| 1. |
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| 2. |
- Boy, M., et al.
(author)
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Interactions between the atmosphere, cryosphere, and ecosystems at northern high latitudes
- 2019
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In: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 19:3, s. 2015-2061
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Nordic Centre of Excellence CRAICC (Cryosphere-Atmosphere Interactions in a Changing Arctic Climate), funded by NordForsk in the years 2011-2016, is the largest joint Nordic research and innovation initiative to date, aiming to strengthen research and innovation regarding climate change issues in the Nordic region. CRAICC gathered more than 100 scientists from all Nordic countries in a virtual centre with the objectives of identifying and quantifying the major processes controlling Arctic warming and related feedback mechanisms, outlining strategies to mitigate Arctic warming, and developing Nordic Earth system modelling with a focus on short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs), including natural and anthropogenic aerosols. The outcome of CRAICC is reflected in more than 150 peer-reviewed scientific publications, most of which are in the CRAICC special issue of the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. This paper presents an overview of the main scientific topics investigated in the centre and provides the reader with a state-of-the-art comprehensive summary of what has been achieved in CRAICC with links to the particular publications for further detail. Faced with a vast amount of scientific discovery, we do not claim to completely summarize the results from CRAICC within this paper, but rather concentrate here on the main results which are related to feedback loops in climate change-cryosphere interactions that affect Arctic amplification.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Sundqvist, Hanna S., et al.
(author)
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Arctic Holocene proxy climate database - new approaches to assessing geochronological accuracy and encoding climate variables
- 2014
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In: Climate of the Past. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1814-9324 .- 1814-9332. ; 10:4, s. 1605-1631
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present a systematic compilation of previously published Holocene proxy climate records from the Arctic. We identified 170 sites from north of 58 degrees N latitude where proxy time series extend back at least to 6 cal ka (all ages in this article are in calendar years before present - BP), are resolved at submillennial scale (at least one value every 400 +/- 200 years) and have age models constrained by at least one age every 3000 years. In addition to conventional meta-data for each proxy record (location, proxy type, reference), we include two novel parameters that add functionality to the database. First, climate interpretation is a series of fields that logically describe the specific climate variable(s) represented by the proxy record. It encodes the proxy-climate relation reported by authors of the original studies into a structured format to facilitate comparison with climate model outputs. Second, geochronology accuracy score (chron score) is a numerical rating that reflects the overall accuracy of C-14-based age models from lake and marine sediments. Chron scores were calculated using the original author-reported C-14 ages, which are included in this database. The database contains 320 records (some sites include multiple records) from six regions covering the circumpolar Arctic: Fennoscandia is the most densely sampled region (31% of the records), whereas only five records from the Russian Arctic met the criteria for inclusion. The database contains proxy records from lake sediment (60 %), marine sediment (32 %), glacier ice (5 %), and other sources. Most (61 %) reflect temperature (mainly summer warmth) and are primarily based on pollen, chironomid, or diatom assemblages. Many (15 %) reflect some aspect of hydroclimate as inferred from changes in stable isotopes, pollen and diatom assemblages, humification index in peat, and changes in equilibrium-line altitude of glaciers. This comprehensive database can be used in future studies to investigate the spatio-temporal pattern of Arctic Holocene climate changes and their causes. The Arctic Holocene data set is available from NOAA Paleoclimatology.
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| 5. |
- Fang, Keyan, et al.
(author)
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Climate of the late Pleistocene and early Holocene in coastal South China inferred from submerged wood samples
- 2017
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In: Quaternary International. - : Elsevier BV. - 1040-6182. ; 447, s. 111-117
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Tree-ring variability of submerged wood specimens in coastal areas provides important clues about sea level change and climate variability of the past. We dated submerged wood samples from coastal Fujian province in China using the radiocarbon methods and investigated their tree-ring variability. The submerged wood samples from the Shenhu Bay that date to the early Holocene (similar to 8000 calibrated years B.P.) may be related to the rise of the sea level after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The submerged wood samples from the Qianhu Bay site dated to the Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3) (> 40,000 calibrated years B. P.). Most of the submerged wood samples are from coniferous trees with frequent branching tree rings. Frequent branching tree rings in this region are mostly found from the currently endangered coniferous species with narrow ecological amplitude at humid sites. Tree rings of the submerged sample show conspicuous interdecadal variability (similar to 20 years) than interannual variations, which differs from modern tree rings of nearby regions which have stronger interannual and multi-decadal variability. Our study highlights the potential to use submerged samples of coastal Southeast China for paleoclimate studies.
