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Loss of peat through increased burning will have major impacts on the global carbon cycle. In a normal hydrological state, the risk of fire propagation is largely controlled by peat bulk density and moisture content. However, where humans have interfered with the moisture status of peat either via drainage, or indirectly via climate change, we hypothesise that its botanical composition will become important to flammability, such that peats from different latitudes might have different compositionally-driven susceptibility to ignition. We use pyrolysis combustion flow calorimetry to determine the temperature of maximum thermal decomposition (T max ) of peats from different latitudes, and couple this to a botanical composition analysis. We find that tropical peat has higher T max than other regions, likely on account of its higher wood content which appears to convey a greater resistance to ignition. This resistance also increases with depth, which means that loss of surface peat in tropical regions may lead to a reduction in the subsequent ignitability of deeper peat layers as they are exposed, potentially resulting in a negative feedback on increased fire occurrence and severity., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Rapidly increasing temperatures in high-latitude regions are causing major changes in wetland ecosystems. To assess the impact of concomitant hydroclimatic fluctuations, mineral deposition, and autogenous succession on the rate and direction of changing arctic plant communities in Arctic Alaska, we conducted detailed palaeoecological analyses using plant macrofossil, pollen, testate amoebae, elemental analyses, and radiocarbon and lead ( 210 Pb) dating on two replicate monoliths from a peatland that developed in a river valley on the northern foothills of the Books Range. We observed an expansion of Sphagnum populations and vascular plants preferring dry habitats, such as Sphagnum warnstorfii, Sphagnum teres/squarrosum, Polytrichum strictum, Aulacomnium palustre and Salix sp., in recent decades between 2000 and 2015 CE, triggered by an increase in temperature and deepening water tables. Deepening peatland water tables became accentuated over the last two decades, when it reached its lowest point in the last 700 years. Conversely, a higher water-table between ca. 1500 and 1950 CE led to a recession of Sphagnum communities and an expansion of sedges. The almost continuous supply of mineral matter during this time led to a dominance of minerotrophic plant communities, although with varying species composition throughout the study period. The replicate cores show similar patterns, but nuanced differences are also visible, depicting fine spatial scale differences particularly in peat-forming plant distribution and the different timings of their presence. In conclusion, our study provides valuable insights into the impact of hydroclimatic fluctuations on peatland vegetation in Arctic Alaska, highlighting their tendency to dry out in recent decades. It also highlights the importance of river valley peatlands in paleoenvironmental reconstructions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We declare that we do not have any commercial or associative interest that represents a conflict of interest in connection with the work submitted., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

High-latitude peatlands are changing rapidly in response to climate change, including permafrost thaw. Here, we reconstruct hydrological conditions since the seventeenth century using testate amoeba data from 103 high-latitude peat archives. We show that 54% of the peatlands have been drying and 32% have been wetting over this period, illustrating the complex ecohydrological dynamics of high latitude peatlands and their highly uncertain responses to a warming climate., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Evaluating the impact of environmental changes on past societies is frequently confounded by the difficulty of establishing cause-and-effect at relevant scales of analysis. Commonly, paleoenvironmental records lack the temporal and spatial resolution to link them with historic events, yet there remains a tendency to correlate climate change and cultural transformations on the basis of their seeming synchronicity. Here, we challenge perceptions of societal vulnerability to past environmental change using an integrated paleoenvironmental and land-use history of a remote upland site in the north of Ireland. We present a high-resolution, multi-proxy record that illustrates extended occupation of this marginal locality throughout the climate oscillations of the last millennium. Importantly, historically-dated volcanic ash markers enable us to pinpoint precisely in our record the timing of major national demographic crises such as the Black Death and the European, Irish and Great (Potato) Famines. We find no evidence that climate downturns or demographic collapses had an enduring impact on the use of the uplands: either the community escaped the effects of these events, or population levels recovered rapidly enough (within a generation) to leave no appreciable mark on the palaeoenvironmental record. Our findings serve to illustrate the spatial complexity of human activity that can enable communities to withstand or quickly bounce back from largescale calamities. In neglecting to consider such local-scale variability in social and economic organization, generalized models of societal collapse risk overplaying the vulnerability of populations to long- and short-term ecological stressors to the detriment of identifying the social constraints that influence a population's response to change., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

