A comparison of plant macrofossil-based quantitative climate reconstruction methods : A case study of the lateglacial Baltic States
The recent advancements of new quantitative tools compatible with plant macrofossil proxy data have revived its potential for paleoclimate research. Plant macrofossils are commonly used in so-called indicator-species approaches, using methodologies that are typically built on known observations link...
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Language: | English |
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Elsevier Scientific Publ. Co
2024
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10138/584555 |
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ftunivhelsihelda:oai:helda.helsinki.fi:10138/584555 |
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openpolar |
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Open Polar |
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HELDA – University of Helsinki Open Repository |
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ftunivhelsihelda |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental sciences |
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Environmental sciences Trasune, Liva Väliranta, Minna Stivrins, Normunds Amon, Leeli Schenk, Frederik Salonen, J. Sakari A comparison of plant macrofossil-based quantitative climate reconstruction methods : A case study of the lateglacial Baltic States |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences |
description |
The recent advancements of new quantitative tools compatible with plant macrofossil proxy data have revived its potential for paleoclimate research. Plant macrofossils are commonly used in so-called indicator-species approaches, using methodologies that are typically built on known observations linking modern plant distributions with climate. This allows complementary paleoclimate reconstructions using an approach that is not limited by the spatial availability of calibration samples obtained from surface sediments (e.g., pollen or chironomids). We aim to evaluate the impact that various methodological choices have on the plant-macrofossil based reconstructions of January and July temperature patterns for the Lateglacial (14–11 ka BP) period. We use a variety of classic and novel quantitative climate reconstruction algorithms with plant macrofossil assemblages from 13 sites of the Baltic States. We use unfiltered plant data to evaluate the ability of each method to also handle the presence of plants that might have a weak sensitivity to temperature. Additionally, we test the influence of another methodological choice – the choice of modern calibration region – on the reconstructed climate. Our findings indicate that, with no prior filtering of summer and winter-sensitive plants, temporal temperature variations can be reconstructed with methods that implement probability density functions. Although some disparities in reconstructions are seen between the tested algorithms, we note that the choice of calibration region bears a greater influence on the results. A calibration region that best represents the past environment should be chosen rather than one representing the same spatial extent as the fossil site(s). Moreover, for long-term reconstructions, a “dynamic calibration set” approach should be considered in future studies by using a range of calibration regions and mirroring the continuously changing broadscale environmental regime of the past. Peer reviewed |
author2 |
Department of Geosciences and Geography Ecosystems and Environment Research Programme Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS) Environmental Change Research Unit (ECRU) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Trasune, Liva Väliranta, Minna Stivrins, Normunds Amon, Leeli Schenk, Frederik Salonen, J. Sakari |
author_facet |
Trasune, Liva Väliranta, Minna Stivrins, Normunds Amon, Leeli Schenk, Frederik Salonen, J. Sakari |
author_sort |
Trasune, Liva |
title |
A comparison of plant macrofossil-based quantitative climate reconstruction methods : A case study of the lateglacial Baltic States |
title_short |
A comparison of plant macrofossil-based quantitative climate reconstruction methods : A case study of the lateglacial Baltic States |
title_full |
A comparison of plant macrofossil-based quantitative climate reconstruction methods : A case study of the lateglacial Baltic States |
title_fullStr |
A comparison of plant macrofossil-based quantitative climate reconstruction methods : A case study of the lateglacial Baltic States |
title_full_unstemmed |
A comparison of plant macrofossil-based quantitative climate reconstruction methods : A case study of the lateglacial Baltic States |
title_sort |
comparison of plant macrofossil-based quantitative climate reconstruction methods : a case study of the lateglacial baltic states |
publisher |
Elsevier Scientific Publ. Co |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10138/584555 |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_relation |
