Inappropriate radiocarbon dating leads to unrealistic palaeoecological reconstructions

What is it about?

Recently, Carcaillet & Blarquez (2017) claim a glacial refugium for tree species in a place as unlikely as modern tree-line on the western flank of the European Alps during the Last Glacial Maximum (i.e. the interval representing the most extreme conditions of the Last Glacial). While the study certainly has the merit to use plant-macrofossil analysis to determine the occurrence of trees in a high-alpine environment, we argue that the choice of material used for radiocarbon (14C) dating led to unsupported conclusions. Here, we suggest ways to produce a more robust dataset, and provide an alternative interpretation of the results based on available geomorphological and palaeoecological data.

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