Global Land Environments since the Last Interglacial, Compiled by Jonathan Adams

The paleo-ecosystems maps are based on simple compilations of the available information in the literature, relying heavily on the conclusions given by review papers for each subregion. Dates are given in radiocarbon years; the actual chronology in terms of 'real' years is still being worked out in the literature.

The maps presented are based on inter-disciplinary interpretation of evidence from plant fossils, together with zoological evidence, soil and sedimentological analyses which also have some bearing on vegetation cover. The approach has been to review current literature and liase with experts from each region (acknowledged within the text). Given the scope of the task, regional review sources and published maps have been an important source of information, with less emphasis placed on consulting every published paper on each region (of which there are many thousands). In many areas, the evidence is sparsely distributed and the map reconstructions presented here should only be regarded as tentative. Summaries of the evidence from each region are presented, in order to give some impression of the quality of data currently available, and the present disagreements within the literature. It is to be expected that as further evidence accumulates over the coming years, significant revisions to these maps will become necessary.