Search

No description provided.

Palaeoecological data are unique historical archives that extend back far beyond the last several decades of ecological observations. However, the fossil record of continental shelves has been perceived as too coarse (with centennial-millennial resolution) and incomplete to detect processes occurring at yearly or decadal scales relevant to ecology and conservation. Here, we show that the youngest (Anthropocene) fossil record on the northern Adriatic continental shelf provides decadal-scale resolution that accurately documents an abrupt ecological change affecting benthic communities during the twentieth century. The magnitude and the duration of the twentieth century shift in body size of the bivalve Corbula gibba is unprecedented given that regional populations of this species were dominated by small-size classes throughout the Holocene. The shift coincided with compositional changes in benthic assemblages, driven by an increase from approximately 25% to approximately 70% in median per-assemblage abundance of C. gibba. This regime shift increase occurred preferentially at sites that experienced at least one hypoxic event per decade in the twentieth century. Larger size and higher abundance of C. gibba likely reflect ecological release as it coincides with an increase in the frequency of seasonal hypoxia that triggered mass mortality of competitors and predators. Higher frequency of hypoxic events is coupled with a decline in the depth of intense sediment mixing by burrowing benthic organisms from several decimetres to less than 20 cm, significantly improving the stratigraphic resolution of Anthropocene fossil record and making it possible to detect sub-centennial ecological changes on continental shelves.

The 10Be/9Be ratio is acknowledged as an effective tool for establishing the stratigraphic position of paleomagnetic excur-sions. Still, our data suggest that, in particular depositional settings, the interplay between climate, sedimentation and oceanography may jeopardize a realistic depiction of the natural 10Be/9Be record.

The rising global temperature and sea-level have led to concern about the increase of parasites at our latitudes. Ecological studies on parasitism is forcibly restricted to short-time intervals (months/years). The Holocene fossil record can offer a quantitative archive of ecological responses to geological short (102-103 yr) but societally relevant past climate transitions. This study investigates infestation frequency (prevalence) of trematode flatworms attributed to Gymnophallids through the last 9ky in modern and Holocene brackish settings. These parasites typically display a complex lifecycle with three hosts. It is usually in the second host that gymnophallids encyst in a latent stage of metacercaria and induce the active growth of oval pits on the interior of the shell. These pits are preserved in the fossil record, thus providing a proxy for past parasitic dynamics. We focused on the brackish bivalve Abra segmentum due to its abundance in Holocene brackish settings. A sampling campaign was performed in the lagoons of Piallassa Baiona, Saline di Cervia (Emilia Romagna) and Lesina (Apulia). As for Emilia Romagna sites, ~200 specimens have been collected from June to July 2017. In Lesina, ~100 specimens were collected in the winter of 2016 and ~200 specimens in the following summer. Each specimen was examined to detect the presence of sporocyst, cercariae and metacercariae of digenean trematodes. The soft tissues of infected clams have been preserved in ethanol 70% and photographed with a digital camera at different magnification (4x and 10x) for morphological and molecular identification. The shells of all bivalves (modern and fossil) were observed with a stereomicroscope to detect the presence of parasite traces. In modern brackish setting parasite prevalence, when restricted to samples with only metacercariae, shows a low spatial variability. The mean prevalence is comparable among Lesina and Saline di Cervia (21%±5%, and 20%±5%, respectively) and lower in Piallassa Baiona (7%±3%). At seasonal scale, Lesina samples collected in the winter show a reduced prevalence respect to the summer ones, attaining a maximum value of 6%. On the contrary, across Holocene brackish deposits single sample infestation, range from 6% to 70% and display a significant temporal variation along core (that is, outside the 95% confidence bound estimated via randomization). Significantly elevated infestations are recovered proximity to previously documented flooding surfaces. Whereas, non-significantly prevalence estimates (i.e., within 95% confidence bound) all occurred within the sedimentary units bounded by surfaces that testify past floods. In addition, measurements of the pits on the living bivalve shells are smaller and morphologically less pronounced (shallow) than the fossil counterparts. Finally, the average infestation (pits) in the brackish deposits during phases of rapid sea level rise (flooding surfaces), is significantly higher (~57% ± 4%) than the highest prevalence recorded in modern settings (~32% ± 4%). This result hints a possible association between significantly elevated prevalence and centennial scale flooding events and support the link between sea-level rise and increasing parasite activity. The recognition of the link between parasite prevalence and past sea-level rises provides us with an important reference framework for assessing near-future parasite related threats ignited by global warming.