New Zealand (NZ) is a well-known hotspot of biodiversity and endemism for macroscopic organisms, but its microbial diversity is comparatively poorly documented. We assembled all records on NZ testate amoebae published since the early 20th century and present a comprehensive taxonomic checklist for NZ. Testate amoebae are reported from six major habitat types across both the North and South Islands of NZ, but the sampling effort is ecologically and geographically biased in favour of wetlands and the South Island. As a result, 93% of all 128 morphotypes recorded in NZ occur in wetlands, 28% are restricted to the South Island, and diversity is greater at higher latitudes. Around 50% of morphotypes have a broad latitudinal distribution across the NZ mainland, whereas 15% have narrow latitudinal ranges. Future research should aim to broaden the geographical and ecological ranges. We predict that our list of NZ testate amoebae will expand substantially with future work, and that the latitudinal diversity gradient will be inverted. We also introduce an interactive, fully illustrated, online Lucid key for the rapid identification of NZ testate amoebae. As many morphospecies are cosmopolitan, this key provides a useful tool for testate amoebae identification in other parts of the world., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Testate amoebae are a widely-used tool for palaeohydrological reconstruction from peatlands. However, it has been observed that weak idiosomic siliceous tests (WISTs) are common in uppermost peats, but very rarely found as subfossils deeper in the peat profile. This taphonomic problem has been noted widely and it has been established that WISTs disaggregate and/or dissolve in the low pH condition of ombrotrophic peatlands. Here we investigate the effect of this taphonomic problem on water-table reconstructions from thirty European peatlands through the comparison of reconstructions based on all taxa and those with WISTs removed. In almost all cases the decomposition of WISTs does not introduce discernible bias to peatland water-table reconstructions. However, some discrepancy is apparent when large abundances of Corythion-Trinema type are present (9-12 cm deviation with 50-60% abundance of this particular taxon). We recommend that WISTs should be removed before carrying out water-table reconstructions, and that the minimum count of testate amoebae per sample should exclude WISTs to ensure the development of robust reconstructions., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Soil forensics has proven instrumental in assisting criminal investigation, and there is an increasing demand for experimental studies on such trace evidence. Here we present the first detailed study on the influence of clothing materials on soil transfer. We adopt an experimental approach to test the transfer of five common UK soils to five different clothing materials. Our experiment is designed to represent victim or perpetrator contact with soil at the scene of a crime. We highlight the complex relationship between soil transfer and clothing material type. Whilst over half of our soils tested displayed differential transfer to different clothing materials, soil moisture content and soil type were found to have a greater influence on the transfer of soils overall. Soil transfer is typically more effective across all material types when soils are wet and saturated. However, we find the relationship between soil transfer and material type to be more complex when soils are dry, with a significant bias in soil transfer to fleece material, which we attribute to static attraction. Encouragingly, for the analysis of forensic soils recovered from clothing artefacts, each of the transfer experiments we conducted led to soil transfer to every tested material. We suggest that future empirical studies now focus on the persistence of soils over time to clothing materials after transfer has occurred, and the transfer and persistence of soil palynomorphs present within soils., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Peatlands are globally important stores of carbon (C) that contain a record of how their rates of C accumulation have changed over time. Recently, near-surface peat has been used to assess the effect of current land use practices on C accumulation rates in peatlands. However, the notion that accumulation rates in recently formed peat can be compared to those from older, deeper, peat is mistaken - continued decomposition means that the majority of newly added material will not become part of the long-term C store. Palaeoecologists have known for some time that high apparent C accumulation rates in recently formed peat are an artefact and take steps to account for it. Here we show, using a model, how the artefact arises. We also demonstrate that increased C accumulation rates in near-surface peat cannot be used to infer that a peatland as a whole is accumulating more C - in fact the reverse can be true because deep peat can be modified by events hundreds of years after it was formed. Our findings highlight that care is needed when evaluating recent C addition to peatlands especially because these interpretations could be wrongly used to inform land use policy and decisions.

