High resolution (∼200 yr sample spacing) records of sea surface temperature for the past 15,000 yr have been inferred from planktonic foraminiferal assemblages in a sediment core from the South China Sea. Although the assemblages imply a large glacial-to-interglacial temperature change (∼7°C for winter temperatures), they give no indication of a cooling during Younger Dryas time. This suggests that the Younger Dryas increase in δ18O observed in cores from the western equatorial Pacific is not due to a climatic cooling but rather to a change in the isotopic composition of the oceans.

A 13,000-year history of late-Quaternary vegetational and climatic change has been derived from lacustrine sediments from Pleasant Island in the Glacier Bay region of southeastern Alaska. Early arrival of lodgepole pine and mountain hemlock, indicated by the presence of pollen and conifer stomata, suggests expansion from refugia in the Alexander Archipelago. A short-term climatic reversal, possibly correlated with the European Younger Dryas, is inferred from the expansion of tundra elements and deposition of inorganic sediments between 10,600 and 9900 14C yr B.P. Two peat cores from the lake catchment verify Holocene vegetation changes and aid in the separation of biogenic from climatic forces affecting vegetation history. Differences in pollen representation among the three cores illustrate the variation among pollen-collecting substrates, as well as the spatial heterogeneity of peatland development and its dependence on local hydrology. Initial peat accumulation and soil paludification, occasioned by increases in temperature and precipitation in the early Holocene, allowed western and mountain hemlock to replace sitka spruce 8500–8000 yr B. P. Open muskeg became widespread about 7000 yr B. P. and allowed lodgepole pine to reinvade the region after a 2000-yr absence. The extensive replacement of fen elements by bog taxa at 3400 yr B. P. suggests increased paludification due to changing hydrologic conditions; its correlation with the upland expansion of Tsuga heterophylla suggests the onset of a cooler/wetter Neoglacial climate in southeastern Alaska.

The finding of a prehistoric mummified corpse at the upper edge of the accumulation area of an alpine glacier, together with its unique set of artifacts, provided new information on glacier dimensions during the little-known phases of major glacier shrinkage that characterized the warmest parts of the Holocene. The sudden burial of the corpse in a permanent snow cover occurred 5300–5050 cal yr B.P., indicating a significant climatic change that induced glacier expansion at the beginning of Neoglaciation. New geomorphologic data and two AMS 14C ages from buried soils suggest that the present glacier size, following over 100 yr of shrinkage, is comparable to that immediately preceding Neoglaciation. Therefore, we can deduce that the current global climatic warming may have interrupted the environmental conditions prevailing in the Alps during Neoglacial time, restoring characteristics similar to those prevailing during the climatic optimum that were never achieved during the second half of the Holocene.

An exceptionally rich paleontological site containing thousands of mammalian fossils and well-dated with 18 radiocarbon samples provides evidence of late-Holocene ecological response to climatic change in northern Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. The mammalian fauna, composed of 10,597 identified specimens, shows surprising affinity to the local habitat with little evidence of long-distance transport of faunal elements, thus revealing the faithfulness of a fossil site to the community from which it is derived. The mammals illustrate ecological sensitivity to a series of mesic to xeric climatic excursions in the sagebrush-grassland ecotone during the past 3200 yr. From 3200 cal yr B.P. to a maximum of 1100 cal yr B.P., the species composition of mammals indicates wetter conditions than today. Beginning about 1200 cal yr B.P., the fauna becomes more representative of xeric conditions with maxima in xeric-indicator taxa and minima in mesic-indicator taxa, concordant with the Medieval Warm Period (circa 1000 to 650 yr B.P.). Cooler, wetter conditions which prevailed for most of the Little Ice Age (700 to 100 yr B.P.) in general correspond to a return to a more mesic mammalian fauna. A warm period within the Little Ice Age is documented by a xeric fauna. These data show that mammalian ecological sensitivity to climatic change over this intermediate time scale holds promise for predictions about the impacts of future global warming.

Mutual Climatic Range (MCR) analysis was applied to 20 fossil beetle assemblages from 11 sites dating from 14,500 to 400 yr B.P. The fossil sites represent a transect of the Rocky Mountain region from northern Montana to central Colorado. The analyses yielded estimates of mean July and mean January temperatures. The oldest assemblage (14,500 yr B.P.) yielded mean July values of 10–11°C colder than present and mean January values 26–30°C colder than present. Postglacial summer warming was rapid, as indicated by an assemblage dating 13,200 yr B.P., with mean July values only 3–4°C cooler than modern. By 10,000 yr B.P., several assemblages indicate warmer-than-modern mean summer and winter values. By 9000 yr B.P., MCR reconstructions indicate that both summer and winter temperatures were already declining from an early Holocene peak. Mean July values remained above modern levels and mean January values remained below modern levels until 3000 yr B.P. A series of small-scale oscillations followed.

