Vegetation history and quantitative climate estimates in Balkan peninsula from Maliq and Ohrid pollen sequences (Albania): the last climatic cycle, the lateglacial and the Holocene

This provides the first monthly climate reconstructions of middle-altitude areas of Southern Balkans. At Maliq (40 21’N, 20 25’E, 818m altitude), the climate was highly contrasted during the late glacial. The monthly temperature and precipitation estimates at Maliq show that: (1) the vegetation was affected by global climatic events such as Oldest Dryas, Younger Dryas and the 8.2 ka event, (2) despite a decrease of annual precipitations, their seasonal distribution allows the survival of the most resistant temperate forest species such as Quercus deciduous, (3) during the Holocene, the values of the climate parameters are similar to modern values, except during the 8.2 ka event. As in Ioannina (Prentice et al., 1992), during the short-time climatic events, drastic decreases in temperature has been highlighted. But the detailed monthly climate reconstructions at Maliq show rainfall seasonality changes during these events, with a drastic decrease of autumn to spring precipitations.