We used data on fossil algae to assess the beta-diversity in hemiboreal lakes in Latvia.
Results show that the algae turnover increases towards the present day.
Anthropogenic impact on the landscape and lakes were relatively minor before AD 1200.
We propose that the natural reference conditions of lakes are prior AD 1200.
Ann. Limnol. - Int. J. Lim., 54 (2018) 22
Published online: 20 June 2018