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Benthonic marine species show a wide range of biological reactions to seawater chemical changes through time, from subtle adjustments to extinction. The Early Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE) was recently recognized in the Neuquén Basin, Argentina, confirming its global scope. The event was identified chemostratigraphically on the basis of a relative increase in marine organic carbon and a characteristic negative carbon-isotope excursion (δ13Corg) in bulk rock and fossil wood in the upper Pliensbachian–lower Toarcian interval in the Arroyo Lapa section (Neuquén). Simultaneously with collection of lithological samples, a high-resolution biostratigraphical survey was carried out, and the scarce benthonic fauna was collected in order to check the biotic response to changing marine geochemical conditions. We present here an analysis of size and abundance data from the T-OAE interval in the Neuquén Basin for the dominant bivalve species, the paper-clam Posidonotis cancellata (Leanza), and relate these data to geochemical proxies (%TOC and δ13Corg) obtained at the same locality. The abundance of P. cancellata increased when the rest of the benthos diminished, reaching a maximum at the onset level of the T-OAE, and then decreasing. Size-frequency distributions show a noteworthy lack of juvenile shells. Shell size shows a positive correlation with %TOC in the whole section, though over the T-OAE interval proper, it decreases below the level where the maximum %TOC value is attained and increases above it. Posidonotis cancellata shows features of opportunistic species, such as high tolerance to hypoxia, strong dominance in impoverished environments and a strong dependence on primary productivity, but at the same time had a reproductive strategy more similar to equilibrium species, with relatively low juvenile mortality rates. Several anatomical features suggest adaptation to permanently dysaerobic environments. The species disappeared just before the minimum negative carbon-isotope value was reached; and by the same time the genus became extinct worldwide. Fil: Ros Franch, Sonia. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleozoología Invertebrados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina Fil: Echevarría, Javier. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleozoología Invertebrados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina Fil: Damborenea, Susana Ester. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleozoología Invertebrados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina Fil: Manceñido, Miguel Oscar. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleozoología Invertebrados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina Fil: Jenkyns, Hugh C.. University of Oxford; Reino Unido Fil: Al Suwaidi, Aisha. Khalifa University Of Science And Technology; Emiratos Arabes Unidos Fil: Hesselbo, Stephen P.. University of Exeter; Reino Unido Fil: Riccardi, Alberto Carlos. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleozoología Invertebrados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina

The subduction history of the Neo-Tethys is critical for understanding the early-stage tectonic evolution of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. Arc volcanics, which usually record the subduction process, thus can help trace the evolution of the Neo-Tethys. In this paper, we report for the first time zircon LA-ICP-MS U-Pb ages, whole-rock major and trace element geochemistry, as well as Sr–Nd–Hf isotopic data for the volcanic rocks from the Danshiting Formation at the southern edge of the Lhasa Terrane. Two samples collected from the Danshiting Formation volcanic rocks yield zircon U-Pb ages of 97.1 ± 0.8 Ma and 90.1 ± 0.7 Ma, respectively. The volcanic rocks of the Danshiting Formation are composed dominantly of basalts and andesites characterized by depletion of high-field-strength elements, low (87Sr/86Sr)i ratios (0.7042–0.7045), high eNd(t) (+2.1 to +2.7) and high eHf(t) values (mean + 11.6). These rocks show geochemical affinity of arc volcanic rocks. The volcanic rocks of the Danshiting Formation may have formed during the northward subduction of the Neo-Tethys. This paper, combined with the previous data, briefly divide the northward subduction of the Neo-Tethys into four periods: the Jurassic (195–150 Ma), when the magmatic activity was controlled by the northward high-angle subduction of the Neo-Tethys that produced volcanics of the Yeba and Bima formations; the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous (150–110 Ma), when the Neo-Tethys subducted at low-angles; the Late Cretaceous (110–80 Ma), when subduction was of the Andean-type and produced volcanic rocks of the Danshiting Formation; the Paleogene (70–40 Ma), when there was transition from ocean-to-continent subduction to continent–continent collision that produced volcanic rocks of the Linzizong Group.

Because the instrumental record is short and does not extend to periods before the initiation of significant human impacts, full understanding of the processes and dynamics involved in the modern phase of very rapid global change depends on the interpretation of high resolution and precisely dated proxy archives. The identification of very long-lived species of bivalve mollusc in the extratropical marine environment has been a crucial recent advance. These molluscs form patterns of periodic (usually annual) banding in their shells that are synchronous within populations, so that long (centennial and millennial) stacked chronologies can be built by crossdating from live collected to fossil shells. The variable growth rates and precisely dated geochemical data from the shell material provide long term real world data that can in principle be used to constrain climate models and to define long baselines for environmental monitoring. However, the signals in these data usually result from the complex interaction of multiple influences, and the deconvolution and understanding of these influences is a major target of the scientific field of sclerochronology. This special issue presents some of the latest research into the sclerochronology of mollusc shells. It includes contributions to our understanding of shell growth, including the identification of endogenous (non-environmental) growth rhythms that persist throughout ontogeny, and analysis in two papers of variability through ontogeny in the season of growth and the implications of such variability for temperature reconstruction. One paper presents a new network of bivalve chronologies for UK waters, with a 200-year seawater temperature reconstruction. Three papers cover trace element geochemistry, including a novel approach to sampling for LA-ICP-MS that enables giant clam shells to be sampled at daily resolution, an attempt to identify an independent temperature proxy for coastal waters using limpet shells, and a detailed study of the drivers of variability in Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca ratios. One study looks at shell microstructure as a temperature proxy, finding a coherent temperature response in the shape of the prisms.

As an important tool in natural resource exploration, palaeogeography provides a portrayal of deep time Earth. The South China Block located in the eastern Palaeotethys includes multiple natural resources (e.g., coal, shale gas, bauxite, etc.) in the Permian, which are well known for their important economic significance. In this paper, data gathered from literature amount to 431 stratigraphic sections of Wuchiapingian age from South China. These data were quantitatively analyzed and dynamically reconstructed in the global context under the revised plate motion model by GPlates software for the first time. A schematic 3-D model was constructed based on the high-resolution reconstructions in this paper, showing two relatively large highlands developed in the South China Block during the Wuchiapingian, including the Kangdian Highland in the west and the Cathaysia Highland in the east and a small Yunkai Highland in the south. A broad platform-dominated depositional system with small uplifts and depressions was developed between these two highlands. These reconstructions show great potential to explore enriched coal seams and shale gas in the peripheral areas of the two ancient highlands in the west and east of the South China Block. Based on the dynamic evolution of this depositional system, South China experienced an overall sea-level rise with frequent secondary transgressions and regressions during the Wuchiapingian. This is in contrast to the widespread continental and evaporite deposits on much of Pangea and its surrounding margins after the end-Guadalupian global regression. Compilation of conodont biostratigraphic data suggest that the temporal and spatial constraints on the unconformity across the Guadalupian-Lopingian boundary (GLB) resulted from Dongwu Uplift movement. The regression began during the Jinogondolella shannoni Zone and ended in the Clarkina leveni Zone, but the response time varies in different localities of South China. These results provide detailed information about sea-level eustacy, tectonic uplift, sedimentary hiatus, resource accumulation and palaeoclimate change from the South China Block during the Wuchiapingian.

The Permian formations of the South African Karoo Basin play a crucial role in understanding Gondwana's climate history during this time of major global changes. In this paper we present two data sets, one from the coal-bearing Vryheid Formation (Witbank Basin) and one from the Whitehill and Upper Prince Albert formations of the DP 1/78 core (NE Karoo). Our main goal was to study the vegetation changes during this period of global warming and test if the climatic signals could be used to correlate the basinal Ecca group facies with the fluvio-deltaic coal-bearing strata of the Witbank Basin. The palynological record of the No. 2 Coal Seam of the Vryheid Formation indicates a cold climate, fern wetland community, characteristic of lowland alluvial plains, and an upland conifer community in the lower part of the coal seam. Up section, these communities are replaced by a cool-temperate cycad-like lowland vegetation and gymnospermous upland flora. The data set of the DP 1/78 core is interpreted to represent a cool to warm temperate climate represented by a high amount of Gangamopteris and Glossopteris elements. Both data sets are very different in their composition, which can be explained by the differences in depositional environment; however, our findings reveal a different age of the studied assemblages and thus also suggest that both data sets represent different stages in the transition from icehouse to greenhouse during Permian times. As the stratigraphic correlation between the Main Karroo Basin and the peripheral basins is still under discussion, this paper provides new data to underpin the stratigraphic placement of the Whitehill Formation relative to the coal-bearing Vryheid Formation.

In the comment on our paper, Forel and Crasquin (2015) make a number of very strong criticisms that attempt to cast doubt on everything in our study. We thank them for their detailed discussion of our paper, especially the taxonomic and methodological issues and the insightful explanations on the causes of the reduction of ostracod size. However, many of their criticisms are excessive. Our paper focused on the change of ostracod size across the Permian–Triassic boundary according to reliable data, and several probable causes were presented. We accept some of the comments by Forel and Crasquin (2015), but these do not negate the core conclusions of our original paper.

