Montane rainforest dynamics under changes in climate and human impact during the past millennia in northern Madagascar.

Although it is well known that humans substantially altered the Malagasy ecosystems, the timing of the human arrival as well as the extension of their environmental impact is yet not well understood. This research aims to study the influence of early human impact and climate change on rainforests and wildlife in northern Madagascar during the past millennia. Results obtained from the lake sediment in a montane environment showed significant changes in vegetation within the lake catchment associated with a major drought that started approximately 1100 years ago.

Flower-bee versus pollen-bee metanetworks in fragmented landscapes.

Understanding the organization of mutualistic networks at multiple spatial scales is key to ensure biological conservation and functionality in human-modified ecosystems. Yet, how changing habitat and landscape features affect pollen-bee interaction networks is still poorly understood. Here, we analysed how bee-flower visitation and bee-pollen-transport interactions respond to habitat fragmentation at the local network and regional metanetwork scales, combining data from 29 fragments of calcareous grasslands, an endangered biodiversity hotspot in central Europe.

Tree islands enhance biodiversity and functioning in oil palm landscapes.

In the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, large knowledge gaps persist on how to increase biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in cash crop-dominated tropical landscapes. Here, we present findings from a large-scale, 5-year ecosystem restoration experiment in an oil palm landscape enriched with 52 tree islands, encompassing assessments of ten indicators of biodiversity and 19 indicators of ecosystem functioning. Overall, indicators of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, as well as multidiversity and ecosystem multifunctionality, were higher in tree islands compared to conventionally managed oil palm.

Biomonitoring via DNA metabarcoding and light microscopy of bee pollen in rainforest transformation landscapes of Sumatra.

Background: Intense conversion of tropical forests into agricultural systems contributes to habitat loss and the decline of ecosystem functions. Plant-pollinator interactions buffer the process of forest fragmentation, ensuring gene flow across isolated patches of forests by pollen transfer. In this study, we identified the composition of pollen grains stored in pot-pollen of stingless bees, Tetragonula laeviceps, via dual-locus DNA metabarcoding (ITS2 and rbcL) and light microscopy, and compared the taxonomic coverage of pollen sampled in distinct land-use systems categorized in four levels of management intensity (forest, shrub, rubber, and oil palm) for landscape characterization.

Sea level rise and climate change acting as interactive stressors on development and dynamics of tropical peatlands in coastal Sumatra and South Borneo since the Last Glacial Maximum.

Southeast Asian peatlands, along with their various important ecosystem services, are mainly distributed in the coastal areas of Sumatra and Borneo. These ecosystems are threatened by coastal development, global warming and sea level rise (SLR). Despite receiving growing attention for their biodiversity and as massive carbon stores, there is still a lack of knowledge on how they initiated and evolved over time, and how they responded to past environmental change, that is, precipitation, sea level and early anthropogenic activities.

Origin Identification of Hungarian Honey Using Melissopalynology, Physicochemical Analysis, and Near Infrared Spectroscopy.

The objective of the study was to check the authenticity of Hungarian honey using physicochemical analysis, near infrared spectroscopy, and melissopalynology. In the study, 87 samples from different botanical origins such as acacia, bastard indigo, rape, sunflower, linden, honeydew, milkweed, and sweet chestnut were collected. The samples were analyzed by physicochemical methods (pH, electrical conductivity, and moisture), melissopalynology (300 pollen grains counted), and near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS:740-1700 nm).

Past environmental changes affected lemur population dynamics prior to human impact in Madagascar.

Quaternary climatic changes have been invoked as important drivers of species diversification worldwide. However, the impact of such changes on vegetation and animal population dynamics in tropical regions remains debated. To overcome this uncertainty, we integrated high-resolution paleoenvironmental reconstructions from a sedimentary record covering the past 25,000 years with demographic inferences of a forest-dwelling primate species (Microcebus arnholdi), in northern Madagascar.

The sources and quality of Iranian honey.

Iran is one of the largest honey-producing countries worldwide and is considered as an important source of honey for international markets. However, since Iran is not registered for honey export to Europe, the quality of Iranian honey remains unknown to European traders. As the first step in filling this gap, we analyzed 225 honey samples using palynology, sensory, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and conventional physicochemical analyses as outlined by the European Union coordinated control plan.

Employing DNA metabarcoding to determine the geographical origin of honey.

Unfavourable climatic conditions force Iranian beekeepers to translocate over large distances in the course of the year. However, irrespective of the main place of production, the honey is always labeled with the name of the beekeepers' hometown, which leads consequently to mislabeled products. The present study investigates the capability of DNA metabarcoding to locate the geographical origin of honey.

