Responses of Holocene Malacological Communities to the Climatic and to Anthropogenic Impacts on the Environment

The study of the malacofaunas from a composite sequence from three Holocene localities in Burgundy allows us to propose a climatic history of this region for the past 10,000 years B.P. The variations recorded by the mollusc faunas between the Younger Dryas and Subboreal chronozones are in agreement with the literature. However, the variations obtained for the Subatlantic chronozone cannot be taken into account. In fact the progressive opening of the environment, as the molluscs reveal, was due to human impact. This explains the dominance of anthropochorous taxa in the assemblages to the detriment of the other species, especially those indicative of forests.