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| 6. |
- Gaillard, Marie-José, 1953-, et al.
(author)
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Holocene land-cover reconstructions for studies on land cover-climate feedbacks
- 2010
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In: Climate of the Past. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1814-9324 .- 1814-9332. ; 6, s. 483-499
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The major objectives of this paper are: (1) to review the pros and cons of the scenarios of past anthropogenic land cover change (ALCC) developed during the last ten years, (2) to discuss issues related to pollen-based reconstruction of the past land-cover and introduce a new method, REVEALS (Regional Estimates of VEgetation Abundance from Large Sites), to infer long-term records of past land-cover from pollen data, (3) to present a new project (LANDCLIM: LAND cover – CLIMate interactions in NW Europe during the Holocene) currently underway, and show preliminary results of REVEALS reconstructions of the regional land-cover in the Czech Republic for five selected time windows of the Holocene, and (4) to discuss the implications and future directions in climate and vegetation/land-cover modeling, and in the assessment of the effects of human-induced changes in land-cover on the regional climate through altered feedbacks. The existing ALCC scenarios show large discrepancies between them, and few cover time periods older than AD 800. When these scenarios are used to assess the impact of human land-use on climate, contrasting results are obtained. It emphasizes the need for methods such as the REVEALS model-based land-cover reconstructions. They might help to fine-tune descriptions of past land-cover and lead to a better understanding of how long-term changes in ALCC might have influenced climate. The REVEALS model is demonstrated to provide better estimates of the regional vegetation/landcover changes than the traditional use of pollen percentages. This will achieve a robust assessment of land cover at regional- to continental-spatial scale throughout the Holocene. We present maps of REVEALS estimates for the percentage cover of 10 plant functional types (PFTs) at 200 BP and 6000 BP, and of the two open-land PFTs “grassland” and “agricultural land” at five time-windows from 6000 BP to recent time. The LANDCLIM results are expected to provide crucial data to reassess ALCC estimates for a better understanding of the land suface-atmosphere interactions.
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| 7. |
- Strandberg, Gustav, et al.
(author)
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Regional climate model simulations for Europe at 6 and 0.2 k BP : sensitivity to changes in anthropogenic deforestation
- 2014
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In: Climate of the Past. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1814-9324 .- 1814-9332. ; 10:2, s. 661-680
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study aims to evaluate the direct effects of anthropogenic deforestation on simulated climate at two contrasting periods in the Holocene, similar to 6 and similar to 0.2 k BP in Europe. We apply We apply the Rossby Centre regional climate model RCA3, a regional climate model with 50 km spatial resolution, for both time periods, considering three alternative descriptions of the past vegetation: (i) potential natural vegetation (V) simulated by the dynamic vegetation model LPJ-GUESS, (ii) potential vegetation with anthropogenic land use (deforestation) from the HYDE3.1 (History Database of the Global Environment) scenario (V + H3.1), and (iii) potential vegetation with anthropogenic land use from the KK10 scenario (V + KK10). The climate model results show that the simulated effects of deforestation depend on both local/regional climate and vegetation characteristics. At similar to 6 k BP the extent of simulated deforestation in Europe is generally small, but there are areas where deforestation is large enough to produce significant differences in summer temperatures of 0.5-1 degrees C. At similar to 0.2 k BP, extensive deforestation, particularly according to the KK10 model, leads to significant temperature differences in large parts of Europe in both winter and summer. In winter, deforestation leads to lower temperatures because of the differences in albedo between forested and unforested areas, particularly in the snow-covered regions. In summer, deforestation leads to higher temperatures in central and eastern Europe because evapotranspiration from unforested areas is lower than from forests. Summer evaporation is already limited in the southernmost parts of Europe under potential vegetation conditions and, therefore, cannot become much lower. Accordingly, the albedo effect dominates in southern Europe also in summer, which implies that deforestation causes a decrease in temperatures. Differences in summer temperature due to deforestation range from -1 degrees C in south-western Europe to +1 degrees C in eastern Europe. The choice of anthropogenic land-cover scenario has a significant influence on the simulated climate, but uncertainties in palaeoclimate proxy data for the two time periods do not allow for a definitive discrimination among climate model results.