Morphometric analyses show quantitative differences in anatomical characters of wood and charcoal between wild and cultivated olive. Samples from modern olive wood in eastern Spain (Levante) provide five distinctive anatomical criteria: growth width ring, vessel surface, number of vessels per group, vessel density, and vulnerability ratio. Multivariate analysis shows that growth ring width and number of vessels per group are both significant criteria for discriminating between wild and cultivated olive. Moreover, bioclimatic environments of wild olive (thermomediterranean and mesomediterranean stages) are distinguished by vessel density. Ancient olive charcoal from archaeological sites at Valencia and Alicante implies increasing aridification from the Cardial Neolithic to the Roman Period. This pattern may reflect the onset of a Mediterranean climate and human deforestation. Charcoal from cultivated specimens of early Neolithic age shows that the olive tree is the earliest cultivated temperate fruit.

The Kärlich–Seeufer archaeological site in Germany's central Rhineland was excavated between 1980 and 1992. The site provides evidence for hominid activity during a Middle Pleistocene interglaciation known up to now only from the Kärlich clay pit and therefore defined as the Kärlich Interglaciation, which is considered to be post-Cromer IV and pre-Holstein (sensu stricto) in age. The site is characterized by Acheulean artifacts, a fauna dominated by Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) antiquus, and a unique and outstanding preservation of wooden and other palaeobotanical remains. Assuming all finds are associated, the site previously was interpreted as an elephant hunting camp with a wooden structure, together with wood and bone implements preserved in situ. Recent analysis of the same features has shown that the site can also be interpreted as a reworked archaeological sample. Hominid occupation occurred in the vicinity of a small lake with prevailing meso-oligotrophic conditions. Expanding boreal forests and fen vegetation characterized the landscape.

Genetic and paleontological evidence are combining to provide a new and surprising picture of mammalian biogeography in southeastern Alaska. Prior to our study, the brown and black bears of the Alexander Archipelago were considered postglacial immigrants that never had overlapping ranges. Vertebrate fossils from caves on Prince of Wales Island now demonstrate that brown and black bears coexisted there (and even inhabited the same caves) both before and after the last glaciation. Differences in mtDNA sequences suggest that living brown bears of the Alexander Archipelago comprise a distinct clade and are more closely related to polar bears than to their mainland conspecifics. We conclude that brown bears, and perhaps other large mammals, have continuously inhabited the archipelago for at least 40,000 yr and that habitable refugia were therefore available throughout the last glaciation.

The average adult size of the rock hyrax varies greatly across South Africa. Regression analysis suggests that mean hyrax size is more closely linked to precipitation than to temperature, probably because precipitation has a much greater impact on preferred hyrax food plants. The relationship between mean size and precipitation is curvilinear, such that size increases up to about 700 mm/annum and declines thereafter. This parallels a tendency for less palatable grasses to replace more palatable ones where rainfall exceeds 700 mm/annum. In conjunction with other indicators of past climate, hyrax size variation can be used to reconstruct precipitation history near deeply stratified South African late Quaternary sites, including Elands Bay Cave, Die Kelders Cave 1, and Nelson Bay Cave.

New sea-level and δ18O curves for the past 34,000 yr, based on uranium–thorium chronology, are proposed for the southwestern part of the Indian Ocean. The archives include cores drilled from onshore coral reefs and submersed samples from foreslope corals of Mayotte in the Comoro Islands. The Mayotte sea-level curve shows a lowstand of 145 ± 5 m below the present level during the last glacial maximum dated at 18,400 yr. This lowstand is supported by the maximum18O enrichment in the coral colonies. The residual signal (Δδ18O), controlled by sea-surface temperature changes, indicates that surface waters 18,400 yr ago were approximately 5°C cooler than present. The deglacial sea-level rise is clearly recorded, with a mean rate of about 1.7 cm yr−1between 18,400 and 10,000 yr ago. The deglaciation phase is characterized by a strong18O depletion marked by two pulses related to meltwater discharges into the North Atlantic Ocean but also characterized by responses specific to the tropical Indian Ocean.