Ostracods, small crustaceans living in almost every aquatic depositional setting, are widely used in palaeoenvironmental reconstructions due to their well-known ecological sensitivity. A close connection between the composition of ostracod fauna and the Milankovitch climate-eustatic variability has been documented in several Plio-Pleistocene marine sections of the Central Mediterranean area. The Valle di Manche section (VdM; Calabria, southern Italy), one of the suitable candidates to host the Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) of the Ionian Stage-Middle Pleistocene, represents an ideal venue where to investigateostracodturnoverinrelationtoorbitallyforcedpalaeoenvironmentalchanges,beingfirmlyconstrained in time and well documented by a number of independent climatic proxy. A high-resolution, quantitative analysis of the ostracod fauna has been undertaken on the middle part of the VdM, ca. 30 m-thick and showing two T-R cycles developed at the Lower-Middle Pleistocene transition (late MIS 21 to early MIS 18). Within each cycle, a relatively thin, fining-upward transgressive muddy unit is overlain by gradually coarsening upward and more expanded regressive silty to sand packages. A total of 40 samples have been selected to characterise the whole spectrum of lithofacies and detect highfrequency palaeoenvironmental variations especially within homogeneous clayey stratigraphic intervals. Taxa typical of circalittoral (>70/100 m) depths (e.g., Bosquetina dentata, Cytherella vulgatella, Cytheropteron monoceros, Pterygocythereis ceratoptera and Krithe species), commonly accompanied by the lower circalittoralbathyal species Henryhowella sarsii, occur within the fine-grained units developed during the full interglacials of MIS 21 and MIS 19. Furthermore, ostracod assemblages document that the oxygen availability at the sea floor changed during MIS 19. In contrast, a less-diversified ostracod fauna dominated by Aurila convexa, a species preferring vegetated sandy substrates in the upper circalittoral zone, characterises coarser glacial deposits. Atop the sandy successions A. convexa is partially replaced by Semicytherura ruggierii, suggesting a further decrease in palaeobathymetry and, possibly, an increase in riverine influence. Within each T-R cycle vertical changes in ostracod fauna track both an overall deepening-shallowing upward trendandhigh-frequencyvariationsinstratalstackingpatterns,allowingthepreciseidentificationofkeysequence stratigraphic surfaces: Transgressive Surface (TS) and Maximum Flooding Surface (MFS). The former, which is marked by a sharp increase in Krithe, Cytherella and Cytheropteron species, develops during the late d18O glacial termination. The MFS, invariably highlighted by concomitant highest and lowest percentages of H. sarsii and A. convexa respectively, matches the lightest d18O values recorded by foraminifers and corresponding to full interglacial conditions. Within the MIS 19 muddy unit, the MFS is identified few decimeters above the Pitagora ash layer, a prominent bed close to the Matuyama-Brunhes geomagnetic reversal.

Details of the geological setting, resampling models and statistical analyses. Supplementary figures S1–S9.

Understanding past seasonal temperature variability in the ocean is essential to evaluate the effects of future climate change on marine ecosystems. Here, we estimate seasonal amplitudes and average water temperature from stable oxygen isotope (δ18Oshell) values assuming δ18Owater values of 0.9±0.1permill (V-SMOV). Fossil valves of the bivalve Arctica islandica were collected from three Pleistocene successions (middle-late Calabrian) in Italy. Biostratigraphic analyses from Tacconi Quarry deposits (Rome) indicate an age between 1.6 and 1.2 Ma, while Augusta and Cutrofiano (Lecce) successions are slightly more recent (1.1 and 0.62 Ma, respectively). Prior to carbonate geochemical analysis, we checked the shells for potential diagenetic alterations (e.g., from aragonite to calcite). Stable oxygen isotope (δ18Oshell) profiles of eleven fossil A. islandica valves all depict a relatively low seasonality scenario. δ18Oshell amplitudes vary between 0.4permill and 1.1permill implying a reconstructed seasonal water temperature amplitude of 1.7 ̊C to 4.8 ̊C. The reconstructed average water temperature for the Sicilian population (i.e., 9 valves) is 9.5±0.47 ̊C for δ18Owater 0.9±0.1permill and coincides well with temperature requirements for modern A. islandica. The low seasonality scenario (ca. 3 ̊C) represented by the shells and the low reconstructed water temperatures, colder than modern water temperatures let to the conclusion that the shells lived during a maximum glacial phase when relatively constant water temperatures prevailed throughout the year.

