We present the results of our studies of the helminth fauna and the diet of the black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla Linnaeus, 1758) in the Gorodetskiy bird colonies on the Rybachiy Peninsula (Murman coast of the Barents Sea) carried out in 2006–2008 and in 2018–2020. We did not find any noticeable changes in the species diversity of the helminth fauna of the kittiwakes, the proportion of the dominant parasite species and the values of most quantitative infection indices between the two study periods. At the same time, there was a marked decrease in the mean abundance of the dominant cestode species (Alcataenia larina Krabbe, 1869 and Tetrabothrius erostris Loennberg, 1889) in 2018–2020 as compared to 2006–2008. The changes in parasitology of birds found in our study appear to be largely determined by fluctuations of abiotic conditions (increased water and air temperature) and the state of the food supply (size structure of the zooplankton) in the study area.

The White Sea being connected with the Arctic Ocean via the Barents Sea has an influence on its water temperature/salinity structures and biological processes and thus has an indirect impact on the Eurasian climate system. In this work, we have managed to find a correspondence between the climate fluctuation in the Holocene and changes in the geochemical and microfossil properties in the sediment core of the White Sea. For the first time, the element speciation in the sediment core covering about 10,000 cal yr BP period was investigated. The cooling periods (the early Holocene and the Subboreal stage) were characterized by a trend of increase in Si, Al, and Ti contents and Ti/Al ratios, which reflect lithogenous contribution, and decrease in geochemically labile forms of trace elements. A significant increase in the content of organic-bound trace elements and biogenic components (Сorg, BSi, and chlorin) was observed during periods of Holocene climatic optimums. The evident relationship between the metal speciation and indicators of the sedimentation paleoenvironment is observed at the stage of the active phase of early diagenesis after the slowing down of the biogeochemical processes. Down-core decrease in the Mn oxyhydroxide content exhibited a weakening of diagenesis processes at the ~130–150 cm depth.

Late to post-Variscan sedimentary basins of Sardinia were influenced during Pennsylvanian to Permian times by two main tectono-sedimentary cycles: a Pennsylvanian to Cisuralian cycle represented mainly by dark limnic deposits, overlain by a Guadalupian to a possibly Lopingian cycle, mostly characterized by red-bed deposits. Lacustrine waterbodies developed in some sedimentary basins that were filled with siliciclastic to frequently early silicified carbonate deposits, depending on the climate and environmental conditions, landscape morphology and tectonic regime. The limnic successions of the lower tectono-sedimentary cycle were deposited in permanent, tens of metres deep lakes in deep, narrow tectonic strike-slip basins under a temperate to warm-humid climate. They started as lakes with terrigenous sedimentary input and developed minor carbonate deposits mainly at the end of their story. Conversely, the red-bed successions of the upper cycle were deposited in ephemeral, shallow playa lakes related to wider basins in an extensive alluvial plain under a hot and arid climate. Here, the siliciclastic sediments are intercalated with thin carbonate beds that are typical of a high evaporation rate. The evolution of the lake type could be related not only to a major climatic shift, but also to the changing morphotectonic conditions of the Variscan chain influencing the local microclimate. Comparisons with coeval successions in the Provence Basin, the Massif Central Aumance basin (France) and the Saar–Nahe Basin (Germany) show both similarities and differences between the basins.

In this study, agro-morphological and yield-related traits associated with drought tolerance in 80 barley genotypes belonging to 15 wild species together with the cultivated one, and their potential to improve adaptation to different levels of drought stress conditions (moisture environments) were studied. There was significant genetic variation among the genotypes and species for all of the measured traits, as well as differential responses of genotypes across environments. The results indicated high variation for grain yield (GY) under drought stress among the genotypes, and that some of the wild genotypes had consistently superior specific adaptation to the water stress conditions. The genotypes belong to wild barley species, especially Hordeum murinum and Hordeum marinum had lower GY but relatively higher yield stability under different environments. Traits such as number of seed per plant and hundred kernel weight were positively correlated with GY in all of the environments. High negative correlation between GY and days to ripening was observed only under intense drought environment, showing drought escape as a strategy of wild plants under highly stressed conditions. Grouping of the genotypes by principal component analysis completely separated cultivated barley and its progenitor (Hordeum vulgare ssp. spontaneum) from other wild genotypes; however, the other wild species were slightly separated from each other. In addition, the Iranian and foreign genotypes did not completely separate from each other. The identified wild barley genotypes with favourable characters and high drought tolerance could be used in genetic studies and barley improvement programmes especially for drought stress.