Glacial-interglacial variations in CO 2 and methane in polar ice cores have been attributed, in part, to changes in global wetland extent, but the wetland distribution before the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 21 ka to 18 ka) remains virtually unknown. We present a study of global peatland extent and carbon (C) stocks through the last glacial cycle (130 ka to present) using a newly compiled database of 1,063 detailed stratigraphic records of peat deposits buried by mineral sediments, as well as a global peatland model. Quantitative agreement between modeling and observations shows extensive peat accumulation before the LGM in northern latitudes (>40°N), particularly during warmer periods including the last interglacial (130 ka to 116 ka, MIS 5e) and the interstadial (57 ka to 29 ka, MIS 3). During cooling periods of glacial advance and permafrost formation, the burial of northern peatlands by glaciers and mineral sediments decreased active peatland extent, thickness, and modeled C stocks by 70 to 90% from warmer times. Tropical peatland extent and C stocks show little temporal variation throughout the study period. While the increased burial of northern peats was correlated with cooling periods, the burial of tropical peat was predominately driven by changes in sea level and regional hydrology. Peat burial by mineral sediments represents a mechanism for long-term terrestrial C storage in the Earth system. These results show that northern peatlands accumulate significant C stocks during warmer times, indicating their potential for C sequestration during the warming Anthropocene., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2019 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.)

Peatlands represent globally significant soil carbon stores that have been accumulating for millennia under water-logged conditions. However, deepening water-table depths (WTD) from climate change or human-induced drainage could stimulate decomposition resulting in peatlands turning from carbon sinks to carbon sources. Contemporary WTD ranges of testate amoebae (TA) are commonly used to predict past WTD in peatlands using quantitative transfer function models. Here we present, for the first time, a study comparing TA-based WTD reconstructions to instrumentally monitored WTD and hydrological model predictions using the MILLENNIA peatland model to examine past peatland responses to climate change and land management. Although there was very good agreement between monitored and modeled WTD, TA-reconstructed water table was consistently deeper. Predictions from a larger European TA transfer function data set were wetter, but the overall directional fit to observed WTD was better for a TA transfer function based on data from northern England. We applied a regression-based offset correction to the reconstructed WTD for the validation period (1931-2010). We then predicted WTD using available climate records as MILLENNIA model input and compared the offset-corrected TA reconstruction to MILLENNIA WTD predictions over an extended period (1750-1931) with available climate reconstructions. Although the comparison revealed striking similarities in predicted overall WTD patterns, particularly for a recent drier period (1965-1995), there were clear periods when TA-based WTD predictions underestimated (i.e. drier during 1830-1930) and overestimated (i.e. wetter during 1760-1830) past WTD compared to MILLENNIA model predictions. Importantly, simulated grouse moor management scenarios may explain the drier TA WTD predictions, resulting in considerable model predicted carbon losses and reduced methane emissions, mainly due to drainage. This study demonstrates the value of a site-specific and combined data-model validation step toward using TA-derived moisture conditions to understand past climate-driven peatland development and carbon budgets alongside modeling likely management impacts., (© 2018 The Authors. Global Change Biology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

