Résumé
Accurately interpreting fossil pollen sequences requires a robust understanding of the modern relationship between vegetation and its pollen signature. This study addresses this challenge at the southern margins of the French Massif central by defining and classifying modern peatland plant communities and quantifying the representativeness of the local pollen rain. Based on 93 floristic surveys, multivariate analyses including two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN) identified 17 distinct plant communities across a continentality/oceanity biogeographical gradient. Then, we evaluated the correspondence between these communities and their palynological records based on 68 pollen surface samples using Davis indices, one-way ANOVAs, and correlation tests. Our results demonstrate that biogeographical context and abiotic parameters significantly influence both vegetation and pollen assemblages, introducing a notable regional variation in local signatures. Despite the inherent biases of pollen dispersal, we successfully identified diagnostic pollen indicator taxa for 14 of the 17 communities. In conclusion, this work provides a new, high-resolution vegetation-pollen calibration that refines our ability to reconstruct past local successions and anthropogenic changes in Mediterranean-Atlantic peatlands.