Elucidating the history of biotic interactions in the fossil record has been a primary theme in paleobiology during the last decades. The majority of this pursuit has been the examination of the activities of predators, and has highlighted the likely role of antagonistic interactions in shaping macroevolutionary trends. However, the role of parasite-host interactions in deep time has not received comparable systematic treatment. Parasitism is one of the most pervasive phenomena amongst modern eukaryotic life and, by contrast, only a minority of studies are known about it in deep time. Here, looking for trematode induced pits, we surveyed >3,000 valves from cored Holocene back-barrier (freshwater to brackish) regressive deposits of the south-eastern Po coastal plain (Northern Italy). The results are contrasted against previous investigations that focused on more distal, shallow marine (shoreface to offshore transition) deposits from the same area. As in previously (and more distally) investigated deposits, preliminary results indicate that digenean trematodes are selective parasites in terms of host taxonomy and host body size. Indeed the bulk of trematode traces were recovered in Abra segmentum: a shallow infaunal siphonate bivalve. Furthermore, as in previous investigations, trematode distribution was environmentally restricted, primarily recovered in lagoonal paleoenvironments with a peak in inner lagoonal settings. Trematode prevalence is higher in lagoonal settings than in lower shoreface settings. Such studies of trematodes prevalence and its millennial scale dynamics are also of basic importance to providing a reference system for evaluating severity and significance of anthropogenic changes in such environments.

La classificazione dei taxa plio-pleistocenici della famiglia Mangeliidae è da sempre un argomento difficile, che si presta a controverse interpretazioni. Gli autori, come nei precedenti volumi, hanno posto alla base delle loro analisi il reperimento dei tipi e le loro definizioni originali, pietre miliari della ricerca tassonomica. Questo approccio ha permesso di verificare, ad esempio, come alcune specie siano definite da serie tipo ormai scomparse e da descrizioni non sufficienti a caratterizzarle. Gli autori, in questi casi, hanno determinato gli esemplari studiati sulla base dell’iconografia (quando possibile dei tipi) e delle pubblicazioni successive, pur con il beneficio del dubbio, esteso anche a tutte le citazioni precedenti della specie, che suggerisce la necessità di reperire dei topotipi e designare un neotipo. Questi casi documentano la serietà della loro revisione (vedi nota dei curatori del vol. 1). Nella determinazione degli esemplari fossili gli autori hanno preso in considerazione anche i taxa attuali del Mediterraneo con relative problematiche tassonomiche, condizione indispensabile per affrontare la classificazione e la determinazione delle specie plio-pleistoceniche. Può essere motivo di discussione l’elevato numero di nuove specie proposto; ma negli studi sulla biodiversità è più opportuno segnalare nuovi taxa che trascurarne le peculiarità ed affossarne forse per sempre la possibilità di una distinzione. Saranno le ricerche future che decreteranno la validità o meno di queste nuove specie. La classificazione e la determinazione dei Conoidea hanno sempre rappresentato uno scoglio notevole e come conseguenza la loro utilizzazione per analisi biogeografiche e/o sulla biodiversità è sempre stata limitata. In letteratura infatti sono stati prevalentemente utilizzati gruppi con classificazioni più consolidate (ad esempio i bivalvi) e quindi con distribuzioni stratigrafiche, biogeografiche ed ecologiche più affidabili. Vorremmo ricordare, concludendo, che l’obiettivo di partenza degli autori era proprio quello di fornire un contributo alla possibilità di utilizzare correntemente questo taxon per analisi biogeografiche e paleoecologiche nel Plio-Pleistocene.