Although clypeasteroid echinoids are very common in the shallow water sediments of the Miocene of Sardinia, they have received little attention as far as their origin is concerned. In this paper, three sand dollar dominated mass accumulations from the Lower Miocene of Sardinia are studied and compared in order to understand their genesis and palaeoecology. Two clypeasteroid assemblages were found in the Sarcidano region (Central Sardinia) within the Nurallao Formation (Late Oligocene–Burdigalian). The third sand dollar mass occurrence crops out in the Logudoro region (northern Sardinia) within the Calcari di Mores Formation (Late Burdigalian). These fossil echinoid deposits show a low taxonomic diversity; two assemblages are dominated by the genus Amphiope while the other is dominated by Parascutella with subordinate Clypeaster. An integrated stratigraphic, taphonomic and sedimentological approach allows different genetic mechanisms for these shallow water, sandy, shoreface deposits to be inferred. The origin of these deposits is related to ecological, morphological and sedimentological factors. The sand dollars of Cuccuru Tuvullao (Nuragus) show high degrees of abrasion and fragmentation and represent a multiple in situ reworked accumulation while the assemblage of Duidduru (Genoni), with low abrasion and variously oriented complete and fragmented specimens constitutes an example of a proximal storm deposits. The sand dollar bed of Monte Sa Loca (Chiaramonti) consists of a dense accumulation of well-preserved, mainly concordant-oriented, juvenile and adult specimens and is considered to represent an autochthonous assemblage. This paper explores the role of detailed sedimentological and taphonomic analysis in the palaeoecological and genetic interpretations of the sand dollar beds and points out the widespread distribution and diversification of these echinoids in the Miocene deposits of the Mediterranean area.

Palaeoenvironmental reconstructions of lake sediment records have been greatly facilitated by statistical comparisons with microfossil assemblages from the surface sediments of modern lakes. These modern sub-fossil assemblages from different lakes, which are often referred to as “training-sets”, attempt to incorporate gradients of environmental parameters, such as e.g., temperature and phosphorus, are of interest for paleoenvironmental reconstruction. One major assumption of quantitative palaeoenvironmental reconstructions requires that the environmental variable to be reconstructed is, or is linearly related to, an ecologically important determinant in the ecological system of interest, and that the joint distribution with other variables in the fossil set is the same as in the training-set. The motivation for this paper is that present-day diatom species abundances in surface-sediment samples are often influenced by several environmental gradients. Partial least squares (PLS) or weighted-averaging partial least squares (WA-PLS) regression methods can be used to adjust species optima, if the additional PLS components, which are orthogonal to previous PLS components, are included. This paper tests a reproducible approach for reducing the influence of background variables within a diatom training-set to produce a “screened” training-set, which focuses on the variable of interest. In our example total phosphorus (TP) is the variable of interest. The initial training-set consists of modern Swiss lakes along an elevation gradient spanning 2005 m (334 to 2339 m a.s.l.), which follows a TP gradient from 522 to 3 μg L− 1. However, high-elevation lakes are not distributed equally along the TP gradient. They are meso-oligotrophic because high-elevation eutrophic lakes are rare in Switzerland. This leads to a potential confounding effect between the elevation and the nutrient gradients. These higher elevation lakes were selectively excluded, using Monte Carlo permutation tests, until the conditional effect with respect of covariables of elevation was no longer significantly related to the relative abundance of diatoms. The initial and screened inference models for log TP were applied to fossil assemblages from varved sediments at Greifensee (Switzerland), which cover the past century. The evaluation of the reconstructions with measured TP (1954–1994) demonstrates that the smaller (screened) subset performs better than the larger, more heterogeneous, initial data-set when the same number of components are included. The slope of the relation between measured and inferred log TP changed significantly for the reconstructions using partial least squares, with one and two components, and for reconstruction using weighted averaging partial least squares with two components. According to our interpretation, the accuracy of the reconstructions improved because modern diatom abundances of the smaller subset are controlled mainly by log TP and lakes are more equally distributed along the log TP gradient. This approach of reducing the influence of background variables is applicable to other heterogeneous training-sets, such as merged training-sets, in order to homogenise the background variables and to maintain the gradient of interest.

Ostracods are microcrustaceans that grow by moulting (eight to nine instars in most cases) and, consequently, studies of its populations need the application of some special techniques. The population age structure techniques [Whatley, in: Ostracoda in the Earth Sciences, 1988, pp. 245–256] are a simple statistical method to estimate paleoenvironmental conditions in fossil/Recent populations of ostracods. For its application, it is necessary to determine the percentages of each instar present in the samples studied, in order to analyze the different types of population age structure histograms and their (paleo-)environmental interpretations. Some potential applications are the (paleo-)energy levels or the sedimentation rates. In this paper, these special techniques are applied to Recent populations of the ostracod Pontocythere elongata collected in littoral sediments of southwestern Spain. In this area, the relative percentages of this species and the adult percentages are closely related with depth and consequently this species was used as a bathymetrical tracer in shallow Neogene areas of the Guadalquivir Basin. In addition, a first three-step multivariate analysis permits the definition of three groups, closely related to the theoretical models proposed by Whatley: (a) Group 1 structure or biocoenosis, present either in Recent low- to medium-energy environments located in erosional coastal stretches and Neogene fair-weather conditions; (b) Group 2 structure or high-energy thanatocoenosis, observed either in Recent river mouths with groynes and Neogene storm and post-storm conditions; and (c) Group 3 structure or low-energy thanatocoenosis, characteristic of Recent, progradational coastal areas and present in the Recent–Neogene deeper areas analyzed in this paper (30–40 m depth). This separation is mainly controlled by intrinsic factors (i.e. the natural growth of this species), whereas the extrinsic factors (i.e. the hydrodynamic levels) are only a minor cause of the distribution of this species in the area studied.

Qualitative and quantitative changes in fossil flora and fauna have been used in many studies to infer climatic change. Here we ask a different question: how do flora and fauna respond to climatic changes such as rapid warming or cooling? As an independent proxy for paleotemperature we take the ratio of oxygen isotopes in biogenically precipitated lake marl and in ostracod shells. This introductory paper describes the project design and the five sites on an altitudinal transect from 600 m to about 2300 m asl in the western Swiss Alps. As cases of climatic cooling and warming we use the beginning and end of the Younger Dryas as major changes, and the Gerzensee and Preboreal oscillations as minor changes. At the two sites of Gerzensee and Leysin these changes are recorded in stable-isotope ratios, and there the time scales can be derived by correlations to the GRIP ice core ( Schwander et al., 2000 , von Grafenstein et al., 2000 ). Biotic responses to climate changes are treated in individual papers using pollen ( Wick, 2000 ), plant macrofossils ( Tobolski and Ammann, 2000 ), and remains of chironomids ( Brooks, 2000 ), beetles and other insects ( Lemdahl, 2000 ), and chydorid Cladocera ( Hofmann, 2000 ). They are followed by a synthesis focusing on quantification of biotic responses ( Ammann et al., 2000 ). In addition, a reconstruction of summer temperatures for the Allerod and the Younger Dryas at Gerzensee is provided by Lotter et al. (2000) .

This paper presents first a discussion on the status of the subdivisions of the European Neogene mammal chronology and second, it synthesizes all available magnetostratigraphic data from Europe to provide chronological framework for mammal localities, mammalian events and mammalian biochronologic units of the European Neogene. Because of the lack of their rock equivalents, the subdivisions of the European Neogene, based on mammals, have not attained the stage status in terms of reliability, except the Vallesian and Turolian. Therefore they are designated as the European Land Mammal Ages (ELMA). Magnetostratigraphic data on mammal-bearing deposits in Europe is still scarce in time and space; consequently, it is not yet possible to correlate accurately all ELMA and MN zones with the geomagnetic polarity time-scale (GPTS). Nevertheless, several studies dealing with mammal localities (and their deposits) around the Oligocene/Miocene boundary, in the middle and late Miocene provide reliable correlations of some ELMA and MN zone boundaries. Thus, the calibration of the Oligocene/Miocene boundary at the base of Chron C6Cn.2n is in agreement with its age in marine deposits. The well-known Hipparion Datum (Astaracian/Vallesian boundary) is now dated as about 10.8 Ma, occurring slightly above the base of Chron C5n.2n. This paper also reviews magnetostratigraphic correlations of some late Miocene and Pliocene mammal localities in the Paratethys area. Taking into account the chronological assessments in other parts of Europe for some key mammalian events, new correlations with the GPTS have been proposed for these localities. Thus some new ages are suggested for the late Miocene and Pliocene Paratethys stages.

The biotic evidence from a varied group of shallow-water organisms including mangroves, zooxanthellate corals (mainly reefal), and larger foraminifera suggests that sea surface temperatures at low latitudes during the Tertiary (from at least the Early Eocene to the Middle Miocene) were subtropical to tropical in nature, and similar to temperatures prevailing at low latitudes at the present day (20–28°C). In a recent paper (Shackleton, 1984), the suggestion is made (on the basis of oxygen isotope studies of foraminiferal shells) that low latitude sea-surface temperatures during the Palaeogene and much of the Neogene were invariably lower than those in similar regions today, with a stable temperature of around 18°C. This paper discusses the conflicting evidence for sea surface temperatures obtained from palaeontological and isotopic sources, and suggests that palaeotemperatures derived from some isotopic studies are too low to account for the distribution and diversity of many Tertiary tropical and subtropical biotas.

