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Palaeoecology is the study of past ecosystems using palaeontological methods. Fossil data are used to reconstruct interactions between different species and between species and their environment.
Analysing strontium isotope ratios for individuals of 18 bovid and equid species dating to the Last Glacial Period (115–11.7 ka), the authors find that 16 of these species lack definitive evidence of migration, even those species that are long-distance migrants today.
Past global human migration was the result of environmental and cultural factors. Here, the authors develop a statistical approach that combines archaeological, genetic, and palaeoclimate data to identify regional environmental conditions facilitating population expansion routes in northern Eurasia and the Americas.
Floristic homogenization — an increase in plant similarity within a given region — threatens biodiversity. By studying the taxonomic similarity of the floras of South Pacific islands over the past 5,000 years, we find that initial human settlement was probably a major driver of floristic homogenization.
Analysis of regional-scale pollen data from southeast Australia that span the entire Holocene epoch reveals that plant functional diversity has been highly variable in time and space. A functional perspective on palaeoecological data helps us to better understand the current climate–biodiversity crisis and to predict future changes.
Rapid morphological evolution in early echinoderms was later outpaced by increases in ecological diversification, indicating the phylum exhibited morphological volatility and ecological constraints at its origin.
A new lower Cambrian fossil locality in South China offers spectacular glimpses into the post-larval development of a wide variety of soft-bodied early marine animals, knowledge of which has been confined to their mature stages until now.