Palaeoecology provides crucial information into past changes in climate and ecosystems. However, uncertainties from environmental processes and laboratory methods affect our inferences from the data. We use a virtual ecological approach to quantifying uncertainties by simulating proxy data and systematically introducing sources of uncertainty. Better understanding the effects of uncertainty can help shape study designs before a project is carried out and make robust inferences palaeoproxy data.

We studied climate change in the central Mediterranean during the Holocene by analysing 38 pollen records. Several methods were used to obtain reliable results on seasonal temperatures and precipitation. Our results show that, during the Holocene, summer temperatures were colder in the south and warmer in the north, with wetter winters and drier summers, especially in the south. Unlike winter conditions, summers ones did not follow variations in insolation, suggesting other factors.

Continental scale temperature maps have been generated based on rodent associations and spatial generalized linear mixed model for six different periods (LGM, Heinrich Stadial, Bølling, Allerød, Younger Dryas and present-day conditions). We assess their reliability by comparing with General Circulation Models. The spatial patterns obtained from the rodent associations are very similar to those of the GCMs, but with slightly cooler estimations in western Europe and warmer ones in eastern Europe.

We examine trends in biosiliceous fluxes and isotopic records in the North and South Atlantic, South Pacific and Indian Ocean during two climatic and biotic events: the Latest Danian Event (LDE; ~62.2 Ma) and the Early Late Palaeocene Event (ELPE; ~59.2 Ma). Our results show a peak during the LDE and following the ELPE.

We analyzed a high-resolution marine sediment record from the Laptev Sea to reconstruct deglacial permafrost thaw events during the last 16 kyr. Using biomarkers and radiocarbon dating, we found that peaks in pre-aged terrigenous material coincided with rapid sea-level rise, indicating coastal erosion as the main mobilization mechanism. This research provides insights into past permafrost carbon release, informing predictions of future climate-permafrost feedback in a warming world.

We present a record of sea ice and climate inferred from novel snow petrel stomach oil deposits from East Antarctica. Snow petrels feed in the sea ice on a mixture of marine organisms and regurgitate these oils close to their nesting sites in nunatak mountains. We use makers of past diet and productivity from within a deposit to show how sea ice and climate has varied over part of the Holocene. Three periods are identified ranging from low to intermediate and increased sea ice cover.

Using a stalagmite from Whiterock Cave (Gunung Mulu National Park, Northern Borneo), covering the time interval from 460000 to 333000 years B.P., including two glacial terminations, we employed nucleation-assisted fluid inclusion microthermometry to reconstruct a tropical land temperature record. The record reveals an amplitude of glacial-interglacial temperature changes of 4.2 °C and a strong linear correlation with Antarctic temperature anomalies, yielding a polar amplification factor of 2.3.

This study explores storm patterns in eastern Canada's Magdalen Islands over 4000 years, using coastal peatlands to understand past storm activity. Our findings reveal key storm periods, including during the Little Ice Age, linked to broader climatic shifts like the Atlantic Multidecadal Variability. By comparing our results with other North American records, we show how peat data can complement marine storm archives and improve our understanding of past storms.

We used a fully coupled ice-climate model to simulate the last two glacial inceptions, and compare the ensemble simulated ice sheet evolution to limited geological data. Our results show that Northern Hemisphere ice sheets grew rapidly, sometimes merging in ways not previously assumed and that capturing one glacial inception does not guarantee capturing another. These findings improve our understanding of ice-age dynamics and highlight challenges in predicting past and future climate evolution.

This study aims to characterize the vegetation and lake dynamics based on pollen and Non-Pollen Palynomorph (NPP) proxies, to quantitatively reconstruct climate changes using a multimethod approach and to morphologically characterize the large pollen grains of Poaceae (Cerealia-type).

The Eocene-Oligocene Transition (EOT) marked global cooling and Antarctic glaciation, but its impact on marginal seas is less known. This study analyzes the Karaburun section in the eastern Paratethys, using biostratigraphy and geochemistry to reveal boreal water ingress due to Arctic-Atlantic gateway closure. Findings highlight the interplay of global and regional climate dynamics in shaping marginal marine environments.