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the compatibility between the Holocene relative sea-level (RSL) curves proposed for the Brazilian littoral and mangrove dynamics along a fluvial valley in the state of southern Bahia. This was done integrating geomorphological, sedimentological, palynological, and stable isotopic data from two cores collected at the mouth of the Jucuruçu River and at a site 23 km inland, near the city of Prado, northeastern Brazil. Core PR07, sampled from a fluvial plain at about 4.5±1 m above the RSL, reveals mangrove pollen (5–20%) and estuarine/terrestrial organic matter (δ13C=~–25‰, C/N=7.3–67) between 4.5 m (~7400 cal yr BP) and 1.75 m depth (~5350 cal yr BP). Core PR11, sampled from a mangrove tidal flat, also revealed mangrove pollen taxa (5-28%) since 660 cal yr BP. Core PR07 indicated absence of mangrove pollen and increase of sedimentary organic matter sourced from terrestrial C3 plants (δ13C=~–27‰, C/N=22–159) during the last 5350 cal yr BP. Probably, the changes in vegetation and sedimentary organic matter identified in core PR07 were caused by the combined effects of the RSL fluctuations, with a highstand at about 5350 cal yr BP of 2.7±1.35 m, and changes in fluvial discharge.

A high-resolution, well-dated dinoflagellate cyst record from a lagoon of the southeastern Swedish Baltic Sea reveals climate and hydrological changes during the Holocene. Marine dinoflagellate cysts occurred initially at about 8600 cal yr BP, indicating the onset of the Littorina transgression in the southeastern Swedish lowland associated with global sea level rise, and thus the opening of the Danish straits. Both the species diversity and the total accumulation rates of dinoflagellate cysts continued to increase by 7000 cal yr BP and then decreased progressively. This pattern reveals the first-order change in local sea level as a function of ice-volume-equivalent sea level rise versus isostatic land uplift. Superimposed upon this local sea level trend, well-defined fluctuations of the total accumulation rates of dinoflagellate cysts occurred on quasi-1000- and 500-yr frequency bands particularly between 7500 and 4000 cal yr BP, when the connection between the Baltic basin and the North Atlantic was broader. A close correlation of the total accumulation rates of dinoflagellate cysts with GISP2 ice core sea-salt ions suggests that fluctuations of Baltic surface conditions during the middle Holocene might have been regulated by quasi-periodic variations of the prevailing southwesterly winds, most likely through a system similar to the dipole oscillation of the modern North Atlantic atmosphere.

Quantitative analysis of macroecological patterns for late Pleistocene assemblages can be useful for disentangling the causes of late Quaternary extinctions (LQE). However, previous analyses have usually assumed linear relationships between macroecological traits, such as body size and range size/range shift, that may have led to erroneous interpretations. Here, we analyzed mammalian datasets to show how macroecological patterns support climate change as an important driver of the LQE, which is contrary to previous analyses that did not account for more complex relationships among traits. We employed quantile regression methods that allow a detailed and fine-tuned quantitative analysis of complex macroecological patterns revealed as polygonal relationships (i.e., constraint envelopes). We showed that these triangular-shaped envelopes that describe the macroecological relationship between body size and geographical range shift reflect nonrandom extinction processes under which the large-bodied species are more prone to extinction during events of severe habitat loss, such as glacial/interglacial transitions. Hence, we provide both a theoretical background and methodological framework to better understand how climate change induces body size-biased species sorting and shapes complex macroecological patterns.

Stratigraphic analysis of alluvial/colluvial sequences and 14C dating have been used as proxies for Holocene climate changes in the highlands of Tigray (northern Ethiopia). The studied records show alternations of buried soils and peaty–clayey sediments, pointing to wet, stabilization phases, and organic-free colluvium layers resulting from the abrupt occurrence of dry-climate episodes. The 14C dates, mostly unpublished, cluster in the 11,090–9915, 9465–9135, 8450–7330, 6720–3635, 2710–2345, and 1265–790 cal yr B.P. time spans. Evidence of subsequent pedogenesis is lacking in the area, apart from a buried humified horizon dated at 300 ± 60 14C yr B.P. (460–295 cal yr B.P.). Both the timing and the pattern of Tigray paleoclimatic events fit the corresponding framework, based on lake level changes, previously implemented for the Main Rift Valley. These findings give further support for arguing that the forcing mechanisms of the wet/dry fluctuations during the Holocene were effective over a large scale.

In the Netherlands the present-day thermal gradient in the shallow subsurface (i.e. the upper few 100 m), is around 20°C km–1, whereas at depths between 0.5 and 3 km it is ∼33°C km–1. This large contrast in the gradient between shallow and deeper parts of the subsurface occurs throughout the country and cannot be explained by either systematic thermal property changes with depth or the depositional setting of the region. In this paper we use a 1D thermal model for the crust and demonstrate that this observed temperature-depth trend most likely reflects a transient condition inherited from past climate change. It is shown that the prolonged cold period during the Weichselian (∼110–10 kya) and the subsequent warmer conditions during the Holocene account for the increase in the thermal gradient with depth. Moreover, we demonstrate that thermal history further back in time still influences the present-day subsurface temperature. Geothermal climate-change influences on these long time scales have not been documented before for the Netherlands.