We examined late Holocene (ca. 3300 yr BP to present-day) climate variability in the central Northwest Territories (Canadian Subarctic) using a diatom and sedimentological record from Danny's Lake (63.48ºN, 112.54ºW), located 40 km southwest of the modern-day treeline. High-resolution sampling paired with a robust age model (25 radiocarbon dates) allowed for the examination of both lake hydroecological conditions (30-year intervals; diatoms) and sedimentological changes in the watershed (12-year intervals; grain size records) over the late Holocene. Time series analysis of key lake ecological indicators (diatom species Aulacoseira alpigena, Pseudostaurosira brevistriata and Achnanthidium minutissimum) and sedimentological parameters, reflective of catchment processes (coarse silt fraction), suggests significant intermittent variations in turbidity, pH and light penetration within the lake basin. In the diatom record, we observed discontinuous periodicities in the range of ca. 69, 88-100, 115-132, 141-188, 562, 750 and 900 years (>90% and >95% confidence intervals), whereas the coarse silt fraction was characterized by periodicities in the >901 and <61-year range (>95% confidence interval). Periodicities in the proxy data from the Danny's Lake sediment core align with changes in total solar irradiance over the past ca. 3300 yr BP and we hypothesize a link to the Suess Cycle, Gleissberg Cycle and Pacific Decadal Oscillation via occasional inland propagation of shifting air masses over the Pacific Ocean. This research represents an important baseline study of the underlying causes of climate variability in the Canadian Subarctic and provides details on the long-term climate variability that has persisted in this region through the past three thousand years., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

To date there have only been two studies using testate amoebae as palaeoecological indicators in tropical peatlands. Here we present a new ∼500-year testate amoeba record from San Jorge, a domed peatland in Peruvian Amazonia, which has a well-constrained vegetation history based on pollen analysis. We observe a major shift from Hyalosphenia subflava to Cryptodifflugia oviformis-dominated communities at ∼50 cm depth (c. AD 1760), which suggests a change to drier conditions in the peatland. The application of a statistical transfer function also suggests a deepening of the water table at this time. The transition in the microbial assemblage occurs at a time when pollen and geochemical data indicate drier conditions (reduced influence of river flooding), leading to an ecosystem switch to more ombrotrophic-like conditions in the peatland. Our work illustrates the potential of testate amoebae as important tools in tropical peatland palaeoecology, and the power of multiproxy approaches for understanding the long-term development of tropical peatlands., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Widespread establishment of peatlands since the Last Glacial Maximum represents the activation of a globally important carbon sink, but the drivers of peat initiation are unclear. The role of climate in peat initiation is particularly poorly understood. We used a general circulation model to simulate local changes in climate during the initiation of 1,097 peatlands around the world. We find that peat initiation in deglaciated landscapes in both hemispheres was driven primarily by warming growing seasons, likely through enhanced plant productivity, rather than by any increase in effective precipitation. In Western Siberia, which remained ice-free throughout the last glacial period, the initiation of the world's largest peatland complex was globally unique in that it was triggered by an increase in effective precipitation that inhibited soil respiration and allowed wetland plant communities to establish. Peat initiation in the tropics was only weakly related to climate change, and appears to have been driven primarily by nonclimatic mechanisms such as waterlogging due to tectonic subsidence. Our findings shed light on the genesis and Holocene climate space of one of the world's most carbon-dense ecosystem types, with implications for understanding trajectories of ecological change under changing future climates., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Climate change is profoundly affecting seasonality, biological productivity, and hydrology in high northern latitudes. In sensitive subarctic environments exploitation of mineral resources led to contamination and it is not known how cumulative effects of resource extraction and climate warming will impact ecosystems. Gold mines near Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, subarctic Canada, operated from 1938 to 2004 and released >20,000t of arsenic trioxide (As 2 O 3 ) to the environment through stack emissions. This release resulted in elevated arsenic concentrations in lake surface waters and sediments relative to Canadian drinking water standards and guidelines for the protection of aquatic life. A meta-analytical approach is used to better understand controls on As distribution in lake sediments within a 30-km radius of historic mineral processing activities. Arsenic concentrations in the near-surface sediments range from 5mg·kg -1 to over 10,000mg·kg -1 (median 81mg·kg -1 ; n=105). Distance and direction from the historic roaster stack are significantly (p<0.05) related to sedimentary As concentration, with highest As concentrations in sediments within 11km and lakes located downwind. Synchrotron-based μXRF and μXRD confirm the persistence of As 2 O 3 in near surface sediments of two lakes. Labile organic matter (S1) is significantly (p<0.05) related to As and S concentrations in sediments and this relationship is greatest in lakes within 11km from the mine. These relations are interpreted to reflect labile organic matter acting as a substrate for microbial growth and mediation of authigenic precipitation of As-sulphides in lakes close to the historic mine where As concentrations are highest. Continued climate warming is expected to lead to increased biological productivity and changes in organic geochemistry of lake sediments that are likely to play an important role in the mobility and fate of As in aquatic ecosystems., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The most carbon (C)-dense ecosystems of Amazonia are areas characterized by the presence of peatlands. However, Amazonian peatland ecosystems are poorly understood and are threatened by human activities. Here, we present an investigation into long-term ecohydrological controls on C accumulation in an Amazonian peat dome. This site is the oldest peatland yet discovered in Amazonia (peat initiation ca. 8.9 ka BP), and developed in three stages: (i) peat initiated in an abandoned river channel with open water and aquatic plants; (ii) inundated forest swamp; and (iii) raised peat dome (since ca. 3.9 ka BP). Local burning occurred at least three times in the past 4,500 years. Two phases of particularly rapid C accumulation (ca. 6.6-6.1 and ca. 4.9-3.9 ka BP), potentially resulting from increased net primary productivity, were seemingly driven by drier conditions associated with widespread drought events. The association of drought phases with major ecosystem state shifts (open water wetland-forest swamp-peat dome) suggests a potential climatic control on the developmental trajectory of this tropical peatland. A third drought phase centred on ca. 1.8-1.1 ka BP led to markedly reduced C accumulation and potentially a hiatus during the peat dome stage. Our results suggest that future droughts may lead to phases of rapid C accumulation in some inundated tropical peat swamps, although this can lead ultimately to a shift to ombrotrophy and a subsequent return to slower C accumulation. Conversely, in ombrotrophic peat domes, droughts may lead to reduced C accumulation or even net loss of peat. Increased surface wetness at our site in recent decades may reflect a shift towards a wetter climate in western Amazonia. Amazonian peatlands represent important carbon stores and habitats, and are important archives of past climatic and ecological information. They should form key foci for conservation efforts., (© 2017 The Authors. Global Change Biology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

