lagoon, while expansion area 100 years. This indicates impact shifted elevated inland, which might be due raised water BBH region flooded by brackish Sea, not so suitable for agriculture anymore. study indicate swamp extent is different between sites, suggesting further studies multiple records across are needed. Moreover, this helps distangle impacts wetland processes thus will contribution effective climate mitigation conservation strategies. presents palynological records, understand past future various drivers, such as sea changes ecosystems both regionally globally.