Plant macrofossil and biomarker evidence of fen-bog transition and associated changes in vegetation in two Finnish peatlands

摘要: Past vegetation assemblages, preserved in peat layers, are one of the key proxies when reconstructing historical peatland dynamics. Northern peatlands can be divided into two main types: fens and bogs. Compared with bog peat, fen is usually more decomposed because different eco-hydrological conditions effective humification processes. A high level decomposition hampers reliable identification plant remains constrains palaeoecological approaches. Biogeochemical studies on plants have shown that group–specific biomarkers applied to identify fossil or groups from given markers living plants. In this study, we macrofossil, multivariate statistical analyses mid-boreal sequences investigate whether distinguish environments plant-specific identified peat. Macrofossil clearly separate dry hummocks, moist lawns wet habitats apart. Corresponding division emerged biomarker data were combined macrofossil data. Moreover, succeeded apart by changes n-alkane ratio distributions along cores. The fen–bog transition zone was indicated sterol triterpenoid concentrations degradation measures. However, it a challenging task attain species-level information past assemblages highly humified layers based only.