Abstract
Paleovegetation and palaeotemperature at 1160 m a.s.l. at the southeastern foot of Mt. Yatsugatake were reconstructed based on plant macrofossil assemblages from fluvial deposits in two horizons a sand layer intercalating the Blue Glass tephra deposited around MIS7.3 of the late Middle Pleistocene. A deciduous broadleaved forest grew near the study site, and a pinaceous conifer forest spread in upstream areas at higher altitudes. Plant macrofossil assemblages included taxa distributed mainly in the warm-temperate zone, such as Selaginella remotifolia, Buxus microphylla, and Phytolacca japonica. The annual mean temperature at the site of fossil deposition was estimated to be slightly warmer than that at the present (7.8°C) from the coldest limit of distribution ranges of Phytolacca japonica (8.5°C) and Selaginella remotifolia (8.1°C).
