Palaeobotany, Diatoms, Palaeoclimates, Palaeoecology

Morphological trends in the fossil pollen of Decodon and the paleobiogeographic history of the genus

by Fridgeir Grimsson

2012
Fridgeir Grimsson, David K. Ferguson, Reinhard Zetter
International Journal of Plant Sciences

Ambiente naturale e strategie agroalimentari in Puglia settentrionale tra tardo antico e alto medioevo: l’esempio di Faragola (FG)

by Valentina Caracuta

Caracuta V. 2011. Journal of Post-Classical  Archaeology 1, 275-295.

Nuevos registros de Cycadales y Cycadeoidales del Triásico Superior del Río Biobío, Chile.

by Marcelo Leppe

Leppe, M y Ph. Moisan, 2003. Nuevos registros de Cycadales y Cycadeoidales del Triásico Superior del Río Biobío, Chile. Rev. Chil. Hist. Nat., 76: 475-484.

Paleobotánica del Triásico Superior del Río Bío-Bío, Chile: Clase Filicopsida

by Marcelo Leppe

Leppe, M., Abad, E., Moisan, P. y S. Palma-Heldt. 2006. Paleobotánica del Triásico Superior del Río Bío-Bío, Chile: Clase Filicopsida. Rev. Geol. Chil., 33(1): 81-107.

Reliability and resolution of the coexistence approach — A revalidation using modern-day data

by Guido Grimm

Authored by Grimm, Denk

The coexistence approach (CA) is widely used to reconstruct palaeoclimates for the Cenozoic. Most published CA... more The coexistence approach (CA) is widely used to reconstruct palaeoclimates for the Cenozoic. Most published CA analyses relied on climate data for nearest living relatives (NLRs) stored in the Palaeoflora database (PFDB). Here, we used more than two-hundred modern relevés (taxon lists of forest stands) from North American, Caucasian and East Asian forest regions in order to test the ability of CA/PFDB to estimate palaeoclimate. Since only data for mean annual temperature (MAT) are publicly available from the PFDB, we concentrated on this climate parameter. Two criteria were tested: ‘resolution’ and ‘reliability’ of CA/PFDB analyses. The CA assumes that for a given climate parameter (e.g. MAT; mean annual precipitation; coldest month mean temperature etc.) the interval shared by all or nearly all NLRs for a fossil assemblage is best describing the past climatic conditions. Narrow, i.e. well-resolved, intervals are desirable, since they describe most precisely the climate. Our results show that CA/PFDB is unable to reliably reconstruct the actual climates of most of the relevés analysed. CA/PFDB performed best for lowland and mid-altitude stands with MAT of ca 13–16 °C, while producing remarkably incorrect results for warmer lowland stands and cooler stands at higher elevations. This is mainly due to generally incorrect entries of MAT ranges of NLRs in the PFDB. Using corrected MAT tolerances, the reconstructed, low-resolved intervals (3 °C in exceptional cases, typically 5–10 °C) fall within the actual climates. Hence, only dramatic climate changes are likely to be captured in a CA analysis. This renders the coexistence approach useless for the quantitative reconstruction of palaeoclimate and calls for alternative approaches of investigating past climates by means of fossil plants.

Holocene Aridification of India

by Dorian Fuller

Ponton, C., L. Giosan, T. I. Eglinton, D. Fuller, J. E. Johnson, P. Kumar, and T. S. Collett (2012). Holocene Aridification of India. Geophysical Research Letters,

