Large scale anthropogenic reduction of forest cover in Last Glacial Maximum Europe

Reconstructions of the vegetation of Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) are an enigma. Pollen-based analyses have suggested that Europe was largely covered by steppe and tundra, and forests persisted only in small refugia. Climate-vegetation model simulations on the other hand have consistently suggested that broad areas of Europe would have been suitable for forest, even in the depths of the last glaciation. Here we reconcile models with data by demonstrating that the highly mobile groups of hunter-gatherers that inhabited Europe at the LGM could have substantially reduced forest cover through the ignition of wildfires. Similar to hunter-gatherers of the more recent past, Upper Paleolithic humans were masters of the use of fire, and preferred inhabiting semi-open landscapes to facilitate foraging, hunting and travel. Incorporating human agency into a dynamic vegetation-fire model and simulating forest cover shows that even small increases in wildfire frequency over natural background levels resulted in large changes in the forested area of Europe, in part because trees were already stressed by low atmospheric CO2 concentrations and the cold, dry, and highly variable climate. Our results suggest that the impact of humans on the glacial landscape of Europe may be one of the earliest large-scale anthropogenic modifications of the earth system

Reconstructing the climatic niche breadth of land use for animal production during the African Holocene

Aim: Domestic animals first appeared in the archaeological record in northern Africa c. 9000 years before present and subsequently spread southwards throughout the continent. This geographic expansion is well studied and can broadly be explained in terms of the movement of pastoralist populations due to climate change. However, no studies have explicitly evaluated changes in the climatic niche of these domesticates. A priori, one cannot assume a relationship between the geographic spread of animal production and changes in climatic niche breadth because their relationship is highly variable. Therefore, we investigated Holocene changes in the climatic niche of domestic animals (animal production) and compared these to changes in the climatic niche of hunted terrestrial ungulates. Location: The African continent. Time period: 9000–500 BP. Major taxa studied: Domestic animals, hunted (wild) terrestrial ungulates. Methods: For the first time, we applied methods from environmental niche dynamics to archaeological data to reconstruct and quantify changes in the climatic niche breadth of animal production during the African Holocene. We used faunal remains from archaeological assemblages and associated radiocarbon dates to estimate the proportion of the African climate space used for animal production and hunting at 500‐year intervals. Results: We found that the climatic niche of domestic species broadened significantly with the geographic spread, most notably during the termination of the African Humid Period, whilst no such broadening occurred for the climatic niche of hunted species. Main conclusions: Our results provide a quantitative measure of the extent to which humans have constructed and adapted the climatic niche of animal production to manage their domestic animals across increasingly diverse ecological conditions. By incorporating ecological analysis into estimations of past land use, our methods have the potential to improve reconstructions of land use change, and to provide a foundation on which further niche construction hypotheses may be tested

Como ser homem e ser belo? Um estudo exploratório sobre a relação entre masculinidade e o consumo de beleza How to be a man and be beautiful? An exploratory study on male practices of consumption of beauty

