A Late Pleistocene and Holocene pollen and charcoal record from peat swampforest, Lake Sentarum Wildlife Reserve, West Kalimantan, Indonesia

A preliminary palynological record is presented from a peat swamp forest in the Upper Kapuas River Basin in West Kalimantan. Although the record is di scontinuous, it provides a picture of changing vegetation, riverine and swa mp environments, and climate through parts of at least the last 30,000 year s. During the Late Pleistocene, the composition of both riverine and swamp forests was different to that of the Holocene. Temperatures were cooler, es pecially during the Last Glacial Maximum, as indicated by the presence of c omponents of submontane and montane vegetation. The presence of charcoal de monstrates that the tropical lowland forests experienced fire through the w hole of the recorded period. However, charcoal values generally rise throug h the period suggesting increased human impact through time. Highest burnin g levels and forest indicators of disturbance indicate most intensive human impact within the last 1400 years. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science BN. All right s reserved.