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| 8. |
- Trondman, Anna-Kari, et al.
(author)
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Pollen-based quantitative reconstructions of Holocene regional vegetation cover (plant-functional types and land-cover types) in Europe suitable for climate modelling
- 2015
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In: Global Change Biology. - : Wiley. - 1354-1013 .- 1365-2486. ; 21:2, s. 676-697
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present quantitative reconstructions of regional vegetation cover in north-western Europe, western Europe north of the Alps, and eastern Europe for five time windows in the Holocene [around 6k, 3k, 0.5k, 0.2k, and 0.05k calendar years before present (bp)] at a 1 degrees x1 degrees spatial scale with the objective of producing vegetation descriptions suitable for climate modelling. The REVEALS model was applied on 636 pollen records from lakes and bogs to reconstruct the past cover of 25 plant taxa grouped into 10 plant-functional types and three land-cover types [evergreen trees, summer-green (deciduous) trees, and open land]. The model corrects for some of the biases in pollen percentages by using pollen productivity estimates and fall speeds of pollen, and by applying simple but robust models of pollen dispersal and deposition. The emerging patterns of tree migration and deforestation between 6k bp and modern time in the REVEALS estimates agree with our general understanding of the vegetation history of Europe based on pollen percentages. However, the degree of anthropogenic deforestation (i.e. cover of cultivated and grazing land) at 3k, 0.5k, and 0.2k bp is significantly higher than deduced from pollen percentages. This is also the case at 6k in some parts of Europe, in particular Britain and Ireland. Furthermore, the relationship between summer-green and evergreen trees, and between individual tree taxa, differs significantly when expressed as pollen percentages or as REVEALS estimates of tree cover. For instance, when Pinus is dominant over Picea as pollen percentages, Picea is dominant over Pinus as REVEALS estimates. These differences play a major role in the reconstruction of European landscapes and for the study of land cover-climate interactions, biodiversity and human resources.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Antonsson, K, et al.
(author)
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Anticyclonic atmospheric circulation as an analogue for the warm and dry mid-Holocene summer climate in central Scandinavia
- 2008
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In: Climate of the Past. - 1814-9324. ; 4:4, s. 215-224
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Climate reconstructions from central Scandinavia suggest that annual and summer temperatures were rising during the early Holocene and reached their maximum after 8000 cal yr BP. The period with highest temperatures was characterized by increasingly low lake-levels and dry climate, with driest and warmest conditions at about 7000 to 5000 cal yr BP. We compare the reconstructed climate pattern with simulations of a climate model for the last 9000 years and show that the model, which is predominantly driven by solar insolation patterns, suggests less prominent mid-Holocene dry and warm period in Scandinavia than the reconstructions. As an additional explanation for the reconstructed climate, we argue that the trend from the moist early Holocene towards dry and warm mid-Holocene was caused by a changing atmospheric circulation pattern with a mid-Holocene dominance of summer-time anticyclonic circulation. An extreme case of the anticyclonic conditions is the persistent blocking high, an atmospheric pressure pattern that at present often causes long spells of particularly dry and warm summer weather, or "Indian summers". The argument is tested with daily instrumental temperature and precipitation records in central Sweden and an objective circulation classification based on surface air pressure over the period 1900-2002. We conclude that the differences between the precipitation and temperature climates under anticyclonic and non-anticyclonic conditions are significant. Further, warm and dry combination, as indicated by mid-Holocene reconstructions, is a typical pattern under anticyclonic conditions. These results indicate that the presented hypothesis for the mid-Holocene climate is likely valid.
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| 11. |
- Battarbee, Richard W., et al.
(author)
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John Birks: Pioneer in quantitative palaeoecology
- 2015
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In: The Holocene. - : SAGE Publications. - 0959-6836 .- 1477-0911. ; 25:1, s. 3-16
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We describe the career of John Birks as a pioneering scientist who has, over a career spanning five decades, transformed palaeoecology from a largely descriptive to a rigorous quantitative science relevant to contemporary questions in ecology and environmental change. We review his influence on students and colleagues not only at Cambridge and Bergen Universities, his places of primary employment, but also on individuals and research groups in Europe and North America. We also introduce the collection of papers that we have assembled in his honour. The papers are written by his former students and close colleagues and span many of the areas of palaeoecology to which John himself has made major contributions. These include the relationship between ecology and palaeoecology, late-glacial and Holocene palaeoecology, ecological succession, climate change and vegetation history, the role of palaeoecological techniques in reconstructing and understanding the impact of human activity on terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems and numerical analysis of multivariate palaeoecological data.