Mudanças recentes vêm afetando as fronteiras de gênero: masculinidade e feminilidade mostram, em muitas situações, delimitações tênues. Porém, muitos ideais tradicionais de gênero persistem no subconsciente do indivíduo (Goldenberg, 2000). A identidade masculina é construída a partir da negação - negando atributos relacionados à mulher, à criança ou ao homossexual - e aqueles que se consideram fora do padrão dominante de masculinidade ainda demonstram medo de serem vistos como homossexuais (Badinter, 1993, e outros). O consumo de beleza está associado ao desejo de promover um aumento da atratividade física e a obtenção dos benefícios sociais correspondentes (Bloch e Richins, 1992). Como a atratividade física é considerada um elemento central da feminilidade, o consumo de práticas de beleza costuma ser maior entre as mulheres. A identidade de gênero masculina está associada a menor preocupação com a aparência, assim, os homens estão menos inclinados a adotarem práticas de beleza. Neste contexto, como pesquisar o tema beleza entre os homens? O objetivo deste estudo exploratório foi contribuir para uma melhor compreensão sobre o consumidor masculino de produtos e serviços de beleza, refletindo sobre padrões estéticos e práticas relacionadas à beleza masculina. Os relatos foram obtidos através de entrevistas em profundidade, usando também técnica projetiva, com dez jovens homens de classe econômica alta no Rio de Janeiro. Diversos aspectos das práticas de beleza são manipulados pelos entrevistados na caracterização de papéis sociais e na construção das identidades de gênero. Poucas foram as práticas de beleza identificadas como permitidas para o gênero masculino. Eles vêem a beleza como facilitadora das relações sociais e amorosas, mas sucesso profissional e inteligência ainda parecem mais importantes. Homem não precisa ser bonito. E não deve se esforçar - ou demonstrar que se esforça - para ser belo. O corpo belo deve ser "efeito colateral" da busca por saúde ou do gosto por esportes. Os relatos sugerem uma estreita associação entre os cuidados de beleza e feminilidade. Então, como ser bonito e masculino ao mesmo tempo? Como cuidar da beleza sem ser mulher? Para preservar a masculinidade é preciso que o comportamento masculino de consumo de produtos e serviços de beleza mantenha-se distante do feminino. Assim, o comportamento da mulher parece servir como um ponto de referência para os entrevistados: eles observam tempo, dedicação e investimento financeiro das mulheres em relação à beleza e, a partir daí, iniciam sua construção do que é 'permitido' ou 'proibido' para suas práticas de beleza.<br>Recent changes have affected the boundaries of gender: masculinity and femininity show, in many situations, blurred boundaries. Even so, many traditional gender ideals still exist in the subconscious of the individual (Goldenberg, 2000). The masculine identity is constructed out of denial - denying the attributes related to women, children or homosexual - and those who consider themselves outside the dominant pattern of masculinity still have fear of being perceived as gay (Badinter, 1993; among others). The consumption of beauty products is associated with the desire to promote an increase in physical attractiveness and achievement of the corresponding social benefits (Bloch and Richins, 1992). Because physical attractiveness is considered a central element of femininity, the consumption practices of beauty is often more important in the construction of women's identity. However, the male gender identity is associated with less concern with appearance, as a consequence, men have less inclination to adopt beauty practices. In this context, how to research such topic as beauty among men? This study aimed to a better understanding of the male consumer of beauty products and services, reflecting on aesthetic values and practices related to male beauty. Data were obtained through in-depth interviews using projective techniques as well, with ten young men of high socioeconomic status in Rio de Janeiro. Several aspects of the practices of beauty seemed to be manipulated by respondents in the characterization of social roles and the construction of gender identities. Few were the practices of beauty identified as allowed for males. They do see beauty as a facilitator of social relations, but intelligence and professional success are seem as more important. Man do not need to be beautiful. And he must not strive - or demonstrate that strives - to be beautiful. The beautiful body must be a "side effect" of search for health or taste for sports. Their accounts suggest a close association between beauty care and femininity. So, how to be beautiful and masculine at the same time? How to take care of beauty without being a woman? In order to preserve the maleness is necessary that the male consumption behavior of beauty products and services remain distant from the feminine. Thus, women's behavior seems to serve as a reference point for the interviewees: they observe time, effort and financial investment women devote to beauty and, thereafter, they start their construction of what is 'allowed' or 'forbidden' concerning their beauty practices

The Eurasian Modern Pollen Database (EMPD), version 2

The Eurasian (née European) Modern Pollen Database (EMPD) was established in 2013 to provide a public database of high-quality modern pollen surface samples to help support studies of past climate, land cover, and land use using fossil pollen. The EMPD is part of, and complementary to, the European Pollen Database (EPD) which contains data on fossil pollen found in Late Quaternary sedimentary archives throughout the Eurasian region. The EPD is in turn part of the rapidly growing Neotoma database, which is now the primary home for global palaeoecological data. This paper describes version 2 of the EMPD in which the number of samples held in the database has been increased by 60 % from 4826 to 8134. Much of the improvement in data coverage has come from northern Asia, and the database has consequently been renamed the Eurasian Modern Pollen Database to reflect this geographical enlargement. The EMPD can be viewed online using a dedicated map-based viewer at https://empd2.github.io and downloaded in a variety of file formats at https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.909130 (Chevalier et al., 2019)

The genetic and ecophysiological diversity of Microcystis

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/171576/1/emi15615.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/171576/2/emi15615-sup-0002-FigureS1.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/171576/3/emi15615_am.pd