Lake Sediments Used to Quantify the Erosional Response to Land Use Change in Southern Sweden

yr. The period AD 1300-1550 witnessed a drop in sediment yield to 0.5-1.5 ha-1 yr-1, perhaps related to the agrarian depression, and recent expansion of the cultivated area has led to a 1.5 fold increase in sediment yield. 4. Reconstructions of P flux in present and AD 1682 catchments suggests that in contrast to the highly subsidised present system, the earlier system ran at a net loss with losses of P at a rate of 1.5 kg ha-1 yr-'. 5. Close calibration of sediment and environmental records may form the basis for reconstructing environmental processes and for quantifying environmental thresholds, time-lags, response and recovery rates. This represents an important extension to contemporary process studies based on monitoring over short timescales.