In this paper, the stratigraphic occurrence of n-alkanes (Cn) is investigated in three peat cores (Mildred, JPH4 and McMurray) from the ombrotrophic peatlands in northeastern Alberta, Canada, to determine their origin, biomass input, and paleoclimatic significance. The molecular composition of n-alkanes is dominated by the >C21 medium- to long-chain homologues, with a strong odd over even predominance. A number of n-alkane-based indices (e.g. predominant n-alkane, C23/C29, C23/(C27 + C31), Paq, ACL, and CPI), show changing conditions in the organic matter (OM) input from Sphagnum species or terrestrial vascular plants, which increasingly contributed upwards in the peat profiles, and through time. Paq and C23/(C27 + C31) proxies are similar in the three cores, and allow us to infer vegetation variations that coincide with the climate alternations of the Medieval Warm Period (MWP), Little Ice Age (LIA), and modern Recent Warming (RW). The utilization of ACL-ket and (C23 + C25)/(C27 + C29 + C31)-ket proxies, performed in comparison with n-alkane proxies, further support the biomarker-based reconstructions of paleoclimate variations over recent centuries. This study suggests that n-alkane homologues are sensitive to vegetation and climate changes and thus are reliable biomarkers for tracking past shifts in vegetation and climate variations in peat archives.

Factors affecting cetacean preservation and distribution in ancient sedimentary successions are not well understood. Actualistic studies have focused on coastal and deep marine examples, and little is known about taphonomic processes occurring within shelf environments. In this paper, we integrate sedimentological, taphonomic and palaeontological data for the cetacean-bearing lower Miocene Gaiman Formation from Patagonia, Argentina, to analyse which factors affected the distribution and preservation of cetaceans in several localities of the Southwestern Atlantic. Facies analysis shows that the formation represents a transgressive-regressive stratigraphic cycle, with palaeoenvironments including coastal, storm-dominated shoreface, inner shelf embayment and open inner shelf. Cetacean remains show preservation styles varying from isolated elements to articulated specimens, with nearly all remains restricted to both embayment and open marine inner shelf settings. Two fossil cetacean assemblages are recognized: Assemblage A comprises small-sized odontocetes dominated by Platanistoidea, preserved mostly in inner shelf embayment deposits; and Assemblage B comprises large-sized odontocetes and mysticetes, dominated by Physeteroidea and Balaenopteroidea, preserved mostly in open inner shelf deposits. Cetacean preservation style is controlled by a combination of palaeoenvironmental conditions, such as energy and sedimentation rate, and by biological factors, such as cetacean body plan and its impact on carcass buoyancy. Ecological factors may also explain the stratigraphic distribution of cetaceans between coastal and oceanic assemblages. This novel integrative and multidisciplinary analyses improves our knowledge of cetacean taphonomy in shelf environments. Fil: Cuitiño, José Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto Patagónico de Geología y Paleontología; Argentina Fil: Buono, Mónica Romina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto Patagónico de Geología y Paleontología; Argentina Fil: Viglino, Mariana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto Patagónico de Geología y Paleontología; Argentina Fil: Farroni, Nicolás D.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas; Argentina Fil: Bessone, Santiago. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto Patagónico de Geología y Paleontología; Argentina

Flexible crinoids (subclass Flexibilia) likely originated from the cladid crinoid genus Cupulocrinus or one of its immediate ancestors in the Middle to Late Ordovician. A remarkably constant and clade-defining character of flexible crinoids is the possession of three plates in the infrabasal circlet of the calyx. This character was a significant morphological modification for the origin of the flexible clade, resulting from the reduction of the number of infrabasal plates from five plates in the ancestral cupulocrinid. Of 615 museum specimens of Cupulocrinus sp. for which the number of infrabasal plates could be determined, 21 specimens, or 3.4%, displayed a deviation from the normal five infrabasals. Of the aberrant specimens, fifteen have four infrabasal plates, and six have six infrabasal plates. An additional aberrant specimen has five infrabasals, with one significantly reduced in size. Although the number of infrabasals is typically thought to be constant within a species, this trait appears to have been variable in the immediate ancestor of flexible crinoids, in the time period just before the number of infrabasals became fixed at three for the Flexibilia. This paper documents the range of aberrations within the infrabasal circlet of Cupulocrinus and considers the implications for the origin of the flexible crinoids.

© 2017. A new Permian-Triassic boundary microbialite (PTBM) is described from the Xiajiacao section of western Hubei Province, South China. The new microbialite, 3.16. m thick, comprises a thin layer of stromatolite and a thick thrombolite unit. An irregular contact separates the uppermost Permian skeletal packstone from the post-extinction stromatolite, but it is not yet possible to discriminate whether it was formed by submarine solution in the wake of ocean acidification or subaerial exposure due to regional regression, or a combination of both. The stromatolite shows "cabbage-like" morphology, and the thrombolite is characterized by centimetric clotted texture. Abundant columns of the microproblematica structure Gakhumella, coccoid-like spheroids, bacterial clump-like spheroids, and hollow spheroids are recognized in both stromatolites and thrombolites and may have played an important role in accretion of the microbialites. Pyrite framboid analysis indicates that microbialites may have been affected by lower dysoxic to upper dysoxic conditions in the immediate aftermath of the Permian-Triassic extinction. Stratigraphic abundance of both high-temperature grains (β-quartz and glassy balls) peaked ~. 20. cm below the biotic extinction horizon, implying that either intensive volcanic eruption occurred only just prior to biotic extinction, or volcanism was still intensive during biotic extinction, but volcanic grains were not deposited in the Xiajiacao locality, likely due to the shallow, agitated environment caused by the regional regression. Overall, microbial bloom, indicated by the widespread PTBMs, seems to have been little affected by the contemporaneous volcanism. We thank both anonymous reviewers and editor Thomas Algeo for critical comments and constructive suggestions, which have greatly improved the quality of the paper. This study is partly supported by the 111 Program of China (B08030), two NSFC grants (41572091, 41402089), and one research grant from the State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology (BGEG), China University of Geosciences (GBL11206). It is a contribution to the IGCP 630 “Permian–Triassic climatic and environmental extremes and biotic response”.

The Aoerban region of central Inner Mongolia, China is an important early Miocene fossil site that contains a diverse mammalian record unrivaled by other Asian sites of similar age. In this paper, we present lithostratigraphic, biostratigraphic, and magnetostratigraphic data from Aoerban Formation to better understand faunal changes between the Xiejian and Shanwangian Chinese Land Mammal ages. With new biochronological constraints, magnetochrons in the Aoerban Formation can be correlated to C6An.2n to C5Cr with an age range of 20.71–16.72 Ma of the Astronomically Tuned Neogene Timescale (ATNTS2012). The strata of the Aoerban region contain a number of important mammalian First Appearance Data, including several morphotypes of deer (Cervidae), horses (Anchitherium), pika (Alloptox), cricetid rodents (Megacricetodon), and possibly the local earliest record of gomphotheres (i.e., the Proboscidea event). Although the ranges for most of these taxa are still poorly known, some of them, alone or in combination, are useful in defining the base the Shanwangian Land Mammal Age. Within this finely calibrated chronologic framework, the faunas of the Aoerban region are important for better understanding mammalian evolution, biogeography, and paleoenvironment.

The Lhasa terrane is thought to be a key region for understanding the elevation history of the southern Tibetan Plateau after collision of continental India and Asia in early Paleocene. Stable isotopic studies consistently suggest that the Lhasa terrane had reached its near-present elevation before the Miocene. In this paper we report a plant megafossil assemblage from the Kailas Formation of the Kailas Basin in western part of the southern Lhasa terrane. Our U-Pb dating and magnetostratigraphic correlation show that the studied section of the Kailas Formation ranges from 25.1 Ma to 21.8 Ma in age, and that the fossil flora occurred at 23.3 Ma (latest Oligocene). The uppermost Oligocene Kailas fossil flora is low in diversity and dominated by Populus, Betulaceae and legume. It most likely represents a deciduous, broad-leaf vegetation and suggests a temperate, humid environment with a low to moderate palaeoelevation of 1500–2900 m in the Kailas Basin during the latest Oligocene, based on the co-existing range of the living analogues of the fossil plants. This conflicts with the existence of a continuous, high Gangdese Mountains stretching across the whole southern Lhasa terrane in the late Oligocene. Available evidence appears to suggest strong uplift of the southern Lhasa terrane after the latest Oligocene.

The relationship between ungulate stable carbon isotope values and environmental variables (temperature, relative humidity, precipitation) remains poorly understood. In this paper, we evaluate this relationship for, predominantly, C3 ecosystems in the winter rainfall areas of southern Africa. In our dataset (290 individuals representing 23 species), δ13C values of ungulate enamel are significantly correlated with mean annual precipitation (MAP), moisture index (MI) and summer aridity index (SAI), variables that also influence the distribution of C3/C4 grasses. Our study confirms previous findings that faunal δ13C values in C3 ecosystems are most strongly correlated with variables related to precipitation. δ13Cenamel values for ungulate browsers are more strongly correlated with a larger number of environmental variables than values for grazers and mixed feeders and vary according to vegetation type. We apply regressions derived from the modern dataset to estimate palaeoclimatic shifts based on δ13Cenamel values of browsing fauna at the Pleistocene sites of Hoedjiespunt and Elandsfontein in South Africa.

