Multi-isotope analysis of palaeofauna sequences as indicators of past environments and climates

在过去的10万年里，景观发生了巨大的变化，这主要是由于地球气候的变化。我们可以从古生物学和考古遗址中保存下来的植物和动物的遗骸中看到这些时期生活在这些景观中的物种和类型变化的证据。我们也有证据表明，从北极和南极恢复的冰芯的同位素特征测量，全球气候发生了多大的变化。然而，当我们观察特定地区和地区的景观时，我们几乎没有办法确定当地的气候和环境是如何变化的。冰芯记录了全球气候，但局部可能存在与冰芯记录的气候和环境变化不同的小气候。如果附近有适合这种分析的水体，也可以从湖泊沉积物中获得气候记录。******另一种重建过去环境的方法，以及它是如何随时间变化的，是测量当时生活的动物的同位素特征。这些同位素特征记录了这些动物吃的植物，以及它们活着时所喝的水的气候。通过观察这些动物，如马鹿或马，在同一地点，但在数千年的时间里，我们可以看到同位素值是如何变化的，然后我们可以确定气候和环境变化了多少，以及这些变化发生的时间。******利用动物遗骸序列的同位素测量作为气候和环境指标是一种相对较新的方法，目前研究较少。有了这个建议，我们将在这个领域最近的工作基础上，把我们开发的方法应用到20多个地点的数百个样本上，这些样本可以追溯到12万到1万年前。然后，我们将能够完全建立这种方法，作为古生物学家、古生物学家、气候研究人员和考古学家的新工具，并提供这一时期发生的气候和环境变化的新数据

Landscapes have changed dramatically over the past 100,000 years, largely due to changes in the Earth's climate. We can see evidence for the changes in the species and types of plants and animals that live in these landscapes over this time from their remains that have been preserved and then recovered from palaeontological and archaeological sites. We also have evidence for how much the climate has changed globally from the measurements of isotope signatures in ice cores recovered from the north and south poles. However, we have few methods of determining how the climate and environment changed locally when we are looking at landscapes in specific areas and regions. The ice core record records global climates, but locally there can be micro-climates that may have different climate and environmental changes than is recorded in the ice cores. It is also possible to get a record of the climate from lake sediments, if there is a nearby body of water suitable for this analysis.******Another way of reconstructing the past environment, and how it changed through time, is to measure the isotope signatures in animals that lived then. These isotope signatures record the plants that the animals ate, as well as the climate from the water they drank at the time they were alive. By looking at these animals, such as red deer or horse, from the same location but over many thousands of years, we can see how the isotope values changes, and then we can determine how much the climate and environment changed, and when these changes occurred.******The use of isotope measurements of sequences of animal remains as climate and environment indicators is a relatively new method, and there have been few studies so far. With this proposal we will build on recent work in this area and apply the methods we have developed to hundreds of samples from over 20 sites that date to from 120,000 to 10,000 years ago. We will then be able to fully establish this method as a new tool for palaeontologists, palaeobiologists, climate researchers and archaeologists, as well as provide new data on the climate and environmental changes that occurred over this time period.**