Faunal remains from Borsuka Cave – an example of local climate variability during Late Pleistocene in southern Poland

ABSTRACTA number of studies show that climatic shocks have significant economic impacts in several regions of the world, especially in, but not limited to, developing economies. In this paper we focus on a drought-related indicator of well-being and emergency spending in the Brazilian semi-arid zone – rainfed corn market – and estimate aggregate behavioral and forecast models for this market conditional on local climate determinants. We find encouraging evidence that our approach can help policy makers buy time to help them prepare for drought mitigating actions. The analysis is applicable to economies elsewhere in the world and climatic impacts other than those caused by droughts.

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Exploring the Combined Effect of Urbanization and Climate Variability on Urban Vegetation: A Multi-Perspective Study Based on More than 3000 Cities in China

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs12081328 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (8) ◽

pp. 1328 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ze Liang ◽

Yueyao Wang ◽

Fuyue Sun ◽

Hong Jiang ◽

Jiao Huang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Variability ◽

Great Influence ◽

Yangtze River Delta ◽

Specific Humidity ◽

Urban Vegetation ◽

Key Factors ◽

Local Climate ◽

Nighttime Light ◽

The Yangtze River Delta

More than 3000 cities in China were used to study the effect of urbanization and local climate variability on urban vegetation across different geographical and urbanization conditions. The national scale estimation shows that China’s urban vegetation depicts a trend of degradation from 2000 to 2015, especially in developed areas such as the Yangtze River Delta. According to the panel models, the increase of precipitation (PREC), solar radiation (SRAD), air temperature (TEMP), and specific humidity (SHUM) all enhance urban vegetation, while nighttime light intensity (NLI), population density (POPDEN), and fractal dimension (FRAC) do the opposite. The effects change along the East–West gradient; the influences of PREC and SHUM become greater, while those of TEMP, SRAD, NLI, AREA, and FRAC become smaller. PREC, SHUM, and SRAD play the most important roles in Northeast, Central, and North China, respectively. The role of FRAC and NLI in East China is much greater than in other regions. POPDEN remains influential across all altitudes, while FRAC affects only low-altitude cities. NLI plays a greater role in larger cities, while FRAC and POPDEN are the opposite. In cities outside of the five major urban agglomerations, PREC has a great influence while the key factors are more diversified inside.

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Hominin responses to environmental changes during the Middle Pleistocene in central and southern Italy

Climate of the Past ◽

10.5194/cp-9-687-2013 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 687-697 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

R. Orain ◽

V. Lebreton ◽

E. Russo Ermolli ◽

A.-M. Sémah ◽

S. Nomade ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Western Europe ◽

Southern Italy ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Global Climate ◽

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Faunal Remains ◽

Vegetation Dynamic ◽

Local Climate ◽

Global Climate Changes

Abstract. The palaeobotanical record of early Palaeolithic sites from Western Europe indicates that hominins settled in different kinds of environments. During the "mid-Pleistocene transition (MPT)", from about 1 to 0.6 Ma, the transition from 41- to 100-ka dominant climatic oscillations, occurring within a long-term cooling trend, was associated with an aridity crisis which strongly modified the ecosystems. Starting from the MPT the more favourable climate of central and southern Italy provided propitious environmental conditions for long-term human occupations even during the glacial times. In fact, the human strategy of territory occupation was certainly driven by the availabilities of resources. Prehistoric sites such as Notarchirico (ca. 680–600 ka), La Pineta (ca. 600–620 ka), Guado San Nicola (ca. 380–350 ka) or Ceprano (ca. 345–355 ka) testify to a preferential occupation of the central and southern Apennines valleys during interglacial phases, while later interglacial occupations were oriented towards the coastal plains, as attested by the numerous settlements of the Roma Basin (ca. 300 ka). Faunal remains indicate that human subsistence behaviours benefited from a diversity of exploitable ecosystems, from semi-open to closed environments. In central and southern Italy, several palynological records have already illustrated the regional- and local-scale vegetation dynamic trends. During the Middle Pleistocene climate cycles, mixed mesophytic forests developed during the interglacial periods and withdrew in response to increasing aridity during the glacial episodes. New pollen data from the Boiano Basin (Molise, Italy) attest to the evolution of vegetation and climate between MIS 13 and 9 (ca. 500 to 300 ka). In this basin the persistence of high edaphic humidity, even during the glacial phases, could have favoured the establishment of a refuge area for the arboreal flora and provided subsistence resources for the animal and hominin communities during the Middle Pleistocene. This could have constrained human groups to migrate into such a propitious area. Regarding the local climate evolution during the glacial episodes, the supposed displacement from these sites could be linked to the environmental dynamics solely due to the aridity increase, rather than directly to the global climate changes.

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Transient nature of late Pleistocene climate variability

Nature ◽

10.1038/nature07365 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 456 (7219) ◽

pp. 226-230 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

Thomas J. Crowley ◽

William T. Hyde

Keyword(s):

Climate Variability ◽

Late Pleistocene ◽

Transient Nature ◽

Pleistocene Climate

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Mustelids (Carnivora, Mammalia) from the Ciemna Cave (southern Poland) as an example of Late Pleistocene small carnivore assemblage

Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia ◽

10.3409/azc.60_2.15 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 60 (2) ◽

pp. 15-34 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Adrian Marciszak ◽

Grzegorz Lipecki ◽

Piotr Wojtal ◽

Katarzyna Zarzecka-Szubińska

Keyword(s):

Late Pleistocene ◽

Southern Poland

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Megafaunal Butchering at Lubbock Lake, Texas: A Taphonomic Reanalysis

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1016/0033-5894(88)90026-9 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 30 (2) ◽

pp. 221-231 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Lee Ann Kreutzer

Keyword(s):

Human Behavior ◽

Late Pleistocene ◽

Meat Processing ◽

Faunal Remains ◽

Point Bar ◽

Feature Structure ◽

Bone Accumulation ◽

Rule Out

Five seasons of excavation in Feature Area 2-1 of the Lubbock Lake Landmark, Texas, exposed a megafaunal bone accumulation in sands and gravels deposited by a late Pleistocene meandering stream. Many bone specimens exhibit evidence of alteration, supporting interpretation of the feature as an in situ, secondary meat-processing area; the gravels are interpreted as the point bar of a meandering stream. Faunal remains lying stratigraphically above the point bar have been considered to form a separate, noncultural feature produced by stream flooding. However, rose diagrams and analysis of adjusted residuals demonstrate that a statistically significant amount of bone in each feature is aligned along axes of preferred orientation. Further, the orientation patterns and statistical analyses of both features exhibit the same trends, suggesting that the same processes affected both. Although the evidence does not rule out a role of human behavior, it does demonstrate that stream currents significantly influenced feature structure.

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