The pace and rhythm of climate: 600,000 years in a biological hotspot

该项目旨在为印度-太平洋暖池（IPWP）的植被和降雨量的长期变化提供知识。IPWP通过与厄尔尼诺-南方涛动、澳大利亚-亚洲季风和热带辐合带的相互作用，对地球气候产生巨大影响。然而，尽管它的重要性，IPWP对全球气候变化的反应仍然不确定。通过孢粉学、古代沉积物DNA和化合物特定稳定同位素分析，该项目旨在制作苏拉威西岛过去60万年的陆地植被、火灾和生物多样性记录。该地区无与伦比的记录长度和分辨率将使其成为重建古气候的基准，可能会改变我们对IPWP的理解。

This project aims to generate knowledge of long-term changes in vegetation and rainfall for the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool (IPWP). The IPWP exerts enormous influence on the Earth’s climate through its interactions with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, the Austral–Asian monsoons and the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone. Yet despite its importance, the response of the IPWP to global climate change remains uncertain. Through palynology, ancient sedimentary DNA and compound specific stable isotope analyses, this project aims to produce a terrestrial vegetation, fire and biodiversity record for the last 600 000 years in Sulawesi. The unrivalled length and resolution of this record for the region would make it a benchmark reconstruction of palaeoclimate that may transform our understanding of the IPWP.