Inquiry into the utility of bivalve sclerochemistry as an archive of heavy metal pollutants within aquatic settings has produced mixed results. Factors beyond the actual concentration of pollutants within the environment, including varying growth rates and other physiological factors of the bivalve, can influence heavy metal concentration within the shell. Here we investigate the utility of the invasive infaunal suspension feeding bivalve Tapes philippinarum as a sclerochemical archive of heavy metal pollution in lagoons of the northern Adriatic Sea, Italy. In May 2014 we collected live and dead/articulated specimens from the Laguna di Venezia (LdV), Sacca di Canarin (SdC), and Sacca di Scardovari (SdS). The LdV has experienced intense pollution due to its long urban history and industrial development, however the SdC and SdS are in close proximity to rural/agricultural settings and are important commercial shellfisheries. Therefore, we hypothesize that the heavy metal concentrations of bivalves will be greater in the LdV than in the SdC or SdS. To date, eight individuals (two from LdV and three from both SdC and SdS) were sectioned along growth for serial analysis of trace element content via LA-ICP-MS resulting in a total of 1,226 spot analyses (40 µm x 80 µm in size) spaced 100 µm apart. When parsed by location, the median concentrations of Ni, Zn, Cu, Cd, and Pb were significantly higher in LdV than in SdC and SdS. This general spatial pattern is consistent with our hypothesis. There are, however, significant differences in median heavy metal concentration among individuals from the same location. Moreover, temporal (ontogenetic) trends of heavy metal concentrations from live-collected individuals from the same location were typically incongruent. These heavy metal concentrations were typically positively correlated with K:Ca, suggesting association with the organic shell matrix. Bivalve sclerochemistry can provide reliable results regarding the spatial distribution of heavy metal pollution when pooling numerous analyses from multiple individuals per location. We cannot yet yield consistent pollution histories for a given location at the temporal scale of the life span of an individual, however this is not to say that we could not resolve pollution history at the scale of successive stratigraphic intervals.

Parasitism is one of the most pervasive phenomena amongst modern eukaryotic life and yet, relative to other biotic interactions, very little is known about its history in deep time. As many parasites are small-bodied and lack biomineralized skeletons, we should not expect an extensive record of body fossils, therefore we must also seek evidence for parasitism in the form of traces and malformations on the mineralized hosts. Digenean trematodes (Platyhelminthes) are complex life cycle parasites, which have practically no body fossil record, but induce the growth of characteristic malformations in the shells of their bivalve hosts. Many of these malformations are readily preserved in the fossil record, but, until recently, have largely been overlooked by students of the fossil record. In this talk, we present the various malformations induced by trematodes in living bivalves, evaluate the distribution of these traces through deep time in the phylogenetic and ecological contexts of their bivalve hosts, explore how various taphonomic processes have likely biased our understanding of trematodes in deep time, and evaluate their utility as paleoenvironmental indicators. Trematodes are known to negatively affect their bivalve hosts in a number of ways including castration, modifying growth rates, causing immobilization and, in some cases, altering host behavior making the host more susceptible to their own predators. Digeneans are expected to be significant agents of natural selection. To that end, we discuss how bivalves may have adapted to their parasites via heterochrony. Additionally we will explore how the fossil record of trematodes can inform our predictions for shallow marine and estuarine ecosystems in the context of anthropogenic climate change and sea level rise.

The area surrounding Taranto, Italy is chronostratigraphically very important, as it is one of the few areas in the world where Upper Pleistocene marine successions are well exposed, easily accessible, and relatively thick. Several outcrops in this area were investigated as suitable marine sections for defining the Late Pleistocene GSSP. At these locations, the late Pleistocene bathymetric history of the Taranto area was depicted using macrobenthic assem- blages from a network of outcrops and cores. Outcrops at Pontile, Fronte, and Garitta, along with two cores drilled at Cimino and Cantoro were densely sampled to conduct quantitatively-derived paleobathymetric reconstructions. These deposits yielded relatively diverse mollusk associations (> 250 species and > 9.000 specimens distributed among 55 samples), dominated by extant mollusk species of known bathymetric distribution. Multiple analytical approaches were applied to the macrobenthic dataset in a comparative fashion: (i) direct calibration by weighted averaging of taxa with known preferred depth recovered in a sample, (ii) posteriori-calibrated ordination (DCA) us- ing bathymetric data of key extant taxa. These analyses were conducted at both species and genus level. Regardless of the choice of the analytical method, mollusk assemblages yielded bathymetric trends congruent with previous qualitative and semi-quantitative paleoecological and stratigraphic analyses: the bathymetric range of sampled deposits is bracketed between 140 and 0 meters. Secondly, macrobenthos-derived proxies provided an improved characterization of the marine deposits in terms of sample bathymetry and by discriminating shallowing-upward (regressive) trends from deepening-upward (transgressive) tendencies. Thirdly, mollusk-derived bathymetric infer- ences suggest spatial bathymetric gradients that are coherent with the morphology of the study area. In conclusion, the results provided an improved characterization of coastal depositional facies in a sequence stratigraphic per- spective, which is one of the primary research goals of Stratigraphic Paleobiology.

