Element composition of particulate matter in the North-West Barents Sea

At the dawn of the 21st century, the Arctic Ocean ecosystem is at great risk due to rapid climatic change. The ice edge retreat observed in the Barents Sea and other sub-Arctic areas is so substantial that has led researchers to characterise them as global warming hotspots. Therefore, there is an immediate need to increase our knowledge on the availability of elements, and especially those in the particulate pool to understand the aftermath of loss of sea ice in those areas. The samples and data for this thesis, were provided through the Nansen Legacy research project “The living Barents Sea”, whose focus is to characterize the biological communities and processes of the northern Barents Sea and adjacent Arctic Basin. During two summer cruises with contrasting ice conditions the particulate concentration for P, S, O, Na, Mg, Cl, K, Ca, Si, Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn, was measured with wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy along the study transect to map their distribution. A series of Pearson’s correlation tests revealed two groups of elements, one associated with living material in the euphotic zone (2018: P-S-Ca & 2019: P-S-Mg-K-Na-Cl) and one with a greater prominence in the deeper samples (2018: Si-O-Fe-Mn-K-Mg & 2019: Si-Fe-O-Mn ) suggesting resuspension of particulate matter. Canonical Correspondence Analysis with complementary biological and hydrographical data further confirmed these patterns and uncovered more detailed information about how the distribution of elements in the particulate pool is linked to biogenic sources in the study area. Examination of samples using a Scanning Electron Microscope revealed the most dominant organisms in the study area each year as well as supporting evidence of strong Atlantic influence in 2018 and the impact of sea ice in 2019 as shown with elemental patterns. These patterns and the investigation of their link with hydrographical and biological factors presented here provide an elaborate overview of the particulate elemental composition in the North-West Barents Sea and contribute to further understanding of the potential effects of loss of sea ice in that area.Master's Thesis in BiologyBIO399MAMN-HAVSJMAMN-BI

Neolithic woodland in the north Mediterranean basin: A review on Olea europaea L.

The aim of this paper is to specify the natural distribution of Olea europaea L. during the Early Holocene in the Northern Mediterranean by means of the identification of wood charcoal remains of this species at prehistoric sites. For this purpose, we have reviewed the relevant literature and extracted the data in which Olea charcoal has been identified. We have taken into consideration the biogeographical and chrono-cultural contexts in which the species is present, its frequency of occurrence at different locations and the associated plant taxa with the aim of tracking the Holocene history of the oleaster. Based on this information we suggest that the species started expanding during the Preboreal from Pleistocene thermophilous tree refugia located in the Levant, Cyprus, Sicily and the southern parts of the Iberian Peninsula. Its presence was confined to the thermomediterraenan bioclimatic level. The expansion dynamics of Olea after the Boreal are better understood in the western Mediterranean. There the species becomes very abundant or dominant in the thermophilous plant formations of the Atlantic period and expands to favorable enclaves outside the limits of the thermomediterraenan bioclimatic level.The aim of this paper is to specify the natural distribution of Olea europaea L. during the Early Holocene in the Northern Mediterranean by means of the identification of wood charcoal remains of this species at prehistoric sites. For this purpose, we have reviewed the relevant literature and extracted the data in which Olea charcoal has been identified. We have taken into consideration the biogeographical and chrono-cultural contexts in which the species is present, its frequency of occurrence at different locations and the associated plant taxa with the aim of tracking the Holocene history of the oleaster. Based on this information we suggest that the species started expanding during the Preboreal from Pleistocene thermophilous tree refugia located in the Levant, Cyprus, Sicily and the southern parts of the Iberian Peninsula. Its presence was confined to the thermomediterraenan bioclimatic level. The expansion dynamics of Olea after the Boreal are better understood in the western Mediterranean. There the species becomes very abundant or dominant in the thermophilous plant formations of the Atlantic period and expands to favorable enclaves outside the limits of the thermomediterraenan bioclimatic level

Olea europaea L. in the North Mediterranean basin during the Pleniglacial and the Early–Middle Holocene

