title: [Palaeostructures of vegetation at the upper limit of forests in the inner French Alps].
abstract: The comparison of six pollen diagrams from French Alps allows us to reconstruct the past changes of vegetation structure at the upper limit of Subalpine range. Dense populations of Pinus cembra developed between 6500 and 2400 cal. BP, both in the southern Alps and the northern ones. Southern Alps seem however to be characterised by higher altitudinal limits, as shown by the past development of fir forests at 2080 m a.s.l. in the Ubaye valley. This study highlights the importance of taking in account local parameters in regional or continental reviews.
authors.affiliation: Equipe Paléoenvironnement, Institut des sciences de l'évolution de Montpellier (Isem), case 061, université Montpellier-2, 34095 Montpellier cedex 05, France. smuller@univ-montp2.fr
authors.forename: Serge D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Muller
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.forename: Jacques-Louis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: de Beaulieu
authors.forename: Mona
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Court-Picon
authors.forename: Séverine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fauquette
authors.forename: Aurélie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Genries
mesh_terms: D000531:Altitude; D005580:Fossils; D005602:France; D010163:Paleontology; D028223:Pinus; D010944:Plants; D011058:Pollen / Q000502:physiology; D014197:Trees