Understanding the climate of the past, in particular seasonal temperature amplitudes, is essential to evaluate the effects of future climate change on marine ecosystems. The Mediterranean is of particular importance, because of its crucial role in modern ocean atmosphere phenomena such as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). We analyzed fossil shells of the bivalve Arctica islandica collected from Pleistocene successions in Central and Southern Italy (i.e., Rome, Lecce and Sicily). According to preliminary biostratigraphic data the studied deposits belong to the middle Calabrian, between 1.2-0.9 Ma for the Sicily outcrop and 1.4-1.2 Ma for the Rome and Lecce outcrops. Prior to isotope geochemical analysis confocal Raman microscopy measurements were conducted to detect potential diagenetic alterations (e.g., from aragonite to calcite). The seasonal water temperature amplitude was reconstructed using stable oxygen isotope (δ18O) values, which were derived by micro-milling and Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry. Analysis of the growth patterns (on-going research) revealed ontogenetic ages of up to 210 years. These time series are used for the identification of multi-year (i.e., decadal) patterns, such as the NAO. First results of our study indicate that seasonality was remarkably low during the studied geological epoch. This is in sharp contrast to previous assumptions according to which the simultaneous occurrence of boreal (A. islandica) and warm-water species in the Mediterranean Sea during the Pleistocene can be explained by high seasonality. Different links and scenarios on a regional as well as a bigger scale will be discussed.

A new species of mangeliid, Bela pseudoappeliusi (Neogastropoda, Conoidea), is described from the Plio-Pleistocene of Italy. The systematic description is based on a series of eleven specimens selected from the numerous findings in northern and central Italy (Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany and Lazio). The new species shows affinities to Bela (s.l.) appeliusi (Bellardi, 1877) with regard to particular features such as shell dimension, teleoconch sculpture and aperture morphology. The study includes a detailed survey of the type locality as well as a brief account of occurrences at other localities.

Bela Leach in Gray is a misapplied and broadly defined genus within the family Mangeliidae Fischer, 1883. Examination of material from the Montagu collection at the Royal Albert Memorial MuseumArt Gallery (RAMM) in Exeter (UK) led to the discovery of six specimens of Murex nebula Montagu 1803 (the type species of Bela). This material is considered to belong to the original lot used by Montagu to define his species. We selected the best-preserved specimen as a lectotype. The lectotype and paralectotypes deposited at the RAMM are fully described and illustrated. Furthermore, diagnostic characters for recognizing B. nebula specimens are presented: protoconch shows weak ornamentation; teleoconch is fusiform with slightly convex whorls characterized by broad, suture-to-suture ribs and dense but weak spiral elements; outer lip is thin; anal sinus is shallow, placed on the shoulder ramp. These key features are of basic importance for: i) restricting the usage of the genus Bela and promoting its stability and consistent usage in literature and ii) separating two allied (and sometimes interchanged) genera: Bela and Mangelia Risso 1826.

Integrating analysis of the benthic palaeoecological record with multivariate ordination techniques represents a powerful synergy able to provide an improved characterization of coastal depositional facies in a sequence stratigraphical perspective. Through quantitative analysis of benthic foraminifer, ostracod and mollusc associations from the postglacial succession of Core M3 (Arno coastal plain, Tuscany, Italy), and application of detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) to the mollusc sub-data set, we offer a refined picture of stratigraphical variations in faunal content from a paralic depositional setting, and reconstruct the palaeoenvironmental gradients that account for such variations. Despite distinct ecological behaviours, and taphonomic and sedimentological constraints, a strong ecological control on meio- and macrofaunal biofacies and taxa turnover is documented across the study succession. Amongst all possible mechanisms that may play a role in ‘shaping’ fossil distribution, the ecological signal driven by salinity represents the most prominent factor controlling the composition of fossil associations in the cored succession. Molluscs can even provide outstanding quantitative estimates of palaeosalinity along the sampled core. When plotted stratigraphically, the three fossil sub-data sets show consistent patterns of vertical evolution that enable prompt identification of the key surfaces for sequence stratigraphical interpretation in otherwise lithologically indistinguishable deposits. The concomitant maximum richness of species with strong marine affinity, paralleled by the highest DCA salinity estimates, allows recognition of the maximum flooding zone, dated to ∼7.7 cal. ka BP, within a homogeneous succession of outer lagoon clays. These clays are sandwiched between early transgressive, swamp to inner lagoon deposits and overlying prograding coastal−alluvial plain facies.