17 páginas, 5 figuras, 2 tablas.The paper aims to define the natural distribution of Olea europaea L. var sylvestris (Miller) Lehr. in the North Mediterranean basin during the Pleniglacial and the Early-Middle Holocene by means of the identification of its wood-charcoal and/or wood at prehistoric sites For this purpose we have reviewed the previously available information and we have combined it with new wood-charcoal analyses data We have taken under consideration the presence and frequency of 0 europaea L in the available wood-charcoal sequences, the characteristics of the accompanying flora, the associated chrono-cultural contexts, the broader biogeographical context and the AMS dates provided by Olea wood-charcoal or endocarps. According to the available evidence, during the Middle and Late Pleniglacial (ca 59-11.5 ka cal BP), Olea would have persisted in thermophilous refugia located in the southern areas of the North Mediterranean basin, the southern Levant and the north of Africa. The Last Glacial Maximum (ca 2218 ka cal. BP) probably reduced the distribution area of Olea. During the Preboreal and the Boreal (ca 11500-8800 cal BP) the species started to expand in the thermomediterranean bioclimatic level In the western Mediterranean, during the Atlantic period (ca 8800-5600 cal. BP), the species became very abundant or dominant in the thermophilous plant formations and expanded to favorable enclaves outside the limits of the thermomediterranean level.This study has been supported by the national projects ‘‘Late Middle Palaeolithic and Upper Palaeolithic in the central region of the Iberian Peninsula’’ (Ref. FFI2008-01200/FISO) and ‘‘PALAEOFLORA OF IBERIA II: Ecological Change as Anthropological Contingency’’ (Ref. CGL2009-06988). We are grateful to all the wood-charcoal analysis specialists who have identified and published Olea wood-charcoals from archaeological sites. We are also thankful to the directors of excavations from which we report unpublished material for allowing us to study the wood-charcoal remains at those sites. Special thanks are addressed to Isabel Figueiral for her useful comments on the manuscript and for providing unpublished data. The authors are especially thankful to M. Stiner and J. Pigati for their kind permission to cite unpublished dating data from Klissoura Cave 1. Finally, we thank the two anonymous reviewers for their comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.Peer reviewe

The impact of environmental change on Palaeolithic and Mesolithic plant use and the transition to agriculture at Franchthi Cave, Greece

The multi-period (~38,000–6000 cal BP) site of Franchthi Cave, located in the Argolid peninsula of southern mainland Greece, is unique in the Eastern Mediterranean for preserving a long archaeological sequence extending from the Upper Palaeolithic through to the end of the Neolithic period. In this paper, we present new anthracological (carbonized fuel wood waste) evidence from Franchthi Cave with which we reconstruct the changing ecology of woodland vegetation in its environs during the late Pleistocene and the early-mid Holocene. The integrated archaeobotanical record (charred wood and non-wood macro-remains) demonstrates that in the Lateglacial the now-submerged coastal shelf of the southern Argolid peninsula was covered by steppe grassland vegetation dominated by junipers, almonds, cereals and legumes. The rapid climatic amelioration that marked the start of the Holocene brought about the disappearance of juniper and the expansion of deciduous woodland, cereals and lentils. This woodland-grassland biome bears no analogues in the modern and historical vegetation ecology of the Aegean basin. Instead, it is directly comparable to the steppe woodland biomes exploited by late Pleistocene and early Holocene hunter-gatherers in Southwest Asia, and points to the convergent evolution of late Pleistocene and early Holocene plant exploitation strategies between the two regions. Continuous sea-level rise during the early Holocene led to the gradual extinction of this unique palaeohabitat, which acted as the catalyst for the selective introduction of domesticated cereal crops at Franchthi Cave in the early 9th millennium cal BP. Our meta-analysis of the non-wood archaeobotanical data puts into question the concept of the wholesale introduction of a crop “package” by pioneer settler groups arriving from the East. It is proposed instead that selective cereal crop introduction formed part of a complex pattern of sociocultural interactions that brought together indigenous and immigrant groups into new communities