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

这项研究将使用新开发和充分验证的同位素技术，从广泛存在于整个东南亚岛屿(孙达兰)的厚厚的洞穴鸟粪沉积中获得可靠的植被变化替代记录。这个项目将检验这一假设，即在最后一次冰川时期，热带雨林向赤道方向大幅收缩，进入避难所。这导致了一条连接热带大草原南北的开放的“大草原走廊”的发展。该项目将为该区域的古气候学提供新的线索，并为解释整个孙达兰的现代生物地理模式以及早期人类在该区域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.