Intertwined effects of climate and land use change on environmental dynamics and carbon accumulation in a mangrove-fringed coastal lagoon in Java, Indonesia.

The identification and quantification of natural carbon (C) sinks is critical to global climate change mitigation efforts. Tropical coastal wetlands are considered important in this context, yet knowledge of their dynamics and quantitative data are still scarce. In order to quantify the C accumulation rate and understand how it is influenced by land use and climate change, a palaeoecological study was conducted in the mangrove-fringed Segara Anakan Lagoon (SAL) in Java, Indonesia.

Equatorial Pacific forcing of western Amazonian precipitation during Heinrich Stadial 1.

Abundant hydroclimatic evidence from western Amazonia and the adjacent Andes documents wet conditions during Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1, 18-15 ka), a cold period in the high latitudes of the North Atlantic. This precipitation anomaly was attributed to a strengthening of the South American summer monsoon due to a change in the Atlantic interhemispheric sea surface temperature (SST) gradient. However, the physical viability of this mechanism has never been rigorously tested.

Environmental changes during the last millennium based on multi-proxy palaeoecological records in a savanna-forest mosaic from the northernmost Brazilian Amazon region.

The environmental changes and the dynamics of the savanna-forest mosaic, over the last 1050 years, have been reconstructed by pollen, charcoal, radiocarbon dating mineralogical and geochemical analyses of sediment cores taken from three different Mauritia flexuosapalm swamps in the northernmost part of the Brazilian Amazon region (northern state of Roraima). Studies on the relationship between the modern pollen rain and the regional vegetation provide additional information for the interpretation of the fossil pollen records. The fossil pollen assemblages and geochemical results indicate relatively wet climatic conditions throughout the recorded period.

Carnivorous leaves from Baltic amber.

The fossil record of carnivorous plants is very scarce and macrofossil evidence has been restricted to seeds of the extant aquatic genus Aldrovanda of the Droseraceae family. No case of carnivorous plant traps has so far been reported from the fossil record. Here, we present two angiosperm leaves enclosed in a piece of Eocene Baltic amber that share relevant morphological features with extant Roridulaceae, a carnivorous plant family that is today endemic to the Cape flora of South Africa.

Transport of airborne pollen on the northern slope of Tianshan Mountains (Xinjiang, China) and its implication for paleoenvironmental reconstruction.

The understanding of airborne pollen transportation is crucial for the reconstruction of the paleoenvironment. Under favorable conditions, a considerable amount of long-distance-transported pollen can be deposited far from its place of origin. In extreme arid regions, in most cases, such situations occur and increase the difficulty to interpret fossil pollen records.

Environmental changes in the western Amazônia: morphological framework, geochemistry, palynology and radiocarbon dating data.

The sediments from the Coari lake, a "terra firme" lake sculpted into Plio-Pleistocene deposits, and the Acará lake, a flooding-type lake developed on Quaternary sediments in the floodplain of the mid-Solimões river, in the western Amazônia, Brazil, were studied to investigate the environmental condition of their developing. This study includes mineral composition, geochemistry, Pb isotope, palinology, radiocarbon-age and morphological framework of the lakes obtained from SRTM satellite images. The geological and the environmental conditions in the two lakes are highly variable and suggest that their evolution reflect autogenic processes under humid rainforest condition.

Evidences of delayed size recovery in Araucaria angustifolia populations after post-glacial colonization of highlands in Southeastern Brazil.

Up to date, little is known about the relationship between historical demography and the current genetic structure of A. angustifolia. As a first effort towards overcoming this lack, microsatellite data scored in six populations and isozyme allele frequencies published for 11 natural stands of this species were analysed in order to assess molecular signatures of populations' demographic history.

Late Quaternary vegetation, biodiversity and fire dynamics on the southern Brazilian highland and their implication for conservation and management of modern Araucaria forest and grassland ecosystems.

Palaeoecological background information is needed for management and conservation of the highly diverse mosaic of Araucaria forest and Campos (grassland) in southern Brazil. Questions on the origin of Araucaria forest and grasslands; its development, dynamic and stability; its response to environmental change such as climate; and the role of human impact are essential. Further questions on its natural stage of vegetation or its alteration by pre- and post-Columbian anthropogenic activity are also important.

Asynchronous terrestrial and marine signals of climate change during Heinrich events.

Tropical regions have been reported to play a key role in climate dynamics. To date, however, there are uncertainties in the timing and the amplitude of the response of tropical ecosystems to millennial-scale climate change. We present evidence of an asynchrony between terrestrial and marine signals of climate change during Heinrich events preserved in marine sediment cores from the Brazilian continental margin.