Petr Kuneš

Interglacial vegetation dynamics

I started with this topic as a postdoc under the Carlsberg Foundation project (2009-2010) with Bent Vad Odgaard (Aarhus University) as an advisor. In this project, we aimed at revising the terrestrial interglacial stratigraphy and palaeoenvironments in Denmark. Until then, there were only three main documented interglacial phases. We discovered a new interglacial sedimentary record, dated it, and compared it with other European sequences. When looking at the ecosystem dynamics within several interglacial sequences, we found an interesting common pattern in their evolution driven mainly by long-term changes in the soil.

An extensive database of interglacial records collected within the project further served for new scientific aims within the IGNEX project (lead by John Birks at the University of Bergen).