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| 12. |
- Fang, Keyan, et al.
(author)
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Oceanic and atmospheric modes in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans since the Little Ice Age (LIA): Towards a synthesis
- 2019
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In: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-3791. ; 215, s. 293-307
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Understanding the variability of the oceanic and atmospheric modes from the Little Ice Age (LIA,similar to 1250 - 1850) to the present can help evaluate their behaviors under future warming scenarios. Numerous proxy-based reconstructions of the oceanic and atmospheric modes were presented. It is highly needed for a synthesis study to evaluate the existing reconstructions of the dominant oceanic and atmospheric modes since the LIA. We found that the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) reconstructions are only robust on interannual and interdecadal scales, while the reconstructed Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO) are robust on multi-decadal (50-100 years) timescales. We generated synthesized ENSO, PDO and AMO reconstructions as the average of the existing reconstructions on the most suitable timescales identified using timescale dependent correlation methods. In the 20th century, the interannual variability and periodicity of the ENSO and the multi-decadal periodicity of the PDO and AMO were most pronounced. The ENSO shows the strongest multi-decadal periodicity from mid-18th century onwards, while the multi-decadal periodicity of the PDO and AMO was particularly low in the 18th century. Multi-decadal variations of the AMO showed a prompt and positive response to solar irradiation, while the ENSO showed a lagged and negative response to solar irradiation from the 18th century to the present. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 13. |
- Fang, K. Y., et al.
(author)
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Covarying Hydroclimate Patterns between Monsoonal Asia and North America over the Past 600 Years
- 2014
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In: Journal of Climate. - : American Meteorological Society. - 0894-8755 .- 1520-0442. ; 27:21, s. 8017-8033
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Proxy data with large spatial coverage spanning to the preindustrial era not only provide invaluable material to investigate hydroclimate changes in different regions but also enable studies on temporal changes in the teleconnections between these regions. Applying the singular value decomposition (SVD) method to tree-ring-based field reconstructions of the Palmer drought severity index (PDSI) over monsoonal Asia (MA) and North America (NA) from 1404 to 2005, the dominant covarying pattern between the two regions is identified. This pattern is represented by the teleconnection between the dipole pattern of southern-northern latitudinal MA and the dipole of southwest NA (SWNA)-northwest NA (NWNA), which accounts for 59.6% of the total covariance. Its dominated by an antiphase low MA and SWNA teleconnection, driven by the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and is most significant at an interannual time scale. This teleconnection is strengthened (weakened) in periods of increased (decreased) solar forcing and high (low) temperature, which is associated with intensified (weakened) ENSO variability. Additional forcing by SST anomalies in the Indian and western Pacific Oceans appears to be important too.
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| 14. |
- Giesecke, Thomas, et al.
(author)
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The effect of past changes in inter-annual temperature variability on tree distribution limits
- 2010
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In: Journal of Biogeography. - : Wiley. - 1365-2699 .- 0305-0270. ; 37:7, s. 1394-1405
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Aim The northern limits of temperate broadleaved species in Fennoscanndia are controlled by their requirements for summer warmth for successful regeneration and growth as well as by the detrimental effects of winter cold on plant tissue. However, occurrences of meteorological conditions with detrimental effects on individual species are rare events rather than a reflection of average conditions. We explore the effect of changes in inter-annual temperature variability on the abundances of the tree species Tilia cordata, Quercus robur and Ulmus glabra near their distribution limits using a process-based model of ecosystem dynamics. Location A site in central Sweden and a site in southern Finland were used as examples for the ecotone between boreal and temperate forests in Fennoscandia. The Finnish site was selected because of the availability of varve-thickness data. Methods The dynamic vegetation model LPJ-GUESS was run with four scenarios of inter-annual temperature forcing for the last 10,000 years. In one scenario the variability in the thickness of summer and winter varves from the annually laminated lake in Finland was used as a proxy for past inter-annual temperature variability. Two scenarios were devised to explore systematically the effect of stepwise changes in the variance and shape parameter of a probability distribution. All variability scenarios were run both with and without the long-term trend in Holocene temperature change predicted by an atmospheric general circulation model. Results Directional changes in inter-annual temperature variability have significant effects on simulated tree distribution limits through time. Variations in inter-annual temperature variability alone are shown to alter vegetation composition by magnitudes similar to the magnitude of changes driven by variation in mean temperatures. Main conclusions The varve data indicate that inter-annual climate variability has changed in the past. The model results show that past changes in species abundance can be explained by changes in the inter-annual variability of climate parameters as well as by mean climate. Because inter-annual climatic variability is predicted to change in the future, this component of climate change should be taken into account both when making projections of future plant distributions and when interpreting vegetation history.