We present the first detailed analysis of subfossil testate amoebae from a tropical peatland. Testate amoebae were analysed in a 4-m peat core from western Amazonia (Peru) and a transfer function developed from the site was applied to reconstruct changes in water table over the past ca. 8,000 years. Testate amoebae were in very low abundance in the core, especially in the lower 125cm, due to a combination of poor preservation and obscuration by other organic matter. A modified preparation method enabled at least 50 testate amoebae to be counted in each core sample. The most abundant taxa preserved include Centropyxis aculeata, Hyalosphenia subflava, Phryganella acropodia and Trigonopyxis arcula. Centropyxis aculeata, an unambiguous wet indicator, is variably present and indicates several phases of near-surface water table. Our work shows that even degraded, low-abundance assemblages of testate amoebae can provide useful information regarding the long-term ecohydrological developmental history of tropical peatlands., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Many studies have reported evidence for solar-forcing of Holocene climate change across a range of archives. These studies have compared proxy-climate data with records of solar variability (e.g. (14)C or (10)Be), or have used time series analysis to test for the presence of solar-type cycles. This has led to some climate sceptics misrepresenting this literature to argue strongly that solar variability drove the rapid global temperature increase of the twentieth century. As proxy records underpin our understanding of the long-term processes governing climate, they need to be evaluated thoroughly. The peatland archive has become a prominent line of evidence for solar forcing of climate. Here we examine high-resolution peatland proxy climate data to determine whether solar signals are present. We find a wide range of significant periodicities similar to those in records of solar variability: periods between 40-100 years, and 120-140 years are particularly common. However, periodicities similar to those in the data are commonly found in random-walk simulations. Our results demonstrate that solar-type signals can be the product of random variations alone, and that a more critical approach is required for their robust interpretation.

