Quantitative Transfer Function Approaches in Palaeoclimatic Reconstruction Using Quaternary Ostracods
Abstract Quantifying (palaeo-)environmental changes is a key challenge for aquatic biological proxies, but the number of published transfer functions is increasing rapidly for the main palaeoecologically relevant groups such as diatoms and chironomids, and several transfer functions have also been developed during the past decades based on ostracod findings. The main environmental variables influencing the species assemblage composition in ostracod training sets are specific ion concentrations or ratios, salinity, water temperature and/or water depth. The available transfer functions and training sets are globally scattered, but often regionally restricted in their application. The most com…
The Ecology of Ostracoda Across Levels of Biological Organisation from Individual to Ecosystem
Abstract Palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic applications of fossil ostracods rely on a uniformitarian approach underpinned by knowledge of the biology and ecology of living species. This review reveals that in recent decades, major advances have been made in the understanding of species’ abiotic niches in relation to their preferences for different water chemistries and temperatures. However, the underlying ecophysiological mechanisms for such preferences are still largely unknown. Only a few works analyse in detail aspects of population growth or species interactions (competition, predation) in the framework of classical ecological theories. Similarly, the role of Ostracoda in the asse…
Sedimentology of a Late Quaternary lacustrine record from the south-eastern Carpathian Basin
The Upper Pleistocene geoarchives in the south‐eastern Carpathian Basin are represented predominantly by loess–palaeosol records. In 2015, a 10 m sediment core composed of clay‐rich lacustrine sediments was recovered by vibracoring a dry lake basin located between the Vršac Mountains (Serbia) and the Banat Sands in the south‐eastern Carpathian Basin; a location relevant for placing regional archaeological results in a palaeoenvironmental context. Here, we present results from geoelectrical prospection and a lithostratigraphic interpretation of this sequence supported by a detailed granulometric study supplemented by ostracod analysis. An age model based on luminescence dating is discussed a…