GEOL 553 LECTURE 21Biological Evidence• Microfossils• Pollen• Diatom

• Macrofossils• Plants• Insects• Mollusca & Ostracoda & Foraminifera & Coccolithophores • Mammalia

• Lab: NSF Grant Writing

• Discussion: NSF Grant Proposal Guide

Biological Records of Climate Change• Nature of Record: • Macrofossils• Microfossils• Biomolecular (DNA)

• Taphonomy• In-situ• Selective transport• Differential degradation

• Interpretation of Assemblages• Modern Analogue• Ecosystems• Paleobiology: single vs. multi proxy

PollenDiatomPlantInsectMoluscaForaminiferaMicropaleontology deep seaVertebrate remains

Biological Records of Climate Change: Diatom

procedures employed to derive quantitative lake-water pH reconstructions from fossil diatom records

BIDI = Brackish Intertidal Diatom Index0 – 1

0 = lower elevation1 = higher elevation

Biological Records of Climate Change: Insect Remains

Subfossil Coleopteran sclerites recovered by flotation from peat deposits overlying a Bronze Age occupation site near Ballyarnet Lake, Co. Derry, Northern Ireland.

Late GlacialSouth Wales, UK

Warmest = FU-2Cooler = FU-3Coldest = FU-4(Younger Dryas)Thermophiles FU-5

Beetles v TreesCentral England

Augment Palynological Analyses

Present-day European distributions of four coleopteran species found in Lateglacial deposits.

Mutual Climate Range method MCR Test

Biological Records of Climate Change: Nonmarine Mollusca<<< Molusca exposed on an abandoned beach of Pluvial Lake Lahontan on the eastern side of Pyramid Lake, Nevada

Biological Records of Climate Change: Nonmarine Mollusca

Biological Records of Climate Change: Marine Mollusca

Examples of some common marine bivalves of the North Atlantic

Distribution of marine zoogeographical provinces in the Northeast Atlantic: a) present time; b) during the Eemian (Last) Interglacial.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Atlantic_oscillation

Biological Records of Climate Change: Foraminifera

Planktonic foraminiferal provinces in the modern ocean showing the close relationship between sea-surface temperature gradients and species abundances.

Biological Records of Climate Change: Megafauna

Biological Records of Climate Change: Micropaleontology Deep Sea