Detrital zircon studies are providing new insights on the evolution of sedimentary basins but the role of sedimentary recycling remains largely undefined. In a broad region of northwestern North America, this contribution traces the pathway of detrital zircon sand grains from Proterozoic sandstones through Phanerozoic strata and argues for multi-stage sedimentary recycling over more than a billion years. As a test of our hypothesis, integrated palynology and detrital zircon provenance provides clear evidence for erosion of Carboniferous strata in the northern Cordillera as a sediment source for Upper Cretaceous strata. Our results help to calibrate Earth's sedimentary cycle by showing that recycling dominates sedimentary provenance for the refractory mineral zircon.

Permafrost peatlands contain globally important amounts of soil organic carbon, owing to cold conditions which suppress anaerobic decomposition. However, climate warming and permafrost thaw threaten the stability of this carbon store. The ultimate fate of permafrost peatlands and their carbon stores is unclear because of complex feedbacks between peat accumulation, hydrology and vegetation. Field monitoring campaigns only span the last few decades and therefore provide an incomplete picture of permafrost peatland response to recent rapid warming. Here we use a high-resolution palaeoecological approach to understand the longer-term response of peatlands in contrasting states of permafrost degradation to recent rapid warming. At all sites we identify a drying trend until the late-twentieth century; however, two sites subsequently experienced a rapid shift to wetter conditions as permafrost thawed in response to climatic warming, culminating in collapse of the peat domes. Commonalities between study sites lead us to propose a five-phase model for permafrost peatland response to climatic warming. This model suggests a shared ecohydrological trajectory towards a common end point: inundated Arctic fen. Although carbon accumulation is rapid in such sites, saturated soil conditions are likely to cause elevated methane emissions that have implications for climate-feedback mechanisms.

The use of volcanic ash layers for dating and correlation (tephrochronology) is widely applied in the study of past environmental changes. We describe the first cryptotephra (non-visible volcanic ash horizon) to be identified in the Amazon basin, which is tentatively attributed to a source in the Ecuadorian Eastern Cordillera (0-1°S, 78-79°W), some 500-600 km away from our field site in the Peruvian Amazon. Our discovery 1) indicates that the Amazon basin has been subject to volcanic ash fallout during the recent past; 2) highlights the opportunities for using cryptotephras to date palaeoenvironmental records in the Amazon basin and 3) indicates that cryptotephra layers are preserved in a dynamic Amazonian peatland, suggesting that similar layers are likely to be present in other peat sequences that are important for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. The discovery of cryptotephra in an Amazonian peatland provides a baseline for further investigation of Amazonian tephrochronology and the potential impacts of volcanism on vegetation.

Organic rich sediments were obtained from seven core tops taken in Lake Quistococha, near the city of Iquitos in the Peruvian Amazon. Subsamples from 0 to 4cm depth in each core were analyzed under dissecting light microscopy to carry out the first investigation of Arcellinida (testate lobose amoebae) from a lacustrine environment in this ecologically important region. The fauna was characterized by a low diversity, low abundance community dominated by centropyxids. This fauna is similar to 'stressed' assemblages reported from temperate latitudes, except that test concentrations were two orders of magnitude lower than typical in temperate lakes. Principle arcellinidan stressors in Lake Quistococha likely include the low pH 4 conditions in the lake, and a general lack of suitable minerogenic material to construct tests in the organic rich lake substrate. The low pH conditions are the result of runoff and seepage of water high in dissolved organic carbon from the adjacent similarly low pH 4 terrestrial peatland. The dearth of minerogenic material is the result of the lake being isolated from riverine input for the past ∼2000 years, even during flooding events. Other limiting factors contributing to depressed arcellinidan populations may include nutrient supply, predation pressure, competition, and post-mortem taphonomic factors., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

