Long-term vegetation dynamics and the infilling process of a former lake (Svarcenberk, Czech Republic)

Natural lakes are a rare phenomena within extraglacial areas of Central Eur ope. Almost all have been completely terrestrialized during the Holocene. T his paper deals with one such former lake, located in southern Bohemia. Its extensive lacustrine and peat deposits were subjected to a multidisciplina ry study that resulted in high-resolution pollen, macrofossil, algal and se diment-chemistry data interpreted in terms of past climate, geomorphology, soil, and regional vegetation development over the last 16,000 years. Again st the background of these large-scale processes, local development took pl ace, comprising the lake's ontogeny from an arctic-type ecosystem hosting p ioneer aquatic communities, through a highly diversified mosaic of eutrophi c hydrosere habitats (shallow pools. Phragmites and Carer fen, alder cart), towards an oligotrophic mire that started to dome over the terrestrialized fake. At every individual development stage, specific processes characteri zed ecosystem function and composition: during the Late-Glacial with its ra pid climatic changes, external forces induced the major stresses; while dur ing the Holocene, autogenic changes of the wetland ecosystem played the mos t important role.