We aim at reconstructing past environments for detecting the short and long term dynamics of ecosystems and climate, using archives such as glaciers, limnic and fluvial systems, soils-palaeosols, eolian sediments, and periglacial features. This genetic aspect of landscape history serves to understand the diversification, the characteristics and the spatial pattern of modern ecosystems and is, therefore, fundamental for the understanding and adequate handling of many modern environmental problems.