Latest Quaternary coastal deposits are not always exposed on the surface and in such cases can be directly investigated only by means of wells and/or trenches. This report describes how benthic ostracod and mollusk analyses performed on a network of cores enabled a detailed facies characterization of the Late Pleistocene-Holocene successions buried beneath the modern Po Delta and Arno plains (Italy). On the basis of relative abundance categories, key extant mollusk and ostracod taxa commonly retrieved from cored deposits are illustrated and discussed as fundamental facies discriminators. In addition, this report summarizes the major biofacies associations that were formed during the present interglacial in the targeted successions. Some biofacies attributions are straightforward, but others are ambiguous. Where evaluation of individual facies is difficult, the joint consideration of ostracods and mollusks may contribute important information about depositional environments. Finally, thorough the application of detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) to the mollusk part of the dataset, an interpretable paleobiological pattern emerges despite taphonomic and sedimentological overprints. Amongst all possible mechanisms that may play a role in ‘shaping’ macrofossil distribution, the ecological signal driven by salinity represents the most prominent factor controlling the composition of mollusk associations in back-barries environments, whereas water depth appears to be the main driver or the macrofaunal turnover in marine coastal environments. These results support the utility of the stratigraphic paleobiology approach as a fruitful strategy for investigating stratigraphic variations in faunal content from coastal setting and reconstructing the palaeoenvironmental gradients that shape the composition of marine communities.

Extensive core sampling of the Quaternary sedimentary successions of Po Plain produced a large quantitative dataset suitable for integrated analyses of paleobiological and sequence stratigraphic patterns. Building on previous research, we explore here changes in ecological (rather than taxonomic) composition of mollusk associations across the late Pleistocene and Holocene transgressive-regressive cycles. The Po Plain dataset includes 611 samples extracted from a network of 16 cores. The data include 131,780 specimens (234 species) of bivalves, gastropods, and scaphopods. Species abundance was converted to ecotype abundance. All species were classified into four types of ecological categories: Tiering, Mobility, Fixation, and Feeding. Within each of these four categories, multiple subcategories were used to subdivide species into finer ecotypes. At the finest ecological scale, the species present in the data encompassed 67 unique eco-categorical combinations (but over half of these combinations were represented by only one species). When grouped into coarser ecological categories (infaunal vs. epifaunal; mobile vs. non-mobile; etc.), the data was reduced to 11 unique combinations. The two resulting datasets were explored using Non-Metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) and beta turnover gradient analysis using Bray-Curtis Similarity measure. When the finely resolved ecotypes are used (67 variables), the resulting NMDS ordination and beta turnover gradients are nearly identical to the previous results obtained for genus and species-level taxonomic datasets indicating a tight correlation between water depth and faunal composition/turnover. This is most likely the case because most of the 67 combinations are represented by one or two abundant taxa, and thus the ecotype dataset is largely redundant with the taxonomic dataset. When these ecological categories are consolidated into coarser groupings, there is little relation between bathymetry and faunal composition and no pronounced gradient in beta turnover. The analyses based on eco-categorical specimen counts appear to be highly sensitive to the choice of categorization, with fine-scale eco-categories being largely repetitious with taxonomic data and coarse-scale categories offering a limited resolution in ordination analyses.

We present the results of detailed litho-, bio-, and magnetostratigraphic investigations along the Fronte section (Taranto, Italy), where the facies distribution is interpreted using a combined palaeoecological and sequence-stratigraphic approach. The data obtained so far suggest a continuous sedimentary record at the Fronte site, where the MIS 5e peak and subsequent highstand are documented, thus providing robust evidence for the Last Interglacial sedimentary interval.