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| 15. |
- Giesecke, Thomas, et al.
(author)
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The pace of Holocene vegetation change : testing for synchronous developments
- 2011
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In: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 30:19-20, s. 2805-2814
-
Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Mid to high latitude forest ecosystems have undergone several major compositional changes during the Holocene. The temporal and spatial patterns of these vegetation changes hold potential information to their causes and triggers. Here we test the hypothesis that the timing of vegetation change was synchronous on a sub-continental scale, which implies a common trigger or a step-like change in climate parameters. Pollen diagrams from selected European regions were statistically divided into assemblage zones and the temporal pattern of the zone boundaries analysed. The results show that the temporal pattern of vegetation change was significantly different from random. Times of change cluster around 8.2, 4.8, 3.7, and 1.2 ka, while times of higher than average stability were found around 2.1 and 5.1 ka. Compositional changes linked to the expansion of Corylus avellana and Alnus glutinosa centre around 10.6 and 9.5 ka, respectively. A climatic trigger initiating these changes may have occurred 0.5 to 1 ka earlier, respectively. The synchronous expansion of C avellana and A. glutinosa exemplify that dispersal is not necessarily followed by population expansion. The partly synchronous, partly random expansion of A. glutinosa in adjacent European regions exemplifies that sudden synchronous population expansions are not species specific traits but vary regionally.
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| 16. |
- Jones, V. J., et al.
(author)
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The influence of Holocene tree-line advance and retreat on an arctic lake ecosystem : a multi-proxy study from Kharinei Lake, North Eastern European Russia
- 2011
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In: Journal of Paleolimnology. - : Springer. - 0921-2728 .- 1573-0417. ; 46:1, s. 123-137
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A consequence of predicted climate warming will be tree-line advance over large areas of the Russian tundra. Palaeolimnological techniques can be used to provide analogues of how such changes in tree-line advance and subsequent retreat affected lake ecosystems in the past. A Holocene sediment core taken from Kharinei Lake (Russia) was dated radiometrically and used for multi-proxy analyses with the aim of determining how climate and tree-line dynamics affected the productivity, community structure, carbon cycling and light regime in the lake. Pollen and macrofossil analyses were used to determine the dates of the arrival and retreat of birch and spruce forest. C:N ratios and percent loss-on-ignition were used to infer past changes in sediment organic matter. Visible-near-infrared spectroscopy and diatom analysis were used to infer past changes in lake-water carbon. Algal pigments and aquatic macrophytes were used to determine changes in lake productivity and light. Chironomids together with remains of the aquatic flora and fauna were used to provide information on past July temperature and continentality. Lake sedimentation was initiated shortly before 11,000 cal. years BP, when both chironomid- and pollen-inferred temperature reconstructions suggest higher summer temperatures than present, between 1 and 2 degrees C warmer, and lake productivity was relatively high. A few trees were already present at this time. The spruce forest expanded at 8,000 cal. year BP remaining in the vicinity of the lake until 3,500 cal. year BP. This period coincided with a high concentration of organic material in the water column, and relatively high benthic productivity, as indicated by a high benthic: planktonic diatom ratio. After tree-line retreat, the optical transparency of the lake increased, and it became more open and exposed, and was thus subject to greater water-column mixing resulting in a higher abundance of diatom phytoplankton, especially heavily silicified Aulocoseira species. The colder climate resulted in a shorter ice-free period, the lake was less productive and there was a loss of aquatic macrophytes. Increased wind-induced mixing following forest retreat had a greater influence on the lake ecosystem than the effects of decreasing organic matter concentration and increased light penetration.
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| 17. |
- Marquer, Laurent, et al.
