Palaeo-vegetation, biodiversity and early human dispersal though island Southeast Asia

这项研究将使用新开发的和充分验证的同位素技术，以获得强大的代理记录的植被变化从厚厚的沉积物的洞穴鸟粪，广泛发生在整个岛屿东南亚（孙达兰）。该项目将测试一个假设，即在末次冰期，热带雨林向赤道方向大幅收缩，成为避难所。这导致了一个开放的“稀树萨凡纳走廊”的发展，连接赤道南北的稀树草原。该项目将为该地区的古气候学提供新的线索，并为解释整个孙达兰的现代地理模式以及早期人类在该地区的传播轨迹做出重大贡献。

This study will use newly developed and fully validated isotope techniques to obtain robustly dated proxy records of vegetation change from the thick deposits of cave guano that occur extensively throughout island Southeast Asia (Sundaland). This project will test the hypothesis that during the Last Glacial Period, there was a substantial contraction of the rainforest towards the equator into refugia. This led to the development of an open ‘savannah corridor’ connecting savanna north and south of the equator. The project will shed new light on the palaeoclimatology of the region and provide a major contribution to explaining modern biogeographic patterns across Sundaland, as well as the trajectories of early human dispersal through the region.