Palaeoecology

Palaeoecology reconstructs past ecosystems by analysing biological and geological proxies preserved in sediments, soils and fossil assemblages. It integrates data on vegetation, fauna, bioturbation structures and geochemical signatures to infer palaeoclimates, habitat dynamics and organism–environment interactions over timescales from centuries to millions of years. By linking changes in species composition and functional traits to shifts in temperature, precipitation, carbon dioxide and disