Session Details

Past environmental change within the tropics is rapidly becoming much better resolved as the density of studies increases and the range of techniques applied diversifies. This session will explore the potential and of temporal and spatial insights gained from palaeoecological research in the tropics and assess how this can be used for future management of ecosystems as they respond to predicted climatic and land-use change. Presentations in the session will focus on how do tropical ecosystems record and respond to Quaternary climate changes? What are the spatial linkages, both inter-hemispherical and inter- tropical? What can the character of these links tell us about the current ecosystem composition and distribution and the forcing mechanisms driving ecosystem changes? There will be a focus on detecting and understanding human-induced signals within sedimentary records. For example, to what extent are current biogeography and biodiversity patterns a legacy of human disturbance over previous millennia? With this increasingly resolved understanding we can assess what Quaternary palaeoecology can provide on likely tropical ecosystem responses/feedbacks to predicted future climate environmental change? What are the predicted future scenarios of continued deforestation and habitat fragmentation? How are the links between the palaeoecological and climate modelling communities developing to provide appropriate tolls for managing predicted future change?