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The Holocene colonisation of islands by humans has invariably led to deep-seated changes in landscape dynamics and ecology. In particular, burning was a management tool commonly used by prehistoric societies and it acted as a major driver of environmental change, particularly from the Neolithic onwards. To assess the role of early human impacts (e.g. livestock grazing, forest clearance and the cultivation of marginal land) in shaping "pristine" island landscapes, we here present a 350-year record of fire history and erosion from Malta, straddling the earliest peopling of the island. We show that recurrent anthropogenic burning related to Neolithic agro-pastoral practices began ∼7500 years ago, with well-defined fire-return intervals (FRI) of 15–20 years that engendered erosion and rapid environmental degradation. As early as the Neolithic, this study implies that, in sensitive insular contexts, just a few generations of human activities could rapidly degrade natural islandscapes. • We reconstruct fire history during the early Neolithic peopling of Malta. • Anthropogenic burning related to agro-pastoral practices began ∼7500 years ago. • Human-induced fire led to erosion and rapid environmental degradation. • A few generations of human activities could rapidly degrade natural islandscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background and purpose Physical activity provides substantial health benefits. Older adults are less physically active than the rest of the population, and interventions that promote physical activity are needed. In this meta-analysis, we investigate how different wearable activity trackers (pedometers and accelerometers) may impact physical activity levels in older adults. Methods We searched MEDLINE, Embase and CINAHL for randomized controlled trials including participants that were ≥65 years, using wearable activity trackers with the intent of increasing physical activity. Studies whose comparator groups were engaged in active or inactive interventions, such as continued a physical therapy program or goal-setting counseling, were not excluded simply for implementing co-interventions. We used random-effects models to produce standardized mean differences (SMDs) for physical activity outcomes. Heterogeneity was measured using I2. Results Nine studies met the eligibility criteria: Four using accelerometers, four using pedometers, and one comparing accelerometers and pedometers, for a total number of 939 participants. Using pooled data, we found a statistically significant effect of using accelerometers (SMD = 0.43 (95%CI 0.19–0.68), I2 = 1.6%, p = 0.298), but not by using pedometers (SMD = 0.17 (95%CI −0.08–0.43), I2 = 37.7%, p = 0.174) for increasing physical activity levels. Discussion and conclusions In this study, we found that accelerometers, alone or in combination with other co-interventions, increased physical activity in older adults however pedometers were not found to increase physical activity. The high risk of bias found in most studies limits these findings. High quality studies that isolate the effects of accelerometers on physical activity changes are needed. Highlights • Interventions that promote physical activity are needed for the less active older adult population. • Accelerometers, alone or in combination with co-interventions, increased physical activity in older adults. • High quality studies that isolate the effects of accelerometers on physical activity changes are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sea of Marmara is the connection between the vast Black Sea-Caspian Sea basin (Pontocaspian) and the Global Ocean via the Mediterranean Sea. Its water levels and water conditions has widely varied over times. Combining two cores in the Sea of Marmara (Turkey) and using organic-walled dinoflagellate cyst assemblages as the main proxy (combined with alkenones, diatoms and benthic foraminifera), allow qualitatively reconstructing water conditions during Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 6 and 5, such as salinity and oxygen level. A clear main marine phase is illustrated in MIS 5e. A minor marine incursion occurred during MIS 5c, mostly supported by alkenone data. The rest of the record indicates brackish Pontocaspian conditions, with more Spiniferites inaequalis in MIS 6 and more S. cruciformis in the non-marine parts of MIS 5. At the MIS 6/MIS 5 transition, an earlier initial marine flooding in the Sea of Marmara (dinocyst assemblages) in comparison to the Black Sea was highlighted. The marine reconnection occurred at different moments as seen in the terrestrial vegetation reconstructed from pollen analysis linking the two seas. The sapropels of the Sea of Marmara form when marine water penetrates at depth from the Aegean Sea beneath a layer of lower salinity water. Variations of the residence time of the marine deep water in a stratified Sea of Marmara are potentially an important factor underlying hypoxia/anoxia and sapropel deposition. When combining surface water proxies with benthic foraminifera (test assemblages and presence of inner organic lining), it appears that the successive MIS 5 sapropels formed under decreasing salinity and oxygen availability conditions