One individual of the Pacific grenadier, Coryphaenoides acrolepis, was recorded for the first time in the South Atlantic (54°00′S 56°52′W–53°57′S 56°44′W, depth range 1540–1860 m). The species is endemic to the North Pacific, and its appearance off the Falkland Islands, as with some other endemic North Pacific species found there recently, might be possibly explained by changes in water circulation in deep seas. During the last decade deep waters around the islands have become less saline and warmer, which is in agreement with respective changes in water masses in Antarctica.

New Thellier-Coe archeointensity determinations have been measured on 15 potsherds from the Oaxaca Valley belonging to three of the four Formative Periods (Pre-Classical) of Mesoamerica, spanning 1400–700 BC. Seven of these are considered to be reliable and indicate a geomagnetic field strength of about 30 μT. This value is some 75% of the present geomagnetic field strength but is in agreement with the absolute intensities predicted from global models for this time and location, and consistent with coeval published determinations. These data thus provide significant evidence for the geomagnetic field strength in an area and for a time that was previously poorly constrained, thus providing an important contribution towards establishing a local master curve for the last 3500 yr. When established, such a curve would be a useful dating tool and also enable establishing for field strength correlations with climatic events and civilization evolutions in a region that is particularly strong in archeological and geological features. Such potential is examined for aridity events, although such observations can only be considered tentative at this stage.

We present a provenance study of core ZK2 from the Huanghe (Yellow River) Delta in order to assess the impacts of climate change on the sediment supplies during the last glacial–interglacial cycle. Facies analysis and sequence stratigraphy methods are used to construct the age model. Sr isotopic compositions of ZK2 range from 0.716389 to 0.723884, with 87Sr/86Sr increased with decreasing grain size. Nd and Pb isotopic compositions display two large major excursions during Marine Oxygen Isotope stages (MIS) 2 and 4, with less radiogenic εNd and lower 208Pb/204Pb, 207Pb/204Pb, and 206Pb/204Pb values during these periods. These excursions have been explained in terms of changes in the mixing proportion of sediments from the Loess Plateau and Ordos Plateau, resulting from East Asian monsoon intensity variations. The weak summer monsoon precipitation resulted in decreased erosion of Loess Plateau during MIS 2, 4 and the middle of MIS 3. Meanwhile, both the intensified East Asian winter monsoon and the southward expansions of Mu Us desert significantly enhanced the eolian sand entering the Huanghe. Therefore, our results highlight the impact of monsoon variability on erosion patterns in the Huanghe basin.

The karstic Lake Montcortès sedimentary sequence spanning the last 1548 yr constitutes the first continuous, high-resolution, multi-proxy varved record in northern Spain. Sediments consist of biogenic varves composed of calcite, organic matter and detrital laminae and turbidite layers. Calcite layer thickness and internal sub-layering indicate changes in water temperature and seasonality whereas the frequency of detrital layers reflects rainfall variability. Higher temperatures occurred in Lake Montcortès in AD 555–738, 825–875, 1010–1322 and 1874–present. Lower temperatures and prolonged winter conditions were recorded in AD 1446–1598, 1663–1711 and 1759–1819. Extreme and multiple precipitation events dominated in AD 571–593, 848–922, 987–1086, 1168–1196, 1217–1249, 1444–1457, 1728–1741 and 1840–1875, indicating complex hydrological variability in NE Spain since AD 463. The sedimentary record of Lake Montcortès reveals a short-term relation between rainfall variability and the detrital influx, pronounced during extended periods of reduced anthropogenic influences. In pre-industrial times, during warm climate episodes, population and land use increased in the area. After the onset of the industrialization, the relationship between climate and human activities decoupled and population dynamics and landscape modifications were therefore mostly determined by socio‐economic factors.

Interannual variability of the primary production in the middle Adriatic Sea for the period 1961–2002 was examined and correlated to the various atmospheric and oceanographic parameters. The sequential t-test analysis of regime shift (STARS) method and locally-weighted scatter plot smoothing (LOWESS) method were applied to the primary production, revealing the new regime with significantly different mean productivity ranging from 1980–1996. Moreover, this period with the highest primary production, consists of the two distinguished sub-periods: periods of increasing (1980–1986) and decreasing (1987–1996) primary production. Whereas in the first period the ecosystem was under the influence of warmer and nutrient richer Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW) intrusions into the Adriatic, in the second period, which started with a cold winter in 1987, the Eastern Mediterranean Transient (EMT) occurred. The EMT established a new circulation regime which prevented the LIW intrusions in the Adriatic, causing its reduced productivity. Reduced LIW inflow in the Adriatic was evidenced in the lower than normal sea temperature, salinity and oxygen concentrations below the thermocline depth. Precipitation and wind regime also arose as important local factors for the primary production variability. Our analysis connected the shifts in primary production with hemispheric and regional scale climate variations, and supports the hypothesis that atmospheric variability can trigger the ecosystem changes.