Macrofossil
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The Neotoma Paleoecology Database, a multiproxy, international, community-curated data resource Open
The Neotoma Paleoecology Database is a community-curated data resource that supports interdisciplinary global change research by enabling broad-scale studies of taxon and community diversity, distributions, and dynamics during the large en…
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Ancient steroids establish the Ediacaran fossil<i>Dickinsonia</i>as one of the earliest animals Open
Confirming the identity of early animals The first complex organisms emerged during the Ediacaran period, around 600 million years ago. The taxonomic affiliation of many of these organisms has been difficult to discern. Fossils of Dickinso…
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Contributions of Quaternary botany to modern ecology and biogeography Open
Quaternary (last 2.6 million years) botany involves studying plant megafossils (e.g. tree stumps), macrofossils (e.g. seeds, leaves), and microfossils (e.g. pollen, spores) preserved in peat bogs and lake sediments. Although megafossils an…
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Phytoliths in Paleoecology: Analytical Considerations, Current Use, and Future Directions Open
Phytoliths, microscopic plant silicaPhytoliths silica/silicon bodies, are often preserved in modern and fossil soils and sediment, as well as in archaeological contexts. They record unique characteristics of past vegetation and, unlike pal…
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The ELSA-Vegetation-Stack: Reconstruction of Landscape Evolution Zones (LEZ) from laminated Eifel maar sediments of the last 60,000 years Open
Laminated sediment records from several maar lakes and dry maar lakes of the Eifel (Germany) reveal the history of climate, weather, environment, vegetation, and land use in central Europe during the last 60,000 years. The time series of t…
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Ediacaran biozones identified with network analysis provide evidence for pulsed extinctions of early complex life Open
Rocks of Ediacaran age (~635–541 Ma) contain the oldest fossils of large, complex organisms and their behaviors. These fossils document developmental and ecological innovations, and suggest that extinctions helped to shape the trajectory o…
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Subsistence practices, past biodiversity, and anthropogenic impacts revealed by New Zealand-wide ancient DNA survey Open
Significance The mode and tempo of extinctions and extirpations after the first contact phase of human settlements is a widely debated topic. As the last major landmass to be settled by humans, New Zealand offers a unique lens through whic…
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Shotgun Environmental DNA, Pollen, and Macrofossil Analysis of Lateglacial Lake Sediments From Southern Sweden Open
The lake sediments of Hasseldala Port in south-east Sweden provide an archive of local and regional environmental conditions similar to 14.5-9.5 ka BP (thousand years before present) and allow testing DNA sequencing techniques to reconstru…
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A Chronostratigraphic Framework for the Rise of the Ediacaran Macrobiota: New Constraints from Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve, Newfoundland Open
The Conception and St. John’s Groups of southeastern Newfoundland contain some of the oldest known fossils of the Ediacaran macrobiota. The Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve UNESCO World Heritage Site is an internationally recognized local…
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The discovery of the Younger Dryas, and comments on the current meaning and usage of the term Open
The Younger Dryas (YD) cold event was discovered in Denmark by Hartz and Mithers in 1904 and the term coined by Hartz in 1912. It was identified as a lacustrine clay bed containing plant macrofossils of an Arctic flora, including Dryas oct…
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The palaeobiology of belemnites – foundation for the interpretation of rostrum geochemistry Open
Belemnites are an extinct group of Mesozoic coleoid cephalopods with a fossil record ranging from the early Late Triassic [about 240 million years ago (Mya)] to the Cretaceous/Palaeogene boundary (65 Mya). Belemnites were widely distribute…
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Peat bogs in northern Alberta, Canada reveal decades of declining atmospheric Pb contamination Open
Peat cores were collected from six bogs in northern Alberta to reconstruct changes in the atmospheric deposition of Pb, a valuable tracer of human activities. In each profile, the maximum Pb enrichment is found well below the surface. Radi…
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Reanalysis of the Atmospheric Radiocarbon Calibration Record from Lake Suigetsu, Japan Open
Terrestrial plant macrofossils from the sedimentary record of Lake Suigetsu, Japan, provide the only quasi-continuous direct atmospheric record of radiocarbon ( 14 C) covering the last 50 ka cal BP (Bronk Ramsey et al. 2012). Since then, n…
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Phylogeny and biogeography of the hollies (<i>Ilex</i> L., Aquifoliaceae) Open
The holly genus, Ilex L., in the monogeneric Aquifoliaceae, is the largest woody dioecious genus (>664 spp.), with a near‐cosmopolitan distribution in mesic environments. We constructed a phylogeny based on two nuclear genes, representing …
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Putative Late Ordovician land plants Open
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Sedimentary ancient DNA and pollen reveal the composition of plant organic matter in Late Quaternary permafrost sediments of the Buor Khaya Peninsula (north-eastern Siberia) Open
Organic matter deposited in ancient, ice-rich permafrost sediments is vulnerable to climate change and may contribute to the future release of greenhouse gases; it is thus important to get a better characterization of the plant organic mat…
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Highly regulated growth and development of the Ediacara macrofossil Dickinsonia costata Open
The Ediacara Biota represents the oldest fossil evidence for the appearance of animals but linking these taxa to specific clades has proved challenging. Dickinsonia is an abundant, apparently bilaterally symmetrical Ediacara fossil with un…
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A Laurentian record of the earliest fossil eukaryotes Open
The oldest evidence of eukaryotes in the fossil record comes from a recurrent assemblage of morphologically differentiated late Paleoproterozoic to early Mesoproterozoic microfossils. Although widely distributed, the principal constituents…
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Unveiling tipping points in long-term ecological records from <i>Sphagnum</i> -dominated peatlands Open
Unveiling past tipping points is a prerequisite for a better understanding of how individual species and entire ecosystems will respond to future climate change. Such knowledge is key for the implementation of biodiversity conservation. We…
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Holocene fen–bog transitions, current status in Finland and future perspectives Open
Minerotrophic fens and ombrotrophic bogs differ in their nutrient status, hydrology, vegetation and carbon dynamics, and their geographical distribution is linked to various climate parameters. Currently, bogs dominate the northern tempera…
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<i>Agathis</i> trees of Patagonia's Cretaceous‐Paleogene death landscapes and their evolutionary significance Open
Premise of the Study The fossil record of Agathis historically has been restricted to Australasia. Recently described fossils from the Eocene of Patagonian Argentina showed a broader distribution than found previously, which is reinforced …
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Recent Developments in Calibration for Archaeological and Environmental Samples Open
The curves recommended for calibrating radiocarbon ( 14 C) dates into absolute dates have been updated. For calibrating atmospheric samples from the Northern Hemisphere, the new curve is called IntCal20. This is accompanied by associated c…
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Testing the Biases in the Rich Cenozoic Angiosperm Macrofossil Record Open
Premise of research:The Cenozoic fossil record is crucial for understanding the evolution of the remarkably high diversity of angiosperms. However, the quality and biases of the angiosperm fossil record remain unclear mainly due to the lac…
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Hybridization capture of larch ( <i>Larix</i> Mill.) chloroplast genomes from sedimentary ancient DNA reveals past changes of Siberian forest Open
Siberian larch ( Larix Mill.) forests dominate vast areas of northern Russia and contribute important ecosystem services to the world. It is important to understand the past dynamics of larches in order to predict their likely response to …
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Holocene development of subarctic permafrost peatlands in Finnmark, northern Norway Open
Subarctic permafrost peatlands are important soil organic carbon pools, and improved knowledge about peat properties and peatland sensitivity to past climate change is essential when predicting future response to a warmer climate and assoc…
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Re-evaluation of the Permian macrofossils from the Parnaíba Basin: biostratigraphic, palaeoenvironmental and palaeogeographical implications Open
Although Permian fossils have been known from the Parnaíba Basin for two centuries, and some faunal and flora elements are well known worldwide, research on the fossil assemblages from this basin has lagged relative to other, more accessib…
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Genomic evidence of survival near ice sheet margins for some, but not all, North American trees Open
Temperate species experienced dramatic range reductions during the Last Glacial Maximum, yet refugial populations from which modern populations are descended have never been precisely located. Climate-based models identify only broad areas…
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Redating the earliest evidence of the mid-Holocene relative sea-level highstand in Australia and implications for global sea-level rise Open
Reconstructing past sea levels can help constrain uncertainties surrounding the rate of change, magnitude, and impacts of the projected increase through the 21st century. Of significance is the mid-Holocene relative sea-level highstand in …
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Biotic turnover rates during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition Open
The Northern Hemisphere is currently warming at the rate which is unprecedented during the Holocene. Quantitative palaeoclimatic records show that the most recent time in the geological history with comparable warming rates was during the …
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Systematic description of putative animal fossils from the early <span>E</span>diacaran <span>L</span>antian <span>F</span>ormation of <span>S</span>outh <span>C</span>hina Open
The early E diacaran L antian F ormation in S outh C hina contains some of the oldest known representatives of morphologically complex macroorganisms, including various macroalgae and putative animals. The macroalgal fossils have been desc…