PALEO-AGRI · agroPastoral Activities and effects on Landscapes and ErOsion dynAmics in the alps: a new insight from Geological appRoaches and lake sedIment DNA

Due to their unique biological and geological resources, mountains have attracted humans since prehistoric times, despite their sensitivity to environmental and climatic changes. Few studies, however, have investigated the detailed history and dynamic of alpine agro-pastoral activities or their impacts on plant cover and erosion. This is largely due to the lack of suitable proxies for human activities in these environments. The PALEO-AGRI project proposes to address this challenge: 1) through the optimization of a powerful and innovative tool, DNA metabarcoding, and 2) its application to archaeological layers and lake sediment archives distributed across elevation and latitudinal gradients in the French Alps in order to investigate how human-climate-environment relations evolved in diversified environments.