10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108811 We thank Mariusz Ga\u0142ka (University of Lodz) for providing the plant macrofossil records from study sites in Poland. We also thank Emilia Tuomaala (University of Helsinki) for the assistance in gathering the data for this study. The study was made with financial support from the Research Council of Finland (project 331426), Estonian Research Council (PRG 1993), University of Latvia's National Basic Funding (Y5-AZ03_ZF-N-110), and the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (FORMAS 2020-01000; 2023-01631). The Swedish\u2013Finnish collaboration was co-funded by the Bolin Centre for Climate Research at Stockholm University and Arctic Avenue, a spearhead research project between the University of Helsinki and Stockholm University. Trasune , L , Väliranta , M , Stivrins , N , Amon , L , Schenk , F & Salonen , J S 2024 , ' A comparison of plant macrofossil-based quantitative climate reconstruction methods : A case study of the lateglacial Baltic States ' , Quaternary Science Reviews , vol. 338 , 108811 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108811 ORCID: /0000-0001-7843-1378/work/165729961 ORCID: /0000-0003-0129-7240/work/165730763 ORCID: /0000-0002-8847-9081/work/165731505 ORCID: /0000-0002-4768-9832/work/165737548 http://hdl.handle.net/10138/584555 70afbe10-18f4-4428-9ea5-4a3a14768a52 001278481400001 |
op_rights |
cc_by info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess openAccess |
_version_ |
1810294037366702080 |
spelling |
ftunivhelsihelda:oai:helda.helsinki.fi:10138/584555 2024-09-15T17:51:58+00:00 A comparison of plant macrofossil-based quantitative climate reconstruction methods : A case study of the lateglacial Baltic States Trasune, Liva Väliranta, Minna Stivrins, Normunds Amon, Leeli Schenk, Frederik Salonen, J. Sakari Department of Geosciences and Geography Ecosystems and Environment Research Programme Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS) Environmental Change Research Unit (ECRU) 2024-08-12T13:38:03Z application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10138/584555 eng eng Elsevier Scientific Publ. Co 10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108811 We thank Mariusz Ga\u0142ka (University of Lodz) for providing the plant macrofossil records from study sites in Poland. We also thank Emilia Tuomaala (University of Helsinki) for the assistance in gathering the data for this study. The study was made with financial support from the Research Council of Finland (project 331426), Estonian Research Council (PRG 1993), University of Latvia's National Basic Funding (Y5-AZ03_ZF-N-110), and the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (FORMAS 2020-01000; 2023-01631). The Swedish\u2013Finnish collaboration was co-funded by the Bolin Centre for Climate Research at Stockholm University and Arctic Avenue, a spearhead research project between the University of Helsinki and Stockholm University. Trasune , L , Väliranta , M , Stivrins , N , Amon , L , Schenk , F & Salonen , J S 2024 , ' A comparison of plant macrofossil-based quantitative climate reconstruction methods : A case study of the lateglacial Baltic States ' , Quaternary Science Reviews , vol. 338 , 108811 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108811 ORCID: /0000-0001-7843-1378/work/165729961 ORCID: /0000-0003-0129-7240/work/165730763 ORCID: /0000-0002-8847-9081/work/165731505 ORCID: /0000-0002-4768-9832/work/165737548 http://hdl.handle.net/10138/584555 70afbe10-18f4-4428-9ea5-4a3a14768a52 001278481400001 cc_by info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess openAccess Environmental sciences Article publishedVersion 2024 ftunivhelsihelda 2024-08-28T23:57:17Z The recent advancements of new quantitative tools compatible with plant macrofossil proxy data have revived its potential for paleoclimate research. Plant macrofossils are commonly used in so-called indicator-species approaches, using methodologies that are typically built on known observations linking modern plant distributions with climate. This allows complementary paleoclimate reconstructions using an approach that is not limited by the spatial availability of calibration samples obtained from surface sediments (e.g., pollen or chironomids). We aim to evaluate the impact that various methodological choices have on the plant-macrofossil based reconstructions of January and July temperature patterns for the Lateglacial (14–11 ka BP) period. We use a variety of classic and novel quantitative climate reconstruction algorithms with plant macrofossil assemblages from 13 sites of the Baltic States. We use unfiltered plant data to evaluate the ability of each method to also handle the presence of plants that might have a weak sensitivity to temperature. Additionally, we test the influence of another methodological choice – the choice of modern calibration region – on the reconstructed climate. Our findings indicate that, with no prior filtering of summer and winter-sensitive plants, temporal temperature variations can be reconstructed with methods that implement probability density functions. Although some disparities in reconstructions are seen between the tested algorithms, we note that the choice of calibration region bears a greater influence on the results. A calibration region that best represents the past environment should be chosen rather than one representing the same spatial extent as the fossil site(s). Moreover, for long-term reconstructions, a “dynamic calibration set” approach should be considered in future studies by using a range of calibration regions and mirroring the continuously changing broadscale environmental regime of the past. Peer reviewed Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic HELDA – University of Helsinki Open Repository |