We studied diatom fossils from the Southern Ocean to understand how ocean productivity changed ~40–30 million years ago during a major climate shift marked by the onset of permanent Antarctic glaciation and global cooling. We found striking shifts in diatom productivity, revealing critical changes in ocean circulation and nutrient supply. Our results show how these microscopic organisms may have influenced climate, acting as a geological force that shaped global climate over time.

Using sediment samples from Cyprus, we investigated climate and ocean changes during the Miocene (~23–5 million years ago). Our new record reveals the effects of global climate changes such as a warming event linked to high CO₂ levels. Later, tectonic events controlled eastern Mediterranean conditions by limiting connectivity with the open ocean. With the first record of its kind for this region, we show how climate and geological processes both affect oceans.

Around 70 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous, Earth’s climate was undergoing long-term cooling despite high CO₂ levels. Using an advanced temperature reconstruction technique, we analyzed foraminifer fossils from the European Chalk Sea. Our results show highly variable surface waters, likely influenced by freshwater inputs or upwelling, while deeper waters remained warm and stable, possibly influenced by shifting ocean currents. This improves our understanding of past ocean dynamics.

This study examines environmental shifts at Edisto Inlet, Ross Sea, from 3.5 to 1.5 kyrs BP, focusing on a transition between 2.7 and 2.5 kyrs BP. Geochemical proxies and foraminiferal assemblages suggest a change from multi-year to seasonal sea-ice, likely linked to mCDW intrusion. The study integrates these data to reveal connections between mCDW, sea-ice conditions, and the Southern Annular Mode, highlighting Edisto Inlet as a key site for regional climate reconstruction.

This study uses an Earth System Model MRI-ESM2.0 to demonstrate that the atmospheric ozone distribution during warm interglacial periods are modified by the changes in the Earth’s orbital parameters. We further show that this would strengthen the southern westerly jet in the stratosphere. We further show that the impact of the change in atmospheric ozone on zonal mean surface air temperature is minor, while it may affect the regional temperature around the poles.

Based on multilingual written documents, this study developed a common drought impact-response framework and compared six extreme drought events in Germany and the Jing-Jin-Ji Region (China) during the transformation from agrarian to modern societies. Cross-regional comparisons reveal commonalities in drought cascades and response preferences and consider social development, rather than climate systems or cultural backgrounds, as the main contributor to distinct drought-society interactions.

We used climate models to study how stable water isotopes in ice cores changed in the Arctic and Antarctica during the warm Last Interglacial (LIG) period. Whilst standard simulations underestimate polar warming, when the effects of ice sheet meltwater from the preceding deglaciation are included, there is a much better match with observations. Findings suggest that previous estimates of LIG Arctic warming were too high. Understanding these past polar changes can help improve future predictions.

Peatlands hold valuable insights about past climate, but the link between tree growth and water conditions remains unclear. We analyzed tree-ring stable isotopes from Scots pines in Swedish peatlands to study their response to water levels and climate. Unlike tree-ring widths, stable isotopes showed strong, consistent signals of water table levels and summer climate. This improves our ability to reconstruct past climate changes from peatland trees.

A new 1500-year-long sediment record entirely made of annual laminations (varves) from a deep lake in Labrador was analyzed to perform a reconstruction of past hydroclimatic conditions. The varve thickness was linked to regional snow and rain precipitations. Our record indicates more precipitations during the 1050–1225 CE period, that is corresponding to the Medieval Climate Anomaly, whereas the 15th–19th centuries, related to the Little Ice Age, shows a drier climate.

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) about 56 million years ago is characterized by a rapid perturbation of the global carbon cycle. Comparison of sedimentary records with results from a comprehensive Earth system model suggest that environmental changes including benthic foraminifera extinction may have caused by a massive carbon input at the PETM and associate collapse of the ocean circulation due to the greenhouse-gas induced warming.

Understanding how Earth's climate and ecosystems responded to past warm periods helps us predict future changes. In this study, we explored how variations in sea surface temperature and Earth's orbit influenced vegetation patterns during four key interglacials. Using advanced climate models, we showed that boreal forests expanded while temperate forests retreated, impacting the carbon cycle. These findings provide insights into how ecosystems might respond to ongoing global warming.