(author)
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Holocene changes in vegetation composition in northern Europe: why quantitative pollen-based vegetation reconstructions matter
- 2014
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In: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 90, s. 199-216
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present pollen-based reconstructions of the spatio-temporal dynamics of northern European regional vegetation abundance through the Holocene. We apply the Regional Estimates of VEgetation Abundance from Large Sites (REVEALS) model using fossil pollen records from eighteen sites within five modern biomes in the region. The eighteen sites are classified into four time-trajectory types on the basis of principal components analysis of both the REVEALS-based vegetation estimates (RVs) and the pollen percentage (PPs). The four trajectory types are more clearly separated for RVs than PPs. Further, the timing of major Holocene shifts, rates of compositional change, and diversity indices (turnover and evenness) differ between RVs and PPs. The differences are due to the reduction by REVEALS of biases in fossil pollen assemblages caused by different basin size, and inter-taxonomic differences in pollen productivity and dispersal properties. For example, in comparison to the PPs, the RVs show an earlier increase in Corylus and Ulmus in the early-Holocene and a more pronounced increase in grassland and deforested areas since the mid-Holocene. The results suggest that the influence of deforestation and agricultural activities on plant composition and abundance from Neolithic times was stronger than previously inferred from PPs. Relative to PPs, RVs show a more rapid compositional change, a largest decrease in turnover, and less variable evenness in most of northern Europe since 5200 cal yr BP. All these changes are primarily related to the strong impact of human activities on the vegetation. This study demonstrates that RV-based estimates of diversity indices, timing of shifts, and rates of change in reconstructed vegetation provide new insights into the timing and magnitude of major human distribution on Holocene regional, vegetation, feature that are critical in the assessment of human impact on vegetation, land-cover, biodiversity, and climate in the past. (C) Elsevier Ltd.All tights reserved.
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| 18. |
- Marquer, Laurent, et al.
(author)
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Quantifying the effects of land use and climate on Holocene vegetation in Europe
- 2017
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In: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Pergamon Press. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 171, s. 20-37
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Early agriculture can be detected in palaeovegetation records, but quantification of the relative importance of climate and land use in influencing regional vegetation composition since the onset of agriculture is a topic that is rarely addressed. We present a novel approach that combines pollen-based REVEALS estimates of plant cover with climate, anthropogenic land-cover and dynamic vegetation modelling results. This is used to quantify the relative impacts of land use and climate on Holocene vegetation at a sub-continental scale, i.e. northern and western Europe north of the Alps. We use redundancy analysis and variation partitioning to quantify the percentage of variation in vegetation composition explained by the climate and land-use variables, and Monte Carlo permutation tests to assess the statistical significance of each variable. We further use a similarity index to combine pollen based REVEALS estimates with climate-driven dynamic vegetation modelling results. The overall results indicate that climate is the major driver of vegetation when the Holocene is considered as a whole and at the sub-continental scale, although land use is important regionally. Four critical phases of land-use effects on vegetation are identified. The first phase (from 7000 to 6500 BP) corresponds to the early impacts on vegetation of farming and Neolithic forest clearance and to the dominance of climate as a driver of vegetation change. During the second phase (from 4500 to 4000 BP), land use becomes a major control of vegetation. Climate is still the principal driver, although its influence decreases gradually. The third phase (from 2000 to 1500 BP) is characterised by the continued role of climate on vegetation as a consequence of late-Holocene climate shifts and specific climate events that influence vegetation as well as land use. The last phase (from 500 to 350 BP) shows an acceleration of vegetation changes, in particular during the last century, caused by new farming practices and forestry in response to population growth and industrialization. This is a unique signature of anthropogenic impact within the Holocene but European vegetation remains climatically sensitive and thus may continue to respond to ongoing climate change. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 19. |
- Salonen, J. Sakari, et al.