In this paper, we build an age model by tuning the G. ruber δ18O curve to the LR04 stack and U1308 benthic δ18O curve with the aid of the high-resolution lightness parameter L*, which mirrors the marine oxygen isotope stages, and we analyse the major palaeoenvironmental events indicated by different proxies, particularly the >250 μm fraction and the 150–250 μm fraction of ice-rafted debris (IRD) at IODP Site U1312. In general, the input of IRD at Site U1312 can be divided into two stages. In Stage 1, ranging from ~2.6 Ma to ~1 Ma, the number of lithic grains was small, the frequency of ice rafting events was low, and the components were diverse and mainly comprised quartz, feldspar and clasts. In Stage 2, ranging from ~1 Ma to the present, the number and frequency of lithic grains considerably increased and were accompanied by detrital carbonate additions derived from the Hudson Strait after ~650 ka. Regarding the IRD features in the study area, the distinctive layers are as follows. IRD did not occur until 2.52 Ma at Site U1312, implying that icebergs discharged by the Northern Hemisphere glaciers bearing lithic grains were involved in pelagic sedimentation for the first time. Interestingly, a monotonic component of debris, magnetite with some ilmenite and quartz, was observed in a single layer at approximately 1.4 Ma. The source of this component may simply be the erosion of volcanic formations in Iceland during the glacial period. Detrital carbonate played an important role in the IRD component after ~650 ka, and the input and frequency of IRD increased dramatically, revealing glacier enhancements and the instability of the Laurentide ice sheet. The IRD characteristics at Site U1312 during MIS 22, MIS 12 and MIS 6 were different from those at other sites near the IRD belt and may be closely related to the European ice sheets. During MIS 10-8, the input of IRD was high, the dominant warm species G. ruber was too rare for the isotope test to be conducted, and the abundance of planktonic foraminifera severely declined, which may indicate that extreme conditions occurred at Site U1312 during this interval.

International audience; Environmental changes related to forest expansion and later to agricultural development and deforestation during the Holocene in Europe have strongly shaped herbivore distribution and habitat selection, leading to species extinction. In this paper, we examine, through dental microwear textural analysis, the foraging habitats, dietary flexibility and niche partitioning of large herbivores (100 to 1000 kg) including two bovids (European bison Bison bonasus and aurochs Bos primigenius) and two cervids (moose Alces alces and red deer Cervus elaphus). The study focuses on northeast (NE) and south central (SC) Europe during three periods of the Holocene: Neolithic (6500–3500 cal yrs BP), Roman Period and Middle Ages (~2000–450 cal yrs BP) and Recent times (1963–2014). Our study highlights differences in diet between species only in the Neolithic SC Europe. This may have resulted from diversified habitats and dietary niche separation in SC Europe. The absence of differences in NE Europe may suggest more homogeneous habitat conditions in combination with lower densities of large herbivores in forested habitats. Analysis shows that during the Neolithic, in the bison diet there was more herbaceous monocotyledons in SC Europe than in NE Europe. We also found temporal changes in microwear texture variables for the bison in SC Europe suggesting a more herbaceous diet in the Neolithic than during the Roman Period and Middle Ages. However, neither spatial nor temporal differences in microwear texture variables were found in the aurochs. Thus, the diet of the European bison has likely changed, which may indicate a greater plasticity that promoted survival in refuge habitats.

The Sikkim region of the Himalayas is among one of the most highly sensitive hotspots to climate change due to its fragile mountainous environment and rapidly growing population, which exert significant impacts on regional ecosystem factors, including biodiversity and hydrology. Limited observational data coverage in space and time for the high-altitude mountainous region impedes our understanding of climate change and its impact on the environment. In this paper, we develop a 437-year tree-ring width index chronology of Tsuga dumosa (D.Don) Eichler in northern Sikkim as a climate proxy. The substantial dendroclimatic potential of this proxy is evidenced in various statistics computed from the tree-ring chronology. An analysis of the tree-ring chronology indicates a strong negative relationship between late-summer mean temperatures (July–August–September; JAS) and tree growth. This relationship enables us to reconstruct the JAS mean temperature over northern Sikkim since 1705 C.E. The 304-year (1705–2008 C.E.) reconstructed temperature series shows similar warm and cool epochs, which have been observed in many other temperature reconstructions in the region and other proxy records of glacial fluctuations. An overall steady decreasing trend in the regional surface temperature is observed since 1705 C.E., while an increasing trend with intermittent, short and cool epochs are noticed from 1850 C.E. to the present. Prior to the observational period (before 1901 C.E.), cold conditions (X - 1σ) prevailed during 1816–1819, 1831–1837, 1856–1859, and 1884–1887 C.E, with extremely cold conditions (X - 2σ) occurring in 1816, 1817, 1832, 1833, 1857, 1877, 1884, and 1885 C.E; Warm conditions (X + 1σ) prevailed during 1713–1735 and 1823–1827 C.E, with extremely warm (X + 2σ) conditions occurring in 1724, 1823, 1824, and 1825 C.E. Global teleconnections of the reconstructed temperature variations indicate the important roles of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and volcanic eruptions as drivers of temperature variations in the Sikkim region of the Himalayas.

A continuous strontium isotope profile with high-resolution sampling is desirable to calibrate multiple global events, realize temporal correlation among different continents, and understand tectonic history of the Permian Period. In this paper, we analyzed 90 micritic limestone samples from South China and 7 samples from Iran, with the aim to gain new 87Sr/86Sr data and obtain a curve of Sr isotopes for the Permian. The concentrations of Mg, Fe, Mn, and Sr are used to discriminate possible diagenesis of the samples. A comparison of those 87Sr/86Sr values between South China and southern Urals confirms that Sr-isotope proxy has the potential to be used for time calibration and correlation in regions where biostratigraphic or radiometric markers are not available. The 87Sr/86Sr curve obtained in this study shows a trend comparable with the LOcally WEighted Scatterplot Smoothing (LOWESS) regression curve from the previous studies. A continuous decline trend from the latest Carboniferous to late Guadalupian was shown, and the lowest 87Sr/86Sr values in the late Capitanian was constrained within the interval from the conodont Jinogondolella shannoni/J. altudaensis to J. xuanhanensis zones. It is followed by an increasing trend to more radiogenic values in the Lopingian with a minor fluctuation in the early Wuchiapingian. We consider that mid-ocean ridge spreading and increasing continental weathering during the transition from convergence to the breakup of Pangea as the dominant factors driving the changes of the seawater Sr isotope ratios.

The Upper Pleistocene (MIS5) site known as Cova del Rinoceront near Barcelona, Spain, contains a large assemblage of ungulate remains, among which the most dominant, in the uppermost Layer I, are those of the rare Mediterranean deer, Haploidoceros mediterraneus. In this paper, zooarchaeological and coprogenic analyses are used to evaluate the taphonomic and geological processes involved in determining the nature of the Layer I assemblage. The assemblage cannot have been generated by either hyenids or humans, nor does it constitute an accidental collection, as seen in other Pleistocene accummulations. Instead, the skeletal frequencies, coprogenic tracemarkers and the diagnostic biological damage on bones suggest it accumulated as a result of the feeding of a carnivore. The homogeneous pattern of carcass utilization and the predation of similar-sized ungulates suggest a canid as the main biological agent.

A transition from widespread humid to more drought tolerant floras characterized tropical terrestrial ecosystems during the Permian (Cisuralian). Tregiovo (Southern Alps, N-Italy) is one of the very few well dated Kungurian (late Cisuralian) plant localities in Euramerica. It was located in eastern palaeoequatorial Pangea. Two units bearing fossil plant assemblages occur in finely laminated sediments deposited in a playa-lake environment. In this paper, the sedimentology of the Tregiovo Basin is reviewed, and new palaeobotanical, palynological and stable isotopic data are presented, in order to reconstruct the palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental conditions of the Kungurian in the Southern Alps. Both fossil plant assemblages are dominated by conifers (Hermitia, Feysia, Quadrocladus, Dolomitia), together with sphenophytes (Annularia), ginkgophytes (Sphenobaiera), pteridosperms (Peltaspermum), taeniopterids and sphenopterids. These taxa, which occur with different abundances in the two plant assemblages, both indicate semi-arid conditions. Associated palynofiora, dominated by bisaccate pollen, and extremely rare spore occurrences, is consistent with the xerophytic character of the macroflora, and suggests that the fossil plant record was not affected by collection or preservation bias. Stable isotopic analyses of two stratigraphic sections reveal an upward trend of increasingly negative delta C-13(org) (VPDB), which may correlate with roughly coeval records from marine and continental successions such as in North China and South Africa. This isotopic shift may be attributed to a global perturbation of atmospheric delta C-13, although the influence of local environmental factors cannot be excluded.

