| 1. |
- Willerslev, E, et al.
(författare)
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Fifty thousand years of arctic vegetation change and megafauna diet
- 2014
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 506:7486, s. 47-47
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although it is generally agreed that the Arctic flora is among the youngest and least diverse on Earth, the processes that shaped it are poorly understood. Here we present 50 thousand years (kyr) of Arctic vegetation history, derived from the first large-scale ancient DNA metabarcoding study of circumpolar plant diversity. For this interval we also explore nematode diversity as a proxy for modelling vegetation cover and soil quality, and diets of herbivorous megafaunal mammals, many of which became extinct around 10 kyr bp (before present). For much of the period investigated, Arctic vegetation consisted of dry steppe-tundra dominated by forbs (non-graminoid herbaceous vascular plants). During the Last Glacial Maximum (25–15 kyr bp), diversity declined markedly, although forbs remained dominant. Much changed after 10 kyr bp, with the appearance of moist tundra dominated by woody plants and graminoids. Our analyses indicate that both graminoids and forbs would have featured in megafaunal diets. As such, our findings question the predominance of a Late Quaternary graminoid-dominated Arctic mammoth steppe.
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| 2. |
- Bouton, Anthony, et al.
(författare)
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Linking the distribution of microbial deposits from the Great Salt Lake (Utah, USA) to tectonic and climatic processes
- 2016
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Ingår i: Biogeosciences. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1726-4170 .- 1726-4189. ; 13:19, s. 5511-5526
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Great Salt Lake is a modern hypersaline lake, in which an extended modern and ancient microbial sedimentary system has developed. Detailed mapping based on aerial images and field observations can be used to identify non-random distribution patterns of microbial deposits, such as paleoshorelines associated with extensive polygons or fault-parallel alignments. Although it has been inferred that climatic changes controlling the lake level fluctuations explain the distribution of paleoshorelines and polygons, straight microbial deposit alignments may underline a normal fault system parallel to the Wasatch Front. This study is based on observations over a decimetre to kilometre spatial range, resulting in an integrated conceptual model for the controls on the distribution of the microbial deposits. The morphology, size and distribution of these deposits result mainly from environmental changes (i.e. seasonal to long-term water level fluctuations, particular geomorphological heritage, fault-induced processes, groundwater seepage) and have the potential to bring further insights into the reconstruction of paleoenvironments and paleoclimatic changes through time. New ra-diocarbon ages obtained on each microbial macrofabric described in this study improve the chronological framework and question the lake level variations that are commonly assumed.
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| 3. |
- Goslar, T, et al.
(författare)
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Variations of atmospheric C-14 concentrations over the Allerod-Younger Dryas transition
- 1999
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Ingår i: CLIMATE DYNAMICS. - : SPRINGER VERLAG. - 0930-7575. ; 15:1, s. 29-42
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Highly variable atmospheric radiocarbon concentrations are a distinct feature during the last deglaciation. The synchronisation of two high-resolution AMS C-14-dated records, Lake Gosciaz, and a floating Late Weichselian glacial varve chronology at the Al
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