Collaborative Research: Climate Change and Human Adaptation in Arctic-like Environments across the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition

合作研究：更新世-全新世过渡期间类北极环境中的气候变化和人类适应

• 批准号: 2305723
• 负责人: Yarrow Axford
• 金额: $ 30.1万
• 依托单位: Northwestern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2027-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2305723&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Climate; Change; Human

Climate change has influenced people and societies throughout human history. This project investigates how human behavior was influenced by an extreme climate change event, specifically the large and abrupt warming that occurred when the last ice age transitioned to the current interglacial period, known as the Holocene Epoch. This project will focus on humans and climate in northern New England, where the warming drove a rapid transition from tundra vegetation to a forested environment. Understanding how climate and ecosystems changed over time and space in northern New England, as it transitioned from open tundra, will provide a valuable perspective into how modern Arctic areas at and above treeline may change with projected future warming. The project will result in a new understanding of long-term human history, including adaptations to rapid climate and environmental changes. This information will be conveyed to a broader audience through documentary films, news articles and the involvement of local and Indigenous communities, K-12 teachers, and high school students in research activities.In northern New England, the end of the Younger Dryas (YD) ∼11,700 years ago was marked by rapid warming and the transition from open tundra and spruce parkland environments – an environment that is closely analogous to parts of the Arctic today - to closed canopy forest. Human livelihoods also transformed, but the details of these changes are poorly resolved. Combining methods from archeology, paleolimnology and paleoecology, this collaboration will determine the extent to which warming-driven environmental changes (e.g., afforestation) in northern New England at the end of the YD corresponded to human adaptive responses, such as hypothesized reduced mobility and regional depopulation. The researchers will quantify past temperature changes and reconstruct paleoenvironmental conditions using lake sediments, with a focus on insect (chironomid) and pollen analyses. They will develop high-resolution chronologies for the YD-age Fluted-Point-Period and early Holocene-age Late Paleoindian Period stone tool industries. They will then combine these well-dated records to evaluate the relative timings of changes in climate, vegetation and human mobility, settlement patterns and technology. Project results will be shared with residents near study sites and broader audiences, and this project will train geoscience, journalism, and documentary film students at the researchers’ institutions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

气候变化影响了人类历史上的人们和社会。该项目预测了极端气候变化事件如何影响人类行为，特别是上次冰河时代研究过渡到当前的间冰期（即全新世）时发生的大规模突然变暖。该项目将重点关注新英格兰北部的人类和气候，那里的变暖推动了从苔原植被到森林环境的快速转变，了解新英格兰北部从开放过渡的过程中气候和生态系统如何随着时间和空间的变化而变化。苔原,将为了解林线及以上的现代北极地区如何随着预计的未来变暖而发生变化提供有价值的视角。该项目将带来对人类长期历史的新认识，包括对快速气候和环境变化的适应。通过纪录片、新闻文章以及当地和原住民社区、K-12 教师和高中生参与研究活动向更广泛的受众展示。在新英格兰北部，约 11,700 年前新仙女木期 (YD) 的结束被标记为快速气候变暖以及从开放的苔原和云杉公园环境（与今天的北极部分地区非常相似）到封闭的树冠森林的转变也改变了人类的生计，但结合考古学的方法，这些变化的细节却很难解决。古湖沼学和古生态学，这项合作将确定新英格兰北部在元年末由变暖驱动的环境变化（例如造林）在多大程度上与人类的适应性反应相对应，例如研究人员将量化过去的温度变化并利用湖泊沉积物重建古环境条件，重点是昆虫（摇蚊）和花粉分析，他们将为 YD 年龄的凹槽点开发高分辨率年表。然后，他们将结合这些日期明确的记录来评估气候、植被和人类流动、定居模式和技术变化的相对时间。项目结果将与研究地点附近的居民和更广泛的受众分享，该项目将反映在研究人员机构中培训地球科学、新闻和纪录片学生。该奖项是 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。