Species composition of an alluvial hardwood forest in the Dutch fluvial area under natural conditions (2700 cal year BP)

Differences in values of pollen types originating from upland tree species in two neighbouring and partly synchronous sections, located in the residual channel and the flood basin of a former Rhine distributary in the central Netherlands, reveal the species composition of an alluvial hardwood forest under natural conditions. Natural levees carried a forest with a high species diversity including Fagus sylvatica, Corylus avellana, Tilia cordata. Betula sp., Acer sp., Carpinus betulus, Fraxinus excelsior and Pinus sylvestris. These results embody the first aimed palaeo-reference system for nature development projects currently in progress on embanked floodplains in The Netherlands.