Holocene vegetation changes and anthropogenic influence in the forest-steppe zone of the Southern Trans-Urals based on pollen and plant macrofossil records from the Sukharysh cave

Pollen and plant macrofossil records from the Sukharysh cave located in the southern forest-steppe zone of the Southern Trans-Urals provide material for reconstruction of palaeoenvironments. The obtained results reveal that within this territory in the Early Holocene before the Atlantic there was a forest-steppe zone with forbs and Artemisia communities and birch woodland stands. Anthropogenic influence on vegetation was insignificant at that time. In the Late Subatlantic, ruderal communities, cultivated land and pastures were widely spread across the forest-steppe landscapes. Active development of agriculture by the Southern Trans-Urals population started after the Russians had occupied this territory in the 17–18th centuries a.d.