Last-Century Forest Dynamics in a Highland Pyrenean National Park and Implications for Conservation.

Ecological records from before and after the creation of natural parks are valuable for informing conservation and management but are often unavailable. High-resolution paleoecological studies may bridge the gap and provide the required information. This paper presents a 20th-century subdecadal reconstruction of vegetation and landscape dynamics in a national park of the Pyrenean highlands.

The 'Anthropocene': alea iacta est : The proposal of the 'Anthropocene' as a new geological epoch has been submitted for formalization.

The proposal of the ‘Anthropocene’ as a new geological epoch, characterized by the anthropization of the Earth System, has finally been submitted for formalization. [Image: see text]

An Updated Review of Fossil Pollen Evidence for the Study of the Origin, Evolution and Diversification of Caribbean Mangroves.

Recently, the evolutionary history of the Caribbean mangroves has been reconsidered using partial palynological databases organized by the time intervals of interest, namely Late Cretaceous to Eocene for the origin, the Eocene-Oligocene transition for major turnover and Neogene to Quaternary for diversification. These discussions have been published in a set of sequential papers, but the raw information remains unknown. This paper reviews all the information available and provides the first comprehensive and updated compilation of the abovementioned partial databases.

A Continuous Centennial Late Glacial-Early Holocene (15-10 cal kyr BP) Palynological Record from the Iberian Pyrenees and Regional Comparisons.

This paper presents the first continuous (gap-free) Late Glacial-Early Holocene (LGEH) pollen record for the Iberian Pyrenees resolved at centennial resolution. The main aims are (i) to provide a standard chronostratigraphic correlation framework, (ii) to unravel the relationships between vegetation shifts, climatic changes and fire, and (iii) to obtain a regional picture of LGEH vegetation for the Pyrenees and the surrounding lowlands. Seven pollen assemblage zones were obtained and correlated with the stadial/interstadial phases of the Greenland ice cores that serve as a global reference.

Human Settlement and Landscape Anthropization of Remote Oceanic Islands: A Comparison between Rapa Nui (Pacific Ocean) and the Azores (Atlantic Ocean).

The flora and vegetation of oceanic islands have been deeply affected by human settlement and further landscape modifications during prehistoric and historical times. The study of these transformations is of interest not only for understanding how current island biotas and ecological communities have been shaped but also for informing biodiversity and ecosystem conservation. This paper compares two oceanic insular entities of disparate geographical, environmental, biological, historical and cultural characteristics-Rapa Nui (Pacific Ocean) and the Azores Islands (Atlantic Ocean)-in terms of human settlement and further landscape anthropization.

A recent Cannabis pollen increase on the Iberian Pyrenees.

The continuous, varved and absolutely dated sedimentary record of Lake Montcortès (Iberian Pyrenees) has provided evidence for a distinct and characteristic 20th century (1980s) increase in Cannabis pollen (20C) that persists today. This event was coeval with the geographical shift of the hemp production center in the Iberian Peninsula from east to northeast (where Lake Montcortès lies), which was accompanied by a significant production increase. This increasing trend was fostered by the renewed interest of the paper industry in hemp and was promoted by the onset of European Union subsidies to hemp cultivation.

Rise and fall of Caribbean mangroves.

Mangrove forests, which are essential for the maintenance of terrestrial and marine biodiversity on tropical coasts and constitute the main blue‑carbon ecosystems for the mitigation of global warming, are among the world's most threatened ecosystems. Mangrove conservation can greatly benefit from paleoecological and evolutionary studies, as past analogs documenting the responses of these ecosystems to environmental drivers such as climate change, sea level shifts and anthropogenic pressure. A database (CARMA) encompassing nearly all studies on mangroves from the Caribbean region, one of the main mangrove biodiversity hotspots, and their response to past environmental shifts has recently been assembled and analyzed.

Taxon Cycles in Neotropical Mangroves.

The concept of the taxon cycle involves successive range expansions and contractions over time, through which a species can indefinitely maintain its core distribution. Otherwise, it becomes extinct. Taxon cycles have been defined mostly for tropical island faunas; examples from continental areas are scarce, and similar case studies for plants remain unknown.

Responses of Caribbean Mangroves to Quaternary Climatic, Eustatic, and Anthropogenic Drivers of Ecological Change: A Review.

Mangroves are among the world's most threatened ecosystems. Understanding how these ecosystems responded to past natural and anthropogenic drivers of ecological change is essential not only for understanding how extant mangroves have been shaped but also for informing their conservation. This paper reviews the available paleoecological evidence for Pleistocene and Holocene responses of Caribbean mangroves to climatic, eustatic, and anthropogenic drivers.

