Distribution of stable carbon isotopes in an agrochernozem during the transition from C₃ vegetation to a corn monoculture.

The distribution of carbon in an agrochernozem’s profile was studied by the natural 13C abun dance method during the C3–C4 vegetation transition and the analysis of the soil phytolith complex under a continuous corn monoculture. A young pool of soil organic matter (SOM) formed during 43 years of monoc ulture growing was detected by the isotope analysis in the 0 to 60cm layer, while the analysis of the phytolith complex identified this pool deeper: corn phytoliths were detected in the 0 to 80cm layer. The maximum size of the young pool was found in the upper soil horizon; it reached 6.4% of the SOM in the 0 to 20cm layer. The apparent time of the SOM turnover was 635 and 2225 years in the 0 to 20 and 40 to 60cm layers, respectively. The high values of the mean residence time were related to the low input of plant residues to the soil at the growing of corn for silage and the high initial content of organic carbon in the chernozem. The changes in the isotope composition after the decalcification of the soil to remove carbonates and the variation of the δ13C in the corn biomass during the vegetation period significantly affected the calculated value of the mean residence time

Discovery of the skull of Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis (Jäger, 1839) above the Arctic Circle - Corrigendum

Bioarchaeolog

Taphonomic phenomenon of ancient hair from Glacial Beringia: perspectives for palaeoecological reconstructions

Bioarchaeolog

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)