This paper presents the results of a palynological investigation of the sands from upper Eocene (Priabonian) epicontinental marine strata at Łukowa, SE Poland. This locality represents an isolated spot of upper Eocene strata in the southern part of epicontinental Poland due to later uplift and erosion of this area. The sands studied yielded a well-preserved palynoflora, providing information about palaeovegetation and palaeoclimate after the Early Eocene Climate Optimum. During the study a total of 94 fossil species of palynomorphs were identified. The results indicate that the vicinity of the sedimentary basin was covered by vegetation with a significant portion of thermophilous taxa and containing many elements with East Asian affinities. The plant communities were composed of Platanus, Platycarya, Engelhardioideae, members of the Hamamelidaceae, Sapotaceae, Fabaceae, Oleaceae, Fagaceae (probably evergreen Quercus and Castanoideae), and Betulaceae families, as well as Salix, Carya, and others. Members of the Pinaceae family and Sciadopitys were components of coniferous or mixed forests. Taxodium, and presumably Glyptostrobus, together with Nyssa, might have covered areas with a higher groundwater level. The pollen of Milfordia and Aglaoreidia cyclops can probably be considered as representing marsh/freshwater vegetation. Cryptogams are represented mainly by ferns (including members of the Lygodiaceae and Schizaeaceae, probably as well as Gleicheniaceae and Cyatheaceae families) and Lycopodiaceae (including Lycopodiella). The presence of frequent pollen and spores of the genera presently growing under tropical and subtropical climatic conditions and the presence of several taxa characteristic for swamps indicate that the climate during deposition of the sediments studied was warm and humid. The mean annual temperature of 17.2–23.1 °C was estimated on the basis of Coexistence Approach method.

The population history of the Adelie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) and its response to climatic and environmental changes have been widely studied in maritime Antarctica and several glacial refugia of Adelie penguins were dated back to the Last Glacial Maximum. However, the process of colony expansion during the subsequent glacial-interglacial transition was less well-documented. In this paper, we investigate an ornithogenic core from Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica, to improve knowledge of postglacial penguin colonization. Local deglaciation occurred around 15.6 kyr BP, based on a coarse-grained detrital layer, a date that is earlier than most of those reported in other studies from the same region. Geochemical analysis of the core suggests penguins started colonizing the northern Vestfold Hills around 14.6 kyr BP, the oldest geological record in East Antarctica on penguin occupation, and their population exhibited a broadly increasing trend thereafter. The population expanded at approximately 6740 yr BP, in the mid-Holocene, which corresponds to a local climatic optimum. Although this inference is based on population changes of local sub-colonies, it corresponds well to reconstructions of regional climate change, and changes in the penguin population based on genetic studies. From a consideration of the results of previous studies of the occupation history of sea birds following deglaciation in the Arctic, as well as other parts of Antarctica, we propose that sea birds colonized the emerging ice-free areas shortly after local glacier retreat. Over geological time-scales, the availability of breeding habitat is a key factor controlling the population size and activity range of Antarctic Adelie penguins.

The Middle and Upper Jurassic stage of evolution of the anaptychus-type ammonoid jaw apparatus is relatively poorly known due to a small number of findings and uncertainty of their taxonomic position. All previously found anaptychi of this age are preserved either in flattened and dissolved shells or separately from ammonoid conchs. Rhynchaptychus-type jaws were still hitherto unknown from Jurassic deposits. In this paper we describe three-dimensionally preserved ammonoid lower jaws from the Bajocian/Bathonian boundary (Middle Jurassic) beds of Dagestan, Russia. These findings demonstrate a wide variety of their shape and structure. One specimen, consisting only of organic matter which is considered as anaptychus sensu stricto , is located in situ in the body chamber of Lytoceras ( Dinolytoceras ) zhivagoi (Besnosov). Three specimens which likely belonged to any Phylloceratiadae ( Adabofoloceras , Holcophylloceras , or Pseudophylloceras which are presented in the ammonoid assemblage) contain prominent calcareous conchorhynchs, and the outer organic lamellae of these jaws were initially covered with a thin calcareous layer. The last lower jaw, probably from Nannolytocera s, has also a small calcareous conchorhynch in its tip despite a lack of coating. These findings are the first direct evidence of the existence of rhynchaptychus-type lower jaws in the Middle Jurassic. A variety in the shape and structure of the studied lower jaws indicates a variation in the mode of life and feeding behavior of Middle Jurassic ammonoids.

Trophic Enrichment Factor (TEF) is the main parameter used in isotopic trophic ecology. TEF values can be derived from specimens subjected to experimental feeding or from free-ranging specimens whose dietary behavior is well monitored, and it can be measured for different tissues of animal body. Direct collagen-to-collagen TEF is a key parameter for fossil material and needs to be well constrained in order to ascertain the reliability of the palaeodietary models. In this paper, we present isotopic results for a subfossil bone accumulation related to red fox (Vulpes vulpes) activity, discovered in an abandoned mine in Potok-Senderki (Poland). The objective was to report δ13C and δ15N collagen data for red foxes and their prey. These data were used to calculate a prey-predator collagen-to-collagen TEF and provided important information for interpreting stable isotope fractionation in terrestrial food webs. We used different taphonomic indexes to calculate the fox mean diet. The presence of juvenile and adult individuals of fox allowed us to specify the difference in isotopic enrichment according to the age class of the predator. Δ13C and Δ15N values calculated here for fox were similar to TEF values presented previously for wolf and lynx, but characterized by wider standard deviation.

Made available in DSpace on 2018-12-11T16:49:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2017-12-01 Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) Medical Library Association Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) Ichnology is an important tool for facies and sequence stratigraphic analysis, typically yielding greater resolution than that provided by body fossils. Less commonly, ichnofossils also can be applied to ichnostratigraphy, a variant of biostratigraphy that aids in determining stratigraphic age of sedimentary sequences. Previous publications on the Furnas Formation (Paraná Group, early Paleozoic of the Paraná Basin), have yielded different interpretations of age, depositional environment, and sequence stratigraphic framework. Deposition in fluvial environments has been proposed in many papers, although a tide-influenced marine context has been inferred since the presence of Cruziana and Rusophycus was reported during the 1990s. Sequence stratigraphic interpretations also differ, mainly regarding the presence or absence of a sequence boundary between the middle and upper units of the Furnas Formation. The absence of body fossils in all but the topmost part of the upper unit, which contains Lochkovian (Lower Devonian) palynomorphs and primitive plants, has precluded age determination for the Furnas Formation in general. Here, we demonstrate the utility of both ichnofacies and ichnostratigraphic analysis to elucidate such questions. The studied sections are located in the cities of Tibagi, Palmeira and Ponta Grossa (Guartelá, Sítio Canei and São Jorge sections, respectively). Seventeen ichnotaxa are recognized, doubling the number of previously known ichnotaxa: Cruziana acacensis elongata and Rusophycus acacensis n. ichnosp. (in the lower and middle units); Arthrophycus alleghaniensis, A. brongniartii, Rhizocorallium commune, Didymaulyponomos rowei and Heimdallia chatwini (middle unit only); Arenicolites, Cylindrichnus and Diplocraterion (lower and upper units); Lockeia siliquaria and Psammichnites implexus (middle and upper units); Rosselia socialis (upper unit); and Palaeophycus tubularis, Didymaulichnus lyelli, Skolithos, and Thalassinoides (all units). Assemblages of these ichnofossils are assigned to Skolithos and proximal Cruziana ichnofacies. Ichnologic data, combined with associated physical sedimentary facies associations, indicate predominantly tide-influenced marine depositional environments. The presence of ichnotaxa of stratigraphic value (Arthrophycus alleghaniensis, A. brongniartii and Cruziana acacensis elongata) in lower and middle units indicates an Early Silurian age. This, in turn, indicates that a significant unconformity exists between the middle and upper units of Furnas Formation. Although the precise magnitude of this stratigraphic gap is difficult to establish, this break likely is linked to the Late Silurian global regression. Unisinos University Geology Graduate Program, Av. Unisinos, 950, Cristo Rei Auburn University Department of Geosciences, 2050 Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum Universidade Estadual Paulista-UNESP/IGCE, Av. 24-A, 1515 Universidade Estadual Paulista-UNESP/IGCE, Av. 24-A, 1515 FAPESP: 1998/02183-3 Medical Library Association: 308563/2013-1 CNPq: 311473/2013-0 Medical Library Association: 459776/2014-2 CAPES: 88887.129752/2016-00

Zhucheng, located in eastern Shandong Province, China, is well-known for its abundant Early Cretaceous dinosaur footprints and Late Cretaceous dinosaur bone fossils. Recently, Lockley et al. (2015) presented a sketch study on the Huanglonggou tracksite in the Zhucheng area, and critically commented on our paper (H. Xu et al., 2013), which conducted a detailed and comprehensive study of the tracksite. Here, we demonstrate that some of their assumptions and comments on our work are subjective and incorrect. Tracks at the Huanglonggou tracksite, including a dominant theropod (large theropod, Grallator yangi / Paragrallator , Corpulentapus lilasia ), and subordinate sauropod, suspected ornithopod, and turtle tracks were preserved in the Yangjiazhuang Formation with estimated ages of 129 to 122 Ma, rather than in the Longwangzhuang Formation as proposed by Lockley and his associates. Contrary to Lockley et al. (2015), our mapping of the Huanglonggou tracksite exhibits the previous work by Li et al. (2011) and focuses on the 50 well-preserved trackways and their orientations. Based on the stride length to footprint size index diagram and the Grallator–Anchisauripus–Eubrontes (GAE) plexus, our statistical constraints on the three species of theropods are better than those of Lockley et al. (2015). Lockley argued that tracks at the site were preserved on at least five levels, of which the majority on level 4 were of excellent preservation. In fact, the tracks identified throughout the site have been from only one level. The false appearance of multiple levels is interpreted as the result of sedimentation at the shoreline and differential excavation of the tracksite.

The calcareous nannofossil Ceratolithus acutus (= C. armatus) is an important species associated with the final flooding that ended the Messinian Salinity Crisis in the Mediterranean. We emphasize its robust identifying features and stratigraphic value in the global ocean. This species is particularly useful in recognising and constraining the Messinian–Zanclean boundary in the Mediterranean, as evidenced by reports from 75 localities and 20 references in addition to our own papers. Our emphasis is prompted by the assessment of Stoica et al. (2016) that Ceratolithus acutus is a “dubious” species with its lowest occurrence an “unreliable” biostratigraphic event. Such assessments by non-specialists, especially when “supported” by selective referencing of the literature warrant an explanation.

Understanding environmental conditions faced by hunter-fisher-gatherers during the Pleistocene and Holocene, and interpretation of subsistence strategies, social organisation and settlement patterns, are key topics for the study of past human societies. In this respect, oxygen isotope values (?18O) of mollusc shell calcium carbonate can provide important information on palaeoclimate and the seasonality of shell collection at archaeological sites. In this paper, we tested P. vulgata shells from northern Iberia as a paleoclimate archive through the study of shell oxygen isotope values and sclerochronology of modern samples. Results showed that limpets formed their shells close to isotopic equilibrium, with an average offset between measured and predicted values of 0.36?. This offset is significantly reduced with respect to those reported in previous studies, probably due to the use of highly resolved data on the isotopic composition of the water when calculating predicted values. Despite large intra-specific variability, shell growth patterns of P. vulgata revealed a common pattern of higher growth in spring and a growth cessation/slowdown in summer and winter. The seasonal growth cessation/slowdown did not exceed three months. Therefore, a correct interpretation of the season of shell collection is still possible. Reconstructed seawater temperature exhibited a high correlation with instrumental temperature (R2 =0.68 to 0.93; p b 0.0001). Despite periods of growth cessation/slowdown, mean seawater temperatures and annual ranges were reconstructed accurately. As demonstrated here, seawater temperature can be reconstructed with a maximum uncertainty of ±2.7 °C. Therefore, our study shows that oxygen isotope values from P. vulgate can be used for the reconstruction of paleoclimate and the season of shell collection This research was part of the projects NF100413 (Newton International Fellowship granted to IGZ) and HAR2013-46802-P (funded bythe Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, MINECO).

Geochemical signatures from biogenic carbonates are being increasingly employed as palaeoenvironmental proxies. In turn, many of these proxy archives including mollusc shells, corals, and otoliths have periodic growth structures, which allow the reconstruction of chronologically constrained records of palaeoenvironmental variability at unparalleled high temporal resolution. Studying the growth and chemistry of these periodic growth structures is known as sclerochronology. Biogenic hard parts accumulate in geological or archaeological deposits, and can be directly dated using radiometric and racemisation methods. They therefore offer the opportunity for high-resolution palaeoenvironmental reconstructions across many time intervals, all over the globe. Such data are important for several reasons: (1) understanding past climate and environmental change provides a means of contextualising current and future climate change and ecological disturbance; (2) high-resolution palaeoenvironmental records are essential for constraining, testing and validating global and regional numerical climate models; (3) palaeoenvironmental records from biogenic carbonates can provide an environmental framework from which to understand the behavioural changes and interactions of peoples with their environment. However, inter and intra-species differences in growth rate, physiology, and environmental response can cause variations in the chemical profiles of biogenic carbonates. Before geochemical data is employed for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, it is thus necessary to examine modern specimens of the target species, or related taxa, to understand how geochemical variations are influenced by local environmental conditions, kinetic and vital effects. This allows the generation of quantitative and more reliable proxy records of environmental change. This special issue brings together the latest research on palaeoenvironmental proxy development and validation in biogenic carbonates. It includes studies on marine, freshwater and estuarine organisms (molluscs, corals and echinoderms), and on traditional as well as novel geochemical proxies. The papers presented here include in situ field calibration studies, laboratory growth experiments as well as methodological studies into the effects of sampling and pre-treatment. The geographical scope is broad, encompassing both the northern and southern hemispheres including South Africa, South America, Australia, Asia, the Mediterranean Sea and the North Atlantic.

Abundant conodonts occur in the Naqing section, southern Guizhou, South China, which has been selected as the candidate of the Carboniferous Kasimovian GSSP. Swadelina subexcelsa, Idiognathodus heckeli, I. turbatus and I. sagittalis, which are potentially index taxa for the Moscovian-Kasimovian boundary, are all recorded in the Naqing section. The lineages from their ancestors have been discussed in this paper, and furthermore, based on their lineages the conodont zonation is established for the global correlation. The provincialism of the Moscovian-Kasimovian boundary interval is also analyzed. The Tethyan and American Midcontinent provinces, can be identified to differentiate conodont faunas among major basins. The Tethyan Province can be further subdivided into the South China and Eastern European Platform subprovinces. By incorporating and evaluating varying aspects of the taxonomy, biostratigraphy and palaeobiogeography of the potential index taxa, I. heckeli might be the best marker for the base Kasimovian in term of its clear taxonomic definition and phylogenetic lineage, as well as its wide geographic range.

The Eocene record of turtle eggshells is scarce, with a single unconfirmed report from France. This scarcity contrasts with the great abundance of osteological remains, distributed over a wide palaeogeographical range as a result of climatic warmth. In this paper, we describe the first definitive Eocene Testudoolithidae eggshell fragments attributable to Testudines, most likely pleurodiran turtles, from the Eocene Sobrarbe Formation at the Castejon de Sobrarbe fossil site (CS-41) in northern Spain. The eggshells were found in association with osteological remains of at least four individuals of Eocenochelus eremberti (Pleurodira, Erymnochelyini) in an otherwise sirenian-dominated bonebed. Analysis of eggshell ultra- and microstructure allows comparison with eggshells from fossil and extant turtles. The eggshells are highly recrystallized but preserve relics of their original aragonitic radial ultrastructure as crystal phantoms. The barrel-shaped shell units, which are taller than wide, with compactituberculate ornamentation and funnel-shaped pore openings are similar to those of the Palaeocene ootaxon Haininchelys curiosa, whose holotype and paratype have been lost. The CS-41 eggshells are most similar to those of the pleurodiran Erymnochelys madagascariensis from Madagascar, the closest living relative to Eocenochelus, further supporting our attribution. Sedimentological and taphonomic analysis of the assemblage supports the hypothesis that the CS-41 fossil site was formed as the infilling of an abandoned tributary channel in the deltaic plain by an overbank or debris-flow deposit associated with a storm event. This storm resulted in the exhumation and subsequent re-sedimetation of the remains of a nesting ground of Eocenochelus eremberti, an otherwise coastal turtle, which would have entered inland streams to nest in the sand bars at the mouth of the Sobrarbe Deltaic Complex.

Resolving the history of vegetation, fire, and glaciation on the eastern slope of the central Patagonian Andes (44°-49°S) since the Last Glacial Termination (T1) has proved difficult. This is due to the steep environmental gradients, vegetation heterogeneity, and scarcity of dated glacial deposits and geomorphic features. Unsurprisingly, published records show important heterogeneities which limit our understanding of the timing and magnitude of climate and vegetation changes, and their driving mechanisms since T1. In this paper, we describe sediment cores from small closed-basin lakes located in the deciduous Nothofagus forest zone near Coyhaique, Chile. Our results indicate that the Coyhaique glacier lobe abandoned its final Last Glacial Maximum position just before ~17.9 cal kyr BP and underwent a step-wise recession that included a halt/readvance that culminated at ~16.8 cal kyr BP, contemporaneous with the formation of an ice-dammed proglacial lake in the Coyhaique/Balmaceda sector. This glacial lake stood at its highest level between ~17.9–17.2 cal kyr BP ( 650 m.a.s.l.), lowered between ~17.2–16.2 cal kyr BP ( 570 m.a.s.l.), and disappeared thereafter. Herbs and shrubs, currently dominant in high Andean and Patagonian steppe environments, colonized the ice-free terrains distal to the glacier margins and proglacial lakes under cold and dry conditions. This was followed by a steady increase in Nothofagus between ~16.6–14.8 cal kyr BP that led to the establishment of forests starting at ~14.8 cal kyr BP. The Holocene started with a sudden increase in Nothofagus and disappearance of conifers in the context of increase fire activity between ~11.7–9.4 cal kyr BP. Closed-canopy Nothofagus forests persisted virtually unaltered from ~9.4 cal kyr BP to the present day, despite frequent explosive volcanism and millennial-scale variations in fire regimes, attesting to their extraordinary postglacial resilience which contrasts with their behavior during T1. Recent large-scale deforestation by fire, livestock grazing, and the spread of non-native invasive plant species drove the fastest and largest-magnitude shifts seen during the last ~16,500 years.

Fish bones are common in Pleistocene cave deposits in Europe. In this paper, we report on fish remains from the Gran Dolina cave (Trinchera del Ferrocarril) in the Sierra de Atapuerca in Spain, to increase what is known of the freshwater ecosystems close to the cave. The 19-m-thick section, divided into 11 stratigraphic levels, represents an Early to Middle Pleistocene time span as dated by biostratigraphy, ESR, U-series, and magnetostratigraphy. We focus on the Sondeo South site, excavated from 1993 to 1999, which has yielded 1087 fish bones comprising the following taxa: brown trout (Salmo trutta), the common European eel (Anguilla anguilla) and chub (Squalius sp.). Taphonomic studies suggest that the European eagle owl (Bubo bubo) was the most likely predator responsible for the accumulation. Changes observed in the body size of brown trout through the sequence cannot be attributed to climate change (contravening Bergmann's rule). Our study documents the presence of a pre-mountain river system characterized by permanent, oxygen-rich, relatively cold flowing waters around the Sierra de Atapuerca during Early-Middle Pleistocene times.

The paleogeographic evolution of the Lhasa Block in northern Tibet during the Permian has been a contentious issue during the past decades. Several pioneering studies have highlighted the significance of faunas and their paleobiogeography in this block. In this paper, a new Middle Permian foraminiferal fauna is documented from the Xiala Formation in the Zhabuye area in the central Lhasa Block. This fauna is characterized by the presence of the Shanita-Hemigordiopsis foraminiferal assemblage, with its age to be the early Midian (Wordian) based on the coexisting fusulines Neoschwagerina craticulifera (Schwager), N. cheni Sheng and Kahlerina tenuitheca Wang, Sheng and Zhang. A review of the Shanita-Hemigordiopsis assemblage globally confirms that the age of this assemblage ranges from the late Murgabian to the Midian rather than extending into the Dzhulfian as previously recognized. This assemblage is widely distributed on the Cimmerian microcontinents and Gondwanan margin, but absent from the South China and Indochina blocks, which were approximately at the same latitude with Turkey in equatorial regions. Such a distribution pattern is better explained by the influence of oceanic currents flowing from equatorial regions to the Gondwanan margin along the Neotethys Ocean. It further suggests that the Neotethys Ocean may have opened by the Middle Permian to facilitate oceanic currents.

El Salt is an important reference site for understanding the extinction of Neanderthal populations in the eastern Iberian Peninsula during MIS 3. In this paper, we describe the small mammal assemblage from Stratigraphic Unit V, the youngest unit with evidence of human presence, based on nearly 1300 specimens. A total of seven rodents (Microtus arvalis, Microtus duodecimcostatus, Microtus cabrerae, Sciurus vulgaris, Arvicola sapidus, Eliomys quercinus and Apodemus sylvaticus), three insectivores (Talpa occidentalis, Crocidura sp., Sorex sp.) and one lagomorph (Oryctolagus cf. cuniculus) were identified. Palaeocological analyses point to drier conditions in this part of the stratigraphic sequence, supporting the hypothesis that an aridification scenario may have played a role in the extinction of the Neanderthal groups inhabiting this region of the Iberian Peninsula.

The middle–late Cambrian is a key interval between the Cambrian Explosion and the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE) that marks a major biologic evolutionary transition in the geologic record. Diversity (i.e. richness) patterns in this interval show that macro-biota experienced evolutionary setbacks for the first time. However, relatively little attention has been paid to this interval in previous macroevolutionary studies and very different conclusions about the diversity patterns in coarse time-resolution have been documented. As a dominate group of marine benthic organisms in the Cambrian, trilobites provide insightful information to understand the history of biodiversity in the Cambrian marine ecosystem from the Cambrian Explosion to the GOBE. South China is a region with relatively good preservation of Cambrian fossil materials and sections, and 4 out of 6 Cambrian GSSPs were established in South China. In this paper, we use constrained optimization (CONOP) to correlate 19 sections from South China to reduce the Signor-Lipps effect and integrate the results with high-resolution chronostratigraphic data to evaluate the middle–late Cambrian trilobite diversity pattern in South China. This study, for the first time, constructs a high time-resolution (about 60 kyr) trilobite species-level richness curve with estimated time from Age 4 to the Paibian. A double-peaked species diversification is separated by a minor extinction in Stage 4; this is followed by a gradual decline of species diversity over the entire Wuliuan Age. A radiation of three times increase of species diversity in the Drumian and Guzhangian is exhibited and the diversity remains high for most of the Guzhangian Stage; this is followed by a great extinction at the end of the Guzhangian with around 50% species lost. Detailed comparison with previous composite studies and fossil material from single sections revealed that the Signor-Lipps effect could produce large biases in diversity pattern. In addition, a precise analysis of species evolution features compared with environmental indices provides a perspective about trilobite evolutionary mechanisms associated with environmental changes related to the carbon cycle and biotic competition.

Members of the Order Notoungulata are among the most diverse and common mammals in South America during the Cenozoic. Several lineages within notoungulates (e.g., suborders Typotheria and Toxodontia) show a tendency for increased body sizes and hypsodonty during the last 50 Myr. However, the timing, evolutionary mode, and drivers of such tendencies are not entirely understood. In this paper, we use an extensive database of notoungulate fossil occurrences and body mass and hypsodonty estimates to characterize the evolutionary mode of these two phenotypic traits over time, test the extent to which several factors (e.g., development of open environments in the south of South America) have influenced it through time, and investigate whether large trait values were selected through elevated origination or reduced extinction rates. Our results demonstrate that most of the major notoungulate clades evolved toward larger body sizes (up 1500 kg) and higher tooth crown, from a small and low-crowned tooth ancestor, in a punctuated mode. We also show that body mass and the hypsodonty in typotherians and toxodonts had a coupled evolutionary history. Species sorting was a relevant macroevolutionary process in some notoungulate clades, as taxa with high teeth crown and body mass had lower extinction rates. Finally, the development of the hypsodonty in notoungulates must reflect repeated and quick instances of adaptive responses to the increased availability of volcanic or other terrigenous particles, within the broad context of the SSA Cenozoic Andean mountain building.

Coprolites are commonly identified in the Pleistocene archaeo-palaeontological record. They have often been described as indirect evidence for the presence of carnivores (usually hyenids) during the formation of a depositional sequence. However, coprolites are a much larger source of information that can provide data relating to factors affecting an archaeological assemblage, including its taphonomic history and palaeoecology. In this paper, two fossil coprolite accumulations dating to the late Early Pleistocene are described: Level TD6.1 of Gran Dolina (Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos) and Unit II of la Mina (Barranc de la Boella, Tarragona). The results highlight the morphological homogeneity of these hyena coprolites, despite a considerable variation in size. The presence of microspherulites is clearly identified in all of the analysed hyena coprolites. Their composition is rich in elements characteristic of bone-origin, such as calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P). A major difference, however, differentiating the remains from these sites was a higher frequency of bone fragments in the la Mina coprolites, regarding to TD6.1. Pollen, spores, and palynomorphs are scarce in the samples from both sites, which in fact share similar ecological characteristics such as the presence of pine, wild grasses, and coprophilous fungi. Hyena coprolites are relatively easy to differentiate from those of other taxa; however, they show intra-specific similarities in their micro- and macro-morphology and composition, despite their wide size range. The species of hyenids responsible for the coprolites is not possible to identify based exclusively on the size range, and the importance of a multidisciplinary study of the latrines and the coprolites is discussed as a source of palaeoecological and taphonomic information. In this study, coprolites are analysed, compared, and attributed to a hyenid, identified as Crocuta crocuta in the case of TD6.1, but without specific attribution in the case of la Mina., The research at Barranc de la Boella has been carried out with the financial support of the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad projects: CGL2012-38358; CGL2012-38434-C03-03; CGL2012-36682, and HAR2012-32548. The Generalitat de Catalunya, AGAUR agency, provided projects 2014SGR-901, 2014PBR-899 and the framework of CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya. Financial support for Barranc de la Boella fieldwork and archaeological excavations has been provided by the Ajuntament de La Canonja the Diputació de Tarragona and the Departament de Cultura (Servei d'Arqueologia i Paleontologia) (2014/100574) of the Generalitat de Catalunya. The research at Sierra de Atapuerca has been carried out with the financial support of the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER): CGL2015-65387-C3-1-P (MINECO/FEDER).

Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae are the two main pollen taxa in studies of lake sediments on the central and western Tibetan Plateau (TP). In this paper, we present Artemisia /Chenopodiaceae (A/C) ratios in pollen assemblages of surface sediments from 42 lakes on the central and western TP. Relationships between vegetation, climate and A/C ratio are investigated. The results show that the A/C ratio in the study region can distinguish desert from steppe vegetation. As a whole, the A/C ratio was higher than 1.2 in the steppe vegetation and lower than 1.2 in the desert vegetation zone. Statistical analysis revealed that the A/C ratio can be used as a moisture indicator on the TP. Based on the A/C ratio in pollen assemblages of sediment core TAN12-2 from Lake Tangra Yumco, we reconstructed the vegetation and climate history of the southern TP during the transitional period from the late glacial to the Holocene (17.5–10 cal kyr BP). From 17.5 to 16 cal kyr BP, desert vegetation occurred and climate was extremely dry. During 16–15 cal kyr BP, desert was replaced by steppe vegetation and climate became wetter. From 15 to 10 cal kyr BP, the lake basin of Tangra Yumco was covered by the steppe vegetation and climate tended to be more humid. Comparing our results with other lacustrine records on the TP, we found that the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) significantly affected the southern TP earlier than the northeastern TP.

This paper provides a high-resolution temperature reconstruction for the last Millennium from Lake Atnsjøen, SE Norway (61°52′31″N, 10°10′37″E). The sedimentary record reveals strong influence of the large-scale global climate patterns on the local climate in southern part of Eastern Norway. We reconstructed mean July air temperature using Chironomidae-based transfer function and fossil Chironomidae assemblages. The reconstruction was supported by a selection of climate-sensitive geochemical and paleoecological sedimentary proxies of terrestrial and aquatic origin, including Cladocera, pollen and macrofossils. Presented results revealed that summer temperatures were 1–2 °C warmer than the mean Millennial temperatures during the 11th, 13th, 15th and 20th centuries and 1–2 °C lower during the 12th, 14th, 17th–18th centuries. A persistent cold period, the Little Ice Age (LIA), occurred between 1550 and 1800 CE, was interrupted by a short warming at 1650 CE. The recognized regional climate fluctuations during the last Millennium affected the lake and its catchment, of which the strongest impact was caused by the LIA cooling. During the LIA the catchment vegetation was impacted by climate deterioration and the lake productivity reached its lowest level during the last Millennium. The current temperature reconstruction is in agreement with a previous continental scale temperature reconstruction for Europe. From obtained results it emerges that during the LIA the climate of western Scandinavia has been dictated by the atmospheric patterns originating from the North Atlantic. peerReviewed

Evaluating and understanding bio-environmental relationships at different spatial and temporal scales is important for accurately assessing marine productivity in relation to oceanographic conditions in changing Arctic ecosystems. In this paper, we compare four different bio-environmental datasets, in order to shed new light on the complex marine ecosystem of the Baffin Bay-Labrador Sea region, as well as the historical links between environmental changes and the ecosystem. Satellite dataset was used to describe the regional distribution of chlorophyll a, sea ice concentration (SIC), sea surface temperature (SST) and sea surface salinity (SSS). Chlorophyll a data were also analysed together with shrimp assessment dataset to examine the relationship between marine pelagic productivity and bottom feeders off the Greenland coast. A microfossil dataset (diatom valves) from 57 surface sediment stations was used to describe diatom concentration and diversity across the study region. It was also used in combination with satellite data from the same sites to analyse species-environment relationships and develop a diatom-based transfer function for reconstructing past changes in SIC, SST and SSS. Subsequently, we applied the diatom transfer function on three short sediment cores from off SW and W Greenland spanning the last few centuries. A monitoring dataset of sea ice observations and instrumental measurements of water temperature and salinity, together with atmospheric data (air temperature and wind conditions) from Greenland, were used to develop a more complete picture of 20th and 21st century changes in ocean-climate conditions. Our comparative analyses show clear spatial distribution patterns of marine phytoplankton and identify key ecological groups linked to oceanic conditions. In addition, we find a significant correlation between the different trophic levels, culminating in a ‘productivity boom’ in 2001 CE. On a longer temporal scale, the transfer function reconstructions reveal a good correlation with the satellite, monitoring and observational trends, as well as a consistent, long-term decrease in sea ice linked to ocean-climate variability.

Experimental taphonomy using microbial mats offers new insights into the mechanisms involved in the decay of organisms and their preservation as fossils. In this paper, the experimental decay products of soft-bodied insect larvae (the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella, and the mealworm, Tenebrio molitor) in microbial mats have been described and compared with those of grylloid fossils derived from the Cretaceous Crato Formation of Brazil. This novel approach characterises the decay and mineralisation of different tissues (cuticle, gut tract, silk gland, trachea, and fat body tissues) using transverse histological sections. Multivariate seriation statistics using histology indicate a significant non-random process, in which the two species show the same general decay sequence, namely: decay of fat bodies and muscles on Day 11, digestive degradation and occurrence of endogenous bacteria on approximately Day 30, and degradation of cuticles and tracheal networks (the most perdurable) on Days 60 and 120, respectively. Principal component analysis, based on the qualitative features of the decaying state of tissues, showed that the greatest alterations occurred between Days 60 and 180 in the controls without mats; however, in the microbial mat experiments, larvae showed better preservation overall. Based on scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, mineralisation of the larvae extends outside the cuticle and inner tissues. The predominance of certain anions (sulfate, chloride, and phosphate) is associated with the microbial activity of the mat community and the composition of water. The organic mesh of exopolymeric substances and cyanobacteria enriched in elements (e.g., Na and Mg) formed an amorphous crust that covered the larval body. This crust is similar to the massive crystallised external film found on the grylloid fossils derived from the Crato Formation of Brazil. The minerals were found to vary with location and time, with sulfates appearing mostly internally and for longer periods. Sulfurisation is discussed as the principal preservation process and is rapid in the early stages of organic matter decay. This comparison between the outcomes produced by taphonomic experiments using actual microbial mats and exceptionally preserved fossils can provide valuable information to understand more about the formation of numerous Konservat-Lagerstatten.

In this paper, we report late Pleistocene to Holocene changes in the shell size and age structure of the gastropod, Opeas striatissimum, in two loess profiles in the Chinese Loess Plateau, spanning the past 27 ka. During the interval of ~17–8 ka, in response to climatic warming, we observed marked increases in shell dimensions and a more diverse age structure (age classes), as well as a ~20% increase in the number of adult individuals. Shell growth and enhanced survival from juvenile to adult, in turn, resulted in an increase in the population size, which reached a maximum during the interval ~8–3 ka, corresponding to the Holocene Climatic Optimum. We also observed an abrupt decrease in shell height and related significant decreases in the total number of individuals of Opeas striatissimum and adult individuals at the time of the Younger Dryas cold climatic event. We suggest that the observed morphologic and demographic changes observed for Opeas striatissimum reflect changes in the growing season, linked to changes in monsoon rainfall and climate stability, in response to climate fluctuations from the late Pleistocene to the Holocene. Our study provides a long-term perspective that helps refine mechanistic population models of invertebrates in the face of future climate change.

The Lhasa Terrane of Tibet is critical to understanding Early Triassic crustal convergence of Gondwana and Eurasia. However, its palaeo-position during this period remains obscure. This paper considers the disputed tectonic nature of the Lhasa Terrane during Triassic time. The debate has taken the form of two schools of thought regarding the Lhasa Terrane. One holds that the terrane was a stable carbonate platform during Triassic time. The opposing view maintains that the Lhasa Terrane occupied a compressional orogenic belt. These contrasting explanations stem mainly from the absence of a sedimentary record, especially in the southern part of the Lhasa Terrane of Tibet. We report on results of a biostratigraphic investigation of a dolomite unit considered to be of Guadalupian age in the Comai area, southern Lhasa Terrane. This work yielded the ellisonid conodont species Pachycladina rendona n. sp. Wu and Ji suggesting an Early Triassic age and a low latitude depositional setting of the dolomite. Further, these findings favor correlation of the dolomite with the upper member of the Upper Permian to Lower Triassic Mujiuco Formation. Results of the present study, especially the newly collected Pachycladina fauna, suggest that the Lhasa Terrane was an element of a low-latitude carbonate platform that had separated from Gondwana during the Early Triassic. It is hoped that our findings will promote further research of the Triassic sedimentary history and paleogeographic evolution of the Lhasa Terrane.

This paper presents a high-resolution analysis of dinoflagellate cyst groups (1959 to 2009), in the southern Gulf of California (GoC). We analyzed 100 samples of laminated sediments with an effective sampling resolution of ~7 months. Our primary goal is to clarify the relation between changes in these groups and the climate forcing defined by the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) indices. Principal component analysis indicates three groups (A1, A2, and A3). A1 and A3 are mostly constituted by dinoflagellate cysts of heterotrophic taxa, while A2 is composed mainly of autotrophic taxa. Strong El Nino events decrease the contribution of all dinoflagellate cyst groups, while extreme La Nina events increase the contribution of the A2 and A3 groups. Also, the PDO modulates the marine productivity in the southern GoC, with cold phases increasing productivity, while the warm stages decrease productivity. As with climatic events in the southern GoC, autotrophic and heterotrophic taxa of dinoflagellate cysts respond clearly, when PDO and ENSO are in phase. Finally, dinoflagellate cyst concentrations in laminated sediments can be used regionally, as a chronostratigraphic tool in the last 50 years.