The changing biosphere: recent insights from paleoenvironmental science into drivers,mechanisms and impacts

Paleoenvironmental science has experienced a recent surge in interest and activity as concerns grow over global environmental change. Key research questions in the biotic realm of paleoenvironmental science focus on explaining climatic change at time scales of decades to centuries and understanding ecosystem responses to these changes. Biotic responses are increasingly being studied at smaller spatial scales to identify local factors that determine the sensitivity of a particular system to climatic change. These findings can then be applied to solving a variety of problems, such as setting conservation targets or testing mechanisms for observed climatic and biogeographic phenomena. Research approaches commonly used today include hypothesis testing, which has now become more sophisticated as paleoecologists and paleoclimatologists integrate with modellers. Other frameworks involve the quantitative integration of multiple proxy indicators and the use of extensive publicly available data networks to produce new datasets for paleoclimatic reconstructions and other applications.     

河北及京津地区早中全新世文化的时空分布及其气候环境因素

本文根据考古学14C年代数据和考古遗存情况,结合高分辨率的地层和古气候研究资料,分析了河北及京津地区早中全新世文化的时空分布格局以及影响遗址分布的地貌和气候因素。该地区早中全新世文化时间序列为:早期新石器时代文化(10,000~8,800 yr BP)、新石器早中期之间的文化缺环(约8,800~7,300 yr BP)、7,300~6,500yr BP的磁山.兴隆洼.北福地一期三大文化系统并立发展时期以及6,500~6,000 yr BP的前仰韶文化时期。文化序列与气候序列对比发现:文化发展很大程度上受到气候条件的制约。从文化分布空间来看,具有如下特征:首先,早中全新世时期的文化分布在与当时海岸线平行的弧形地带上,这种分布格局与气候和地貌条件有关。在排除了地势高亢和海侵影响地区后,太行山东麓到古海岸线之间的弧形地带成为最佳选择。其次,从遗址分布高度来看,当时人仍居住在较高地貌面上,海侵及众多湖沼阻止了人类向东部平原腹地迈进的步伐。