Reply on RC2

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Abstract
This study investigates the vegetation and hydrological dynamics of Linje peatland in northern Poland during the past 11,500 years by integrating testate amoeba and plant macrofossil analyses. The Linje profile is currently the only complete Holocene peat record in Central Europe and offers valuable insights into long-term climate variability and its ecological consequences for peatland ecosystems. The results reveal significant changes in peatland wetness and vegetation driven by 20 autogenic processes, climatic fluctuations and anthropogenic influences. Major bryophyte species turnovers occurred around 11,200, 10,350, 8,200, 7,500, 5,500, 600, and 450 cal. BP often coinciding with declines in Archerella flavum and Hyalosphenia papilio abundances. Both proxies indicate a marked period of drier conditions between 7,600 and 6,800 cal. BP corresponding with the Holocene Thermal Maximum. Additionally, testate amoeba data suggest further disturbances at approximately 3,050, 2,000, and 200 cal. BP, and the latter, linked to a permanent shift in species composition, implies lasting changes to peatland 25 conditions caused by intensified human activity. Around the end of the Early Holocene, most species turnovers and disturbances began to align with Holocene Rapid Climate Change (RCC) events.

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