Ricerc@Sapienza

It is now well established that Southern European peninsulas have been major glacial refugia for temperate species during Pleistocene climatic oscillations. However, substantial environmental changes occurred also within these peninsulas throughout the Pleistocene, raising questions about the role and interplay of various microevolutionary processes in shaping patterns of intraspecific diversity within these areas. Here, we investigate the patterns of genetic variation in the bank vole Myodes glareolus within the Italian peninsula.

A new high-resolution pollen and NPP (non- pollen palynomorph) analysis has been performed on the sediments of Lake Dojran, a transboundary lake located at the border between Greece and the former Yugoslav Re- public of Macedonia (FYROM). The sequence covers the last 12500 years and provides information on the vegeta- tional dynamics of the Late Glacial and Holocene for the southern Balkans. Robust age model, sedimentological di- atom, and biomarker analyses published previously have been the base for a multi-perspective interpretation of the new palynological data.