There has only been one study on the ecology of testate amoebae from Amazonian peatlands, despite Amazonia being a biodiversity hotspot of global importance. During analysis of litter samples from Aucayacu peatland, western (Peruvian) Amazonia, we discovered a testate amoeba with a distinct morphology unlike any other species reported previously. We describe a new species, Arcella peruviana, based on its distinct morphology, compare it to morphologically similar species and provide information about its ecology. This new species is characterised by a distinct cruciform aperture (diameter ranges between 12 and 17μm) which is slightly invaginated. The test is small (height 43-57μm) and polygonal in cross-section. Our discovery suggests the existence of an unknown diversity of testate amoebae in Amazonia. The absence of the new Arcella species in more intensively-sampled regions supports the view that protists have restricted distributions., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

There has been recent debate over stratigraphic markers used to demarcate the Anthropocene from the Holocene Epoch. However, many of the proposed markers are found only in limited areas of the world or do not reflect human impacts on the environment. Here we show that spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs), a distinct form of black carbon produced from burning fossil fuels in energy production and heavy industry, provide unambiguous stratigraphic markers of the human activities that have rapidly changed planet Earth over the last century. SCPs are found in terrestrial and marine sediments or ice cores in every continent, including remote areas such as the high Arctic and Antarctica. The rapid increase in SCPs mostly occurs in the mid-twentieth century and is contemporaneous with the 'Great Acceleration'. It therefore reflects the intensification of fossil fuel usage and can be traced across the globe. We integrate global records of SCPs and propose that the global rapid increase in SCPs in sedimentary records can be used to inform a Global Standard Stratigraphic Age for the Anthropocene. A high-resolution SCP sequence from a lake or peatland may provide the much-needed 'Golden Spike' (Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point).

The impact of rapid climate change on contemporary human populations is of global concern. To contextualize our understanding of human responses to rapid climate change it is necessary to examine the archeological record during past climate transitions. One episode of abrupt climate change has been correlated with societal collapse at the end of the northwestern European Bronze Age. We apply new methods to interrogate archeological and paleoclimate data for this transition in Ireland at a higher level of precision than has previously been possible. We analyze archeological (14)C dates to demonstrate dramatic population collapse and present high-precision proxy climate data, analyzed through Bayesian methods, to provide evidence for a rapid climatic transition at ca. 750 calibrated years B.C. Our results demonstrate that this climatic downturn did not initiate population collapse and highlight the nondeterministic nature of human responses to past climate change.

Tropical peatlands represent globally important carbon sinks with a unique biodiversity and are currently threatened by climate change and human activities. It is now imperative that proxy methods are developed to understand the ecohydrological dynamics of these systems and for testing peatland development models. Testate amoebae have been used as environmental indicators in ecological and palaeoecological studies of peatlands, primarily in ombrotrophic Sphagnum-dominated peatlands in the mid- and high-latitudes. We present the first ecological analysis of testate amoebae in a tropical peatland, a nutrient-poor domed bog in western (Peruvian) Amazonia. Litter samples were collected from different hydrological microforms (hummock to pool) along a transect from the edge to the interior of the peatland. We recorded 47 taxa from 21 genera. The most common taxa are Cryptodifflugia oviformis, Euglypha rotunda type, Phryganella acropodia, Pseudodifflugia fulva type and Trinema lineare. One species found only in the southern hemisphere, Argynnia spicata, is present. Arcella spp., Centropyxis aculeata and Lesqueresia spiralis are indicators of pools containing standing water. Canonical correspondence analysis and non-metric multidimensional scaling illustrate that water table depth is a significant control on the distribution of testate amoebae, similar to the results from mid- and high-latitude peatlands. A transfer function model for water table based on weighted averaging partial least-squares (WAPLS) regression is presented and performs well under cross-validation (r(2)(apparent)= 0.76, RMSE = 4.29; r(2)(jack)= 0.68, RMSEP =5.18). The transfer function was applied to a 1-m peat core, and sample-specific reconstruction errors were generated using bootstrapping. The reconstruction generally suggests near-surface water tables over the last 3,000 years, with a shift to drier conditions at c. cal. 1218-1273 AD.

