Collaborative Research: Climate Change and Human Adaptation in Arctic-like Environments across the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition

合作研究：更新世-全新世过渡期间类北极环境中的气候变化和人类适应

• 批准号: 2305723
• 负责人: Yarrow Axford
• 金额: $ 30.1万
• 依托单位: Northwestern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2027-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2305723&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Climate; Change; Human

Climate change has influenced people and societies throughout human history. This project investigates how human behavior was influenced by an extreme climate change event, specifically the large and abrupt warming that occurred when the last ice age transitioned to the current interglacial period, known as the Holocene Epoch. This project will focus on humans and climate in northern New England, where the warming drove a rapid transition from tundra vegetation to a forested environment. Understanding how climate and ecosystems changed over time and space in northern New England, as it transitioned from open tundra, will provide a valuable perspective into how modern Arctic areas at and above treeline may change with projected future warming. The project will result in a new understanding of long-term human history, including adaptations to rapid climate and environmental changes. This information will be conveyed to a broader audience through documentary films, news articles and the involvement of local and Indigenous communities, K-12 teachers, and high school students in research activities.In northern New England, the end of the Younger Dryas (YD) ∼11,700 years ago was marked by rapid warming and the transition from open tundra and spruce parkland environments – an environment that is closely analogous to parts of the Arctic today - to closed canopy forest. Human livelihoods also transformed, but the details of these changes are poorly resolved. Combining methods from archeology, paleolimnology and paleoecology, this collaboration will determine the extent to which warming-driven environmental changes (e.g., afforestation) in northern New England at the end of the YD corresponded to human adaptive responses, such as hypothesized reduced mobility and regional depopulation. The researchers will quantify past temperature changes and reconstruct paleoenvironmental conditions using lake sediments, with a focus on insect (chironomid) and pollen analyses. They will develop high-resolution chronologies for the YD-age Fluted-Point-Period and early Holocene-age Late Paleoindian Period stone tool industries. They will then combine these well-dated records to evaluate the relative timings of changes in climate, vegetation and human mobility, settlement patterns and technology. Project results will be shared with residents near study sites and broader audiences, and this project will train geoscience, journalism, and documentary film students at the researchers’ institutions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

气候变化影响了整个人类历史。该项目调查了人类行为如何受到气候变化事件的影响，特别是当上一个冰河时代过渡到当前冰河间时期（称为全新世时代）时发生的大而突然的变暖。该项目将集中在新英格兰北部的人类和气候上，那里的变暖驱动了从苔原蔬菜到森林环境的迅速过渡。了解气候和生态系统如何随着开放式苔原过渡的新英格兰北部的时间和空间的变化，将为超越预计的未来变暖而变化的现代北极地区如何变化。该项目将对长期人类历史有了新的了解，包括适应快速气候和环境变化。这些信息将通过纪录片，新闻文章以及当地和土著社区，K -12老师和高中生从事研究活动的参与。封闭的顶篷森林。人类生计也发生了变化，但是这些变化的细节已经解决。这种合作结合了考古学，古学学和古生态学的方法，将决定在YD结束时在新英格兰北部的变暖驱动的环境变化（例如，负担得起）的程度与人类适应性反应相对应，例如假设的降低的流动性和部位降低。研究人员将使用湖泊沉积物来量化过去的温度变化，并重新建立古环境条件，侧重于昆虫（手法）和花粉分析。他们将针对YD-AGE凹槽点周期和早期全新世晚期的古印度时期石材工具行业制定高分辨率年表。然后，他们将结合这些良好的记录，以评估气候，植被和人类流动性，设定模式和技术变化的相对时机。项目结果将与研究地点和广播员受众群体附近的居民共享，该项目将在研究人员机构的地球科学，新闻和纪录片学生培训地球科学，新闻学和纪录片学生。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛影响的审查标准来通过评估而被认为是珍贵的支持。