159 research outputs found
Sea surface temperature changes in the southern California borderlands during the last glacial-interglacial cycle
A variety of evidence suggests that average sea surface temperatures (SSTs) during the last glacial maximum in the California Borderlands region were significantly colder than during the Holocene. Planktonic foraminiferal δ18O evidence and average SST estimates derived by the modern analog technique indicate that temperatures were 6°-10°C cooler during the last glacial relative to the present. The glacial plankton assemblage is dominated by the planktonic foraminifer Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (sinistral coiling) and the coccolith Coccolithus pelagicus, both of which are currently restricted to subpolar regions of the North Pacific. The glacial-interglacial average SST change determined in this study is considerably larger than the 2°C change estimated by Climate: Long-Range Investigation, Mapping, and Prediction (CLIMAP) [1981]. We propose that a strengthened California Current flow was associated with the advance of subpolar surface waters into the Borderlands region during the last glacial
Three hundred eighty thousand year long stable isotope and faunal records from the Red Sea : influence of global sea level change on hydrography
Stable isotope and faunal records from the central Red Sea show high-amplitude oscillations for the past 380,000 years. Positive δ18O anomalies indicate periods of significant salt buildup during periods of lowered sea level when water mass exchange with the Arabian Sea was reduced due to a reduced geometry of the Bab el Mandeb Strait. Salinities as high as 53Ⱐand 55Ⱐare inferred from pteropod and benthic foraminifera δ18O, respectively, for the last glacial maximum. During this period all planktonic foraminifera vanished from this part of the Red Sea. Environmental conditions improved rapidly after 13 ka as salinities decreased due to rising sea level. The foraminiferal fauna started to reappear and was fully reestablished between 9 ka and 8 ka. Spectral analysis of the planktonic δ18O record documents highest variance in the orbital eccentricity, obliquity, and precession bands, indicating a dominant influence of climatically - driven sea level change on environmental conditions in the Red Sea. Variance in the precession band is enhanced compared to the global mean marine climate record (SPECMAP), suggesting an additional influence of the Indian monsoon system on Red Sea climates
Suborbital climatic variability and centres of biological diversity in the Cape region of southern Africa
Aim: To explore the magnitude and spatial patterns of last glacial stage orbitally forced climatic changes and suborbital climatic fluctuations in southern Africa, and to evaluate their potential roles in determining present biodiversity patterns. Location: Africa south of 15° S. Methods: Palaeoclimate scenarios for southern Africa were derived for 17 time slices using outputs from HadCM3 atmosphere-ocean general circulation model experiments, including five designed to mimic Heinrich events. Species distribution models for birds of Karoo (45) or Fynbos (31) were used to simulate species' potential past distributions. Species-richness patterns were assessed for each time slice, and minimum species richness for regional endemics of each biome determined for each grid cell. Areas of greatest 'stability' for endemics of each biome were identified using grid cells with greatest minimum richness. Results: Simulated suborbital climatic fluctuations were of greater magnitude than orbitally forced changes and had anomalies of opposite sign in many areas. The principal local drivers of suborbital fluctuations were marked contrasts in South Atlantic circulation and temperature between experiments mimicking Heinrich events and those with only slow forcings. These contrasts in ocean circulation and temperature were consistent with marine sediment core evidence of changes in the South Atlantic coincident with Heinrich events in the North Atlantic. Whereas orbitally forced last glacial climates generally resulted in range expansions and increased species richness in many grid cells compared with the present, the contrasting conditions of Heinrich events resulted in much reduced ranges and species richness, especially for Karoo species. Very few grid cells remained suitable for larger numbers of endemic species of either biome under all palaeoclimate scenarios examined, but this minority of 'stable' grid cells correspond to present diversity centres. Main conclusions: Suborbital climatic fluctuations during the last glacial stage were probably of considerable magnitude in southern Africa. This may account for apparent inconsistencies between regional palaeoclimate records, as well as being key to determining present biodiversity patterns.</p
Intermittent existence of a southern Californian upwelling cell during submillennial climate change of the last 60 kyr
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95021/1/palo1108.pd
Abrupt climate change as an important agent of ecological change in the Northeast U.S. throughout the past 15,000 years
Author Posting. Š The Author(s), 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Quaternary Science Reviews 28 (2009): 1693-1709, doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.04.005.We use a series of tests to evaluate two competing hypotheses about the association of climate
and vegetation trends in the northeastern United States over the past 15 kyrs. First, that abrupt
climate changes on the scale of centuries had little influence on long-term vegetation trends,
and second, that abrupt climate changes interacted with slower climate trends to determine the
regional sequence of vegetation phases. Our results support the second. Large dissimilarity
between temporally-close fossil pollen samples indicates large vegetation changes within 500
years across >4° of latitude at ca. 13.25-12.75, 12.0-11.5, 10.5, 8.25, and 5.25 ka. The evidence of
vegetation change coincides with independent isotopic and sedimentary indicators of rapid
shifts in temperature and moisture balance. In several cases, abrupt changes reversed long-term
vegetation trends, such as when spruce (Picea) and pine (Pinus) pollen percentages rapidly
declined to the north and increased to the south at ca. 13.25-12.75 and 8.25 ka respectively.
Abrupt events accelerated other longâterm trends, such as a regional increase in beech (Fagus)
pollen percentages at 8.5-8.0 ka. The regional hemlock (Tsuga) decline at ca. 5.25 ka is unique
among the abrupt events, and may have been induced by high climatic variability (i.e., repeated
severe droughts from 5.7-2.0 ka); autoregressive ecological and evolutionary processes could
have maintained low hemlock abundance until ca. 2.0 ka. Delayed increases in chestnut
(Castanea) pollen abundance after 5.8 and 2.5 ka also illustrate the potential for multi-century
climate variability to influence speciesâ recruitment as well as mortality. Future climate changes
will probably also rapidly initiate persistent vegetation change, particularly by acting as broad,
regional-scale disturbances.This work was supported by NSF grants to B. Shuman (EARâ0602408; DEBâ0816731) and J.
Donnelly (EARâ0602380)
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