Inductive prediction in biology: Are long-term ecological and evolutionary processes predictable?: Are long-term ecological and evolutionary processes predictable?

Reliable predictions of long-term ecological and evolutionary processes require more information than the periodicity of the astronomical forces that drive them.

On predictions and laws in biological evolution: Is biology able to formulate general laws and develop inductive predictions as in physics or chemistry?: Is biology able to formulate general laws and develop inductive predictions as in physics or chemistry?

Biology has so far had difficulties formulating general laws akin to physics and chemistry. Evolution and its propensity to reduce entropy could become a start for such laws in biology.

Regional precipitation trends since 1500 CE reconstructed from calcite sublayers of a varved Mediterranean lake record (Central Pyrenees).

The Mediterranean region is expected to be highly impacted by global warming, although the uncertainty of future scenarios, particularly about precipitation patterns remains quite large. To better predict shifts in its current climate system and to test models, more regional climate records are needed spanning longer than the instrumental period. Here we provide a high-resolution reconstruction of autumn precipitation for the Central Pyrenees since 1500 CE based on annual calcite sublayer widths from Montcortès Lake (Central southern Pyrenees) varved sediments.

Biodiversity crisis or sixth mass extinction?: Does the current anthropogenic biodiversity crisis really qualify as a mass extinction?: Does the current anthropogenic biodiversity crisis really qualify as a mass extinction?

Human actions have caused an increasing number of species to go extinct. Do the available data support concerns about a new mass extinction event?

The deforestation of Easter Island.

Easter Island deforestation has traditionally been viewed as an abrupt island-wide event caused by the prehistoric Rapanui civilization, which precipitated its own cultural collapse. This view emerges from early palaeoecological analyses of lake sediments, which showed a sudden and total replacement of palm pollen by grass pollen shortly after Polynesian settlement (800-1200 CE). However, further palaeoecological research has challenged this view, showing that the apparent abruptness and island-wide synchronicity of forest removal was an artefact due to the occurrence of a sedimentary gap of several millennia that prevented a detailed record of the replacement of palm-dominated forests by grass meadows.

Historical shifts in oxygenation regime as recorded in the laminated sediments of lake Montcortès (Central Pyrenees) support hypoxia as a continental-scale phenomenon.

Recent expansion of anoxia has become a global issue and there is potential for worsening under global warming. At the same time, obtaining proper long-term instrumental oxygen records is difficult, thus reducing the possibility of recording long-term changes in oxygen shifts that can be related with climate or human influence. Varved lake sediments provide the better time frame to study this phenomenon at high resolution.

The "Anthropocene": neglects, misconceptions, and possible futures: The term "Anthropocene" is often erroneously used, as it is not formally defined yet.

Despite its popularity in scientific and social media, the “Anthropocene” is a term and concept still under discussion and still not formally recognized as a new geologic epoch. [Image: see text]

Potential Responses of Vascular Plants from the Pristine "Lost World" of the Neotropical Guayana Highlands to Global Warming: Review and New Perspectives.

The neotropical Guayana Highlands (GH) are one of the few remaining pristine environments on Earth, and they host amazing biodiversity with a high degree endemism, especially among vascular plants. Despite the lack of direct human disturbance, GH plants and their communities are threatened with extinction from habitat loss due to global warming (GW). Geographic information systems simulations involving the entire known vascular GH flora (>2430 species) predict potential GW-driven extinctions on the order of 80% by the end of this century, including nearly half of the endemic species.

Free science under threat: The current revival of Bernalism and the use of market-based scientific practices are undermining science as we know it.

In the 1930s, under the influence of Marxism, John Bernal and others proposed that the state should wholly control the goals of science. Such control never came to pass in the West, but a modern version of Bernalism is again threatening the freedom of research, hiding under the guise of requiring scientists to address societal problems. [Image: see text]

The Orinoco megadelta as a conservation target in the face of the ongoing and future sea level rise.

Currently, risk assessments related to rising sea levels and the adoption of defensive or adaptive measures to counter these sea level increases are underway for densely populated deltas where economic losses might be important, especially in the developed world. However, many underpopulated deltas harbouring high biological and cultural diversity are also at risk but will most likely continue to be ignored as conservation targets. In this study, we explore the potential effects of erosion, inundation and salinisation on one of the world's comparatively underpopulated megadeltas, the Orinoco Delta.

Neotropical biodiversity: timing and potential drivers.

The origin of extant neotropical biodiversity has been a controversial topic since the time of Darwin. In this review, I discuss the timing of, and potential driving factors associated with, diversification using recent evidence from molecular phylogenetics. Although these studies provide new insights into the subject, they are sensitive to dating approaches and targets, and can eventually lead to biased conclusions.