Characterising Dutch forests, wetlands and cultivated lands on the basis of phytolith assemblages

Palaeoecological reconstructions in the Netherlands are commonly based on pollen and macrofossil analysis, but can be limited if the preservation of organic material is poor. Phytoliths, biogenic silica, do not have this limitation and preserve in settings where other macro- and microfossils do not. Little is known about how phytolith assemblages preserved in soils and sediments reflect the parent vegetation in north-western European systems, so it is currently difficult to contextualise past environments. Here, we characterise phytolith assemblages for soil samples recovered from three major... Mehr ...