Using testate amoebae to infer Holocene palaeohydrological history in the Northern Carpathians, Romania

Abstract

We used radiocarbon dating, testate amoebae (TA) and pollen analysis of a peat profile extracted from an ombrotrophic bog (Tăul Muced) located in the Rodna National Park, Romania, to identify major changes in the wet-dry ecological gradient over the last 8000 years. We performed a quantitative reconstruction of the local depth to water table (DWT) and pH variation using the transfer function developed on a Polish modern testate amoebae data set and compared our reconstruction with other palaeohydrological studies in this region. The pollen record was used to determine regional vegetation dynamics as well as the potential impact of humans on peatland dynamics