(author)
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Pollen-based palaeoclimate reconstructions over long glacialinterglacial timescales : methodological tests based on the Holocene and MIS 5dc deposits at Sokli, northern Finland
- 2013
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In: Journal of Quaternary Science. - : Wiley. - 0267-8179 .- 1099-1417. ; 28:3, s. 271-282
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Palaeoclimatic reconstructions over long glacialinterglacial timescales present major methodological challenges, as calibration methods based on modern climate and vegetation patterns may yield biased reconstructions from non-analogue palaeoclimates, such as severely continental glacial periods. In this work, we present pollen-based summer temperature reconstructions based on Holocene and early Weichselian (Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 5dc) deposits at Sokli, northern Finland. We attempt to improve the robustness of reconstructions of continental palaeoclimates by using two calibration sets, with one located in the region surrounding the fossil site and another in a more continental region in northwestern Russia. We assess the reliability of the reconstructions by estimating the compositional fit between fossil and calibration samples and by comparison with independent, plant macrofossil-based reconstructions. We find the fossil samples to fit the extra-regional, high-continentality calibration set better during the early Holocene and MIS 5dc. Especially in MIS 5dc, however, even the high-continentality calibration set fits the fossil samples poorly compared to the fit achieved in the mid and late Holocene. Thus our results highlight the problem of finding applicable calibration data for pre-Holocene periods. We finally discuss the relative strengths and vulnerabilities of different calibration methods in reconstruction of non-analogue palaeoclimates.
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| 20. |
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| 21. |
- Seppa, H, et al.
(author)
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Low-frequency and high-frequency changes in temperature and effective humidity during the Holocene in south-central Sweden: implications for atmospheric and oceanic forcings of climate
- 2005
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In: Climate Dynamics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1432-0894 .- 0930-7575. ; 25:2-3, s. 285-297
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- An integrated use of independent palaeoclimatological proxy techniques that reflect different components of the climate system provides a potential key for functional analysis of past climate changes. Here we report a 10,000 year quantitative record of annual mean temperature (T-ann), based on pollen-climate transfer functions and pollen-stratigraphical data from Lake Flarken, south-central Sweden. The pollen-based temperature reconstruction is compared with a reconstruction of effective humidity, as reflected by a delta(18)O record obtained on stratigraphy of lacustrine carbonates from Lake Igelsjon, c. 10 km from Lake Flarken, which gives evidence of pronounced changes in effective humidity. The relatively low T-ann, and high effective humidity as reflected by a low evaporation/inflow ratio suggest a maritime early Holocene climate (10,000-8,300 cat year BP), seemingly incompatible with the highly seasonal solar insolation configuration. We argue that the maritime climate was due to the stronger-than-present zonal flow, enhanced by the high early Holocene sea-surface temperatures in the North Atlantic. The maritime climate mode was disrupted by the abrupt cold event at 8,200 cat year BP, followed at 8,000 cat year BP by a stable Holocene Thermal Maximum. The latter was characterized by T-ann values about 2.5 degrees C higher than at present and markedly dry conditions, indicative of stable summertime anti-cyclonic circulation, possibly corresponding with modern blocking anticyclonic conditions. The last 4,300 year period is characterized by an increasingly cold, moist, and unstable climate. The results demonstrate the value of combining two independent palaeoclimatic proxies in enhancing the reliability, generality, and interpretability of the palaeoclimatic results. Further methodological refinements especially in resolving past seasonal climatic contrasts are needed to better understand the role of different forcing factors in driving millennial-scale climate dynamics.
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| 22. |
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| 23. |
- Seppa, P., et al.
(author)
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Mosaic structure of native ant supercolonies
- 2012
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In: Molecular Ecology. - : Wiley. - 0962-1083 .- 1365-294X. ; 21:23, s. 5880-5891
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- According to the inclusive fitness theory, some degree of positive relatedness is required for the evolution and maintenance of altruism. However, ant colonies are sometimes large interconnected networks of nests, which are genetically homogenous entities, causing a putative problem for the theory. We studied spatial structure and genetic relatedness in two supercolonies of the ant Formica exsecta, using nuclear and mitochondrial markers. We show that there may be multiple pathways to supercolonial social organization leading to different spatial genetic structures. One supercolony formed a genetically homogenous population dominated by a single mtDNA haplotype, as expected if founded by a small number of colonizers, followed by nest propagation by budding and domination of the habitat patch. The other supercolony had several haplotypes, and the spatial genetic structure was a mosaic of nuclear and mitochondrial clusters. Genetic diversity probably originated from long-range dispersal, and the mosaic population structure is likely a result of stochastic short-range dispersal of individuals. Such a mosaic spatial structure is apparently discordant with the current knowledge about the integrity of ant colonies. Relatedness was low in both populations when estimated among nestmates, but increased significantly when estimated among individuals sharing the same genetic cluster or haplogroup. The latter association indicates the important historical role of queen dispersal in the determination of the spatial genetic structure.
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