Spanning a latitudinal range typical for deserts, the Indian peninsula is fertile instead and sustains over a billion... more Spanning a latitudinal range typical for deserts, the Indian peninsula is fertile instead and sustains over a billion people through monsoonal rains. Despite the strong link between climate and society, our knowledge of the long-term monsoon variability is incomplete over the Indian subcontinent. Here we reconstruct the Holocene paleoclimate in the core monsoon zone (CMZ) of the Indian peninsula using a sediment core recovered offshore from the mouth of Godavari River. Carbon isotopes of sedimentary leaf waxes provide an integrated and regionally extensive record of the flora in the CMZ and document a gradual increase in aridity-adapted vegetation from ~4,000 until 1,700 years ago followed by the persistence of aridity-adapted plants after that. The oxygen isotopic composition of planktonic foraminifer Globigerinoides ruber detects unprecedented high salinity events in the Bay of Bengal over the last 3,000 years, and especially after 1,700 years ago, which suggest that the CMZ aridification intensified in the late Holocene through a series of sub-millennial dry episodes. Cultural changes occurred across the Indian subcontinent as the climate became more arid after ~4,000 years. Sedentary agriculture took hold in the drying central and south India, while the urban Harappan civilization collapsed in the already arid Indus basin. The establishment of a more variable hydroclimate over the last ca. 1,700 years may have led to the rapid proliferation of water-conservation technology in south India.

Palaeoprecipitation trends and cultural changes in Syrian protohistoric communities: the contribution of δ13C in ancient and modern vegetation.

by Valentina Caracuta

Co-authored with 'G. Fiorentino, G. Quarta, L. Calacagnile, D. Morandi Bonaccossi.

Climatic, vegetation and cultural change in the eastern Mediterranean during the mid-Holocene environmental transition

by Valentina Caracuta

Neil Roberts,Warren J. Eastwood,Catherine Kuzucuogˇ lu, Girolamo Fiorentino, Valentina Caracuta
published in The Holocene 21(1) 147-162

A Late Messinian Palynoflora with a Distinct Taphonomy

by Fridgeir Grimsson

2011
Thomas Denk, Fridgeir Grimsson, Reinhard Zetter, Leifur A Simonarson
Springer
Chapter 9

The Middle Late Miocene Floras - A Window into the Regional Vegetation Surrounding a Large Caldera

by Fridgeir Grimsson

2011
Thomas Denk, Fridgeir Grimsson, Reinhard Zetter, Leifur A Simonarson
Springer
Chapter 7

The Classic Surtarbrandur Floras

by Fridgeir Grimsson

2011
Thomas Denk, Fridgeir Grimsson, Reinhard Zetter, Leifur A Simonarson
Springer
Chapter 5

The Archaic Floras

by Fridgeir Grimsson

2011
Thomas Denk, Fridgeir Grimsson, Reinhard Zetter, Leifur A Simonarson
Springer
Chapter 4

Systematic Palaeobotany

by Fridgeir Grimsson

2011
Thomas Denk, Fridgeir Grimsson, Reinhard Zetter, Leifur A Simonarson
Springer
Chapter 3

Climate Evolution in the Northern North Atlantic - 15 Ma to Present

by Fridgeir Grimsson

2011
Thomas Denk, Fridgeir Grimsson, Reinhard Zetter, Leifur A Simonarson
Springer
Chapter 13

Floristic turnover in Iceland from 15 to 6 Ma - extracting biogeographical signals from fossil floral assemblages

by Fridgeir Grimsson

2007
Fridgeir Grimsson, Thomas Denk
Journal of Biogeography

The Miocene floras of Iceland and their significance for late Cainozoic North Atlantic biogeography

by Fridgeir Grimsson

2005
Thomas Denk, Fridgeir Grimsson, Zlatko Kvacek
Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society

Pollen, fruits, and leaves of Tetracentron (Trochodendraceae) from the Cainozoic of Iceland and western North America and their palaeobiogeographic implications

by Fridgeir Grimsson

2008
Fridgeir Grimsson, Thomas Denk, Reinhard Zetter
Grana

A Brief Review of Palaeobotanical Research in Iceland

by Fridgeir Grimsson

2011
Thomas Denk, Fridgeir Grimsson, Reinhard Zetter, Leifur A Simonarson
Springer
Chapter 2

Episodic migration of oaks to Iceland: Evidence for a North Atlantic "land bridge" in the latest Miocene

by Fridgeir Grimsson

2010
Thomas Denk, Fridgeir Grimsson, Reinhard Zetter
American Journal of Botany

Lythrum and Peplis from the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic of North America and Eurasia: New evidence suggesting early diversification within the Lythraceae

by Fridgeir Grimsson

2011
Fridgeir Grimsson, Reinhard Zetter, Christa-Charlotte Hofmann
American Journal of Botany