Arcellacea (testate lobose amoebae) are important lacustrine environmental indicators that have been used in paleoclimatic reconstructions, assessing the effectiveness of mine tailings pond reclamation projects and for studying the effects of land use change in rural, industrial and urban settings. Recognition of ecophenotypically significant infra-specific 'strains' within arcellacean assemblages has the potential to enhance the utility of the group in characterizing contemporary and paleoenvironments. We present a novel approach which employs statistical tools to investigate the environmental and taxonomic significance of proposed strains. We test this approach on two identified strains: Difflugia protaeiformis Lamarck strain 'acuminata' (DPA), characterized by fine grained agglutination, and Difflugia protaeiformis Lamarck strain 'claviformis' (DPC), characterized by coarse grained agglutination. Redundancy analysis indicated that both organisms are associated with similar environmental variables. No relationship was observed between substrate particle size and abundance of DPC, indicating that DPC has a size preference for xenosomes during test construction. Thus DPC should not be designated as a distinct strain but rather form a species complex with DPA. This study elucidates the need to justify the designation of strains based on their autecology in addition to morphological stability., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Testate amoebae represent a crucial component of soil microfauna and have been studied extensively in ombrotrophic peatlands. However, little is known about their ecology in moorlands which are important habitats in terms of biodiversity and carbon storage potential. Moorlands are under threat from a range of factors such as drainage, burning, over grazing, pollution and climate change. In this study we investigate testate amoebae communities within three zones of a UK moorland characterised by contrasting fire histories, and use these data to examine the potential of testate amoebae as environmental bioindicators in moorlands. Although several factors control testate amoebae communities in moorlands, it is clear that there are marked differences in testate amoebae communities between the zones which primarily relate to hydrological status, influenced by fire regime. The taxon Hyalosphenia subflava is a clear indicator of severe disturbance as it was found to be abundant in mosses which colonised a hydrophobic peat surface following a severe wild-fire event. Testate amoebae have much potential for ecosystem monitoring of moorlands which can inform sustainable land management practices., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Testate amoebae are a group of shelled protozoa that occur in high density populations in wet environments. More than 1900 testate amoebae species or subspecies have been reported in published literature over the last 200 years, from many regions of the world. Testate amoebae are classified as Lobosea or Filosea respectively, according to the presence of lobose or filiform pseudopodia. Testate amoebae have proved an interesting group of indicator organisms in palaeoenvironmental studies and have also been used as bioindicators of human impact on ecosystems. Until recently, the testate amoebae of China were unknown to most western scientists, but our knowledge has improved greatly over the past 20 years. This paper summarizes the testate amoebae research in China along with relevant data from other countries in Asia, and provides the necessary context for future research., (Published by Elsevier GmbH.)

We present the results of an initial investigation into the efficacy of using testate amoebae for the discrimination of soils from wet ground and puddles, as little attention has been given to these organisms in forensic science. The preservation of testate amoebae in these sediments is generally good, although test concentrations are low. Statistical analysis suggests that testate amoebae assemblages are somewhat spatially distinct and have potential to be used for soil discrimination. A case study is presented where mineralogical (X-ray diffraction) and testate amoebae analyses are used in conjunction to clarify the scene of crime in a 'cold case' murder enquiry. Testate amoebae were recovered from dried sediment residues on clothing 10 years after the murder. Despite these promising results, further experimental work is crucial to examine the spatial and temporal variation of amoebae assemblages in water films, wet ground and puddles before they can be added to the armoury of methods available to the forensic biologist.

The morphology of a new testate amoeba Pentagonia zhangduensis nov. spec. was investigated using light and scanning electron microscopy. The new species was discovered in the sediments of Lake Zhangdu, Hubei Province, China. The low coefficients of variation and normal size frequency distribution suggest that P. zhangduensis is a size-monomorphic species. P. zhangduensis differs from the one other species in this genus (P. maroccana), by its larger size and its quadrangular cross section with two parallel longitudinal ridges on each of the two flattened sides of the test.