Large parts of the East European forest-steppe are covered by agricultural and pastoral landscapes with decreasing proportions of semi-natural meadow steppes and fragments of semi-natural woodland. Although numerous palynological records indicate that a total deforestation occurred in the last 500 years, the details of the transformation from natural vegetation into an agrarian landscape are still lacking as well as an evaluation of the political role in this process. This study focuses on the vegetation and fire history at the northern edge of the forest-steppe in the Kursk region (Russia) and aim to reconstruct the transformation process in its historical context. New pollen, non-pollen palynomorphs and charcoal records with decennial to centennial resolution obtained from the Seim River region enable a comprehensive reconstruction of the local and regional landscape history over the last 1100 years. The palynological records provide unique insights into the heterogeneous vegetation cover of microregions and evidence spatial asynchronous deforestation and crop field creation. The findings highlight a crucial role of political systems on the formation of agro-pastoral landscapes with small remaining forest patches of today. The heterogeneity of the natural vegetation distribution before major deforestation as well as the duration of human impact should be considered in ecosystem restoration projects.

东欧森林草原的大部分地区都被农业和牧业景观所覆盖，半天然草甸草原和半天然草甸的比例在下降。天然林地。尽管大量孢粉学记录表明在过去 500 年中发生了森林砍伐，但仍然缺乏从自然植被转变为农业景观的细节，也缺乏对这一过程中政治作用的评估。本研究重点关注库尔斯克地区（俄罗斯）森林草原北部边缘的植被和火灾历史，旨在重建其历史背景下的转变过程。从塞姆河地区获得的具有十年到百年分辨率的新花粉、非花粉孢粉和木炭记录能够全面重建过去 1100 年的地方和区域景观历史。孢粉学记录提供了对微区域异质植被覆盖的独特见解，并提供了空间异步森林砍伐和农田创造的证据。研究结果强调了政治制度对形成当今小片剩余森林的农牧景观的关键作用。在生态系统恢复项目中应考虑大规模毁林前自然植被分布的异质性以及人类影响的持续时间。