as the marine inflow was increasingly restricted. Understanding the hydrologic evolution of the Sea of Marmara during MIS 5 implies taking into account that the Bosphorus and Dardanelle straits are hydrodynamically coupled and may not be simplified as on/off switches based on present day sill depths. • Dinocyst analyses of last interglacial and previous glacial in the Sea of Marmara on two long cores. • Marine phase in MIS5e (dinocysts, benthic foraminifera, alkenones) minor in MIS5c • BrackishPontocaspian conditions for rest of sequence although different in MIS6 & 5. • Earlier marine flooding at beginning of MIS5e in Sea of Marmara than in Black Sea. • Three sapropels highlight decreasing anoxic conditions over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Marmara region (NW Turkey) has a transitional vegetation and climate between the Mediterranean one and the Euxinian one. For the last Interglacial period or Eemian and following the two Saint-Germain Interstadials (i.e. c. MIS 5), as well and the previous glacial, the Saalian, no vegetation or climate information is available yet. Here we provide the results of the pollen analysis of two sediment cores taken from the Sea of Marmara. We focus on the period below a major erosion horizon, i.e. the red-H1 seismic horizon, which corresponds to the last Interglacial and a large part of the previous glacial period. A palaeoclimatic reconstruction inferred from pollen assemblages is also proposed here. Based on geochemistry that allows inter-core comparison and on a succession of warm and cold phases derived by pollen analysis, a nearly complete sequence from the Saalian Glacial period (c. MIS 6) to the Saint-Germain II Interstadial (MIS 5a) was obtained, despite the occurrence of hiatuses corresponding often to lowstands. The Pterocarya extinction has been traced from MIS 7 in Italy to Saint-Germain I Interstadial (c. MIS 5c) in the eastern Sea of Marmara, showing a progressive retreat from west to east until the Black Sea region, where it is still present nowadays. The climatic changes reconstructed for the Eemian Interglacial (or c. MIS 5e) are characterised by warmer temperature and a slightly drier climate than at present, at its peak. This pattern is in agreement with the Ohrid climate pattern, in the Balkans. In the Marmara region, this is reflecting a shift of the Mediterranean climate towards the NE and a reduction of the Euxinian vegetation. • Pollen analyses of last Interglacial and previous Glacial in Sea of Marmara. • Progressive Pterocarya extinction from MIS7 in S. Europe to MIS5c in Sea of Marmara. • Reduction of Euxinian vegetation and extension of the Mediterranean one during Eemian. • Eemian warmer and slightly drier than present climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: During the last decade, a debate arose regarding the timing and pattern of the last reconnection of the Black Sea “Lake” with the global ocean. On a geochemical basis, the radiocarbon age of Black Sea “Lake” surface water, during the time of reconnection, was determined to be ∼8400 14C a. BP. Despite the potential bias induced by the hard water effect in lakes, the reconnection age was calibrated without any reservoir age correction, which led to an estimate of ∼9400 cal a. BP. Since knowledge for the actual calendar age has important hydrologic implications that would provide new insights regarding the mechanism of reconnection, determining the actual calendar age for the last reconnection remains important. Based upon modeling experiments and micropaleontological reconstructions, the Black Sea “Lake” reconnection occurred in two steps, as follows: 1) Initial Marine Inflow (IMI) followed by 2) a period of increasing basin salinity that led to the Disappearance of Lacustrine Species (DLS). In order to better define the actual calendar age for the last reconnection, a review of the sedimentary expressions of the IMI and DLS boundaries was performed in order to correlate them throughout the Black Sea sedimentary environments. This correlation reconciles the apparent inconsistency in the published radiocarbon dataset, and provides the atmospheric radiocarbon age of the last reconnection, which represents the reference for reservoir age calculations and which can be directly calibrated. We determine reservoir ages for the water column, as well as the reconnection calendar age to be 9000 cal a. BP. At the reconnection with the global ocean, Black Sea “Lake” reservoir ages were non-negligible and water-depth-dependent, consistent with a weak water column stratification during the Early Holocene. The calibrated age of Initial Marine Inflow (9000 cal a. BP) implies that the former Bosphorus sill was shallower by ∼10 m than is commonly assumed in the literature. Compared to the sedimentary context of the Sakarya coastal plain, this result suggests that the level of the isolated Black Sea was below the former Bosphorus sill depth at the time of the last reconnection. Furthermore, a lag of ∼900 yr between Initial Marine Inflow and the Disappearance of Lacustrine Species indicates that approximately ten centuries were needed to establish the currently observed two-way flow exchange with the global ocean. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]