| 1. |
- Stephens, Lucas, et al.
(författare)
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Archaeological assessment reveals Earth’s early transformation through land use
- 2019
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science. - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 365:6456, s. 897-902
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Humans began to leave lasting impacts on Earth’s surface starting 10,000 to 8000 years ago. Through a synthetic collaboration with archaeologists around the globe, Stephens et al. compiled a comprehensive picture of the trajectory of human land use worldwide during the Holocene (see the Perspective by Roberts). Hunter-gatherers, farmers, and pastoralists transformed the face of Earth earlier and to a greater extent than has been widely appreciated, a transformation that was essentially global by 3000 years before the present.Science, this issue p. 897; see also p. 865Environmentally transformative human use of land accelerated with the emergence of agriculture, but the extent, trajectory, and implications of these early changes are not well understood. An empirical global assessment of land use from 10,000 years before the present (yr B.P.) to 1850 CE reveals a planet largely transformed by hunter-gatherers, farmers, and pastoralists by 3000 years ago, considerably earlier than the dates in the land-use reconstructions commonly used by Earth scientists. Synthesis of knowledge contributed by more than 250 archaeologists highlighted gaps in archaeological expertise and data quality, which peaked for 2000 yr B.P. and in traditionally studied and wealthier regions. Archaeological reconstruction of global land-use history illuminates the deep roots of Earth’s transformation and challenges the emerging Anthropocene paradigm that large-scale anthropogenic global environmental change is mostly a recent phenomenon.
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| 2. |
- Buckland, Philip I., Dr. 1973-, et al.
(författare)
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Mid-Devensian climate and landscape in England : new data from Finningley, South Yorkshire
- 2019
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Ingår i: Royal Society Open Science. - : Royal Society Publishing. - 2054-5703. ; 6:7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- While there is extensive evidence for the Late Devensian, less is known about Early and Middle Devensian (approx. 110-30 ka) climates and environments in the UK. The Greenland ice-core record suggests the UK should have endured multiple changes, but the terrestrial palaeo-record lacks sufficient detail for confirmation from sites in the British Isles. Data from deposits at Finningley, South Yorkshire, can help redress this. A channel with organic silts, dated 40 314-39 552 cal a BP, contained plant macrofossil and insect remains showing tundra with dwarf-shrub heath and bare ground. Soil moisture conditions varied from free draining to riparian, with ponds and wetter vegetated areas. The climate was probably low arctic with snow cover during the winter. Mutual climatic range (MCR), based on Coleoptera, shows the mean monthly winter temperatures of -22 to -2 degrees C and summer ones of 8-14 degrees C. Periglacial structures within the basal gravel deposits and beyond the glacial limits indicate cold-climate conditions, including permafrost. A compilation of MCR reconstructions for other Middle Devensian English sites shows that marine isotope stage 3-between 59 and 28 ka-experienced substantial variation in climate consistent with the Greenland ice-core record. The exact correlation is hampered by temporal resolution, but the Finningley site stadial at approximately 40 ka may correlate with the one of the Greenland stadials 7-11.
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| 3. |
- Kohler, Timothy A., et al.
(författare)
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Paleodata for and from archaeology
- 2018
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Ingår i: PAGES Magazine. - Bern : PAGES International. - 2411-9180. ; 26:2, s. 68-69
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Archaeology depends on, and generates, proxy paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental data. We review various initiatives, most quite recent, by which archaeologists seek to make these data more readily discoverable and useful, to facilitate the cumulation of research.
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| 4. |
- Bengtson, Sven-Axel, et al.
(författare)
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Man-dependence of House Sparrows (Passer domesticus) in the Faroe Islands: habitat patch characteristics as determinants of presence and numbers
- 2010
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Ingår i: Dorete - her book, Annales Societatis Scientiarum Færoensis, Suppl. 52. ; , s. 227-243
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) began to colonize the Faroe Islands in the mid-1940s and occurs in most built-up areas. Breeding is confined to the discrete human habitations (settlements) that form a pattern of patches (”habitat-islands”). In 2002 all settlements were surveyed and the number of pairs of sparrows (total number ca. 2,700 pairs) and amount of vegetation (”green space”) were estimated. The settlements ranged in size from 0.01 km2 (a single farmstead) to 8.72 km2 (the capital) and 68% of them (n=118) were occupied by sparrows. Patch occupancy was positively correlated with both area and amount of vegetation (p < 0.001) but not quite with the degree of isolation (p = 0.15). The latter was crudely scored as a function of distance to nearest settlement with > 10 pairs (a possible source area) and topography (mainly mountains and open sea). The patch variables area, human population, number of houses and houses were strongly intercorrelated. Abundance (number of pairs) of sparrows was positively correlated with the number of houses (r = 0.84, p < 0.001). In all but one of the settlements with < 10 houses sparrows were absent, and also in many of those with 10-60 houses where the scatter swas wide (no significant correlation p = 0.25). All but one of the settlements with > 60 houses supported sparrows and the correlation with abundance was highly significant (p < 0.001). The absence of sparrows in small settlements is discussed in terms of risks of associated with small populations such as stochastic extinctions, Allee effects, competition, and predation (incl. persecution by Man). Various anthropogenic effects on abundance of sparrows are discussed; e.g. age, type and conditions of buildings and the presence of gardens, cultivations, and plantations all contributing to shelter and food resources. The Faroese House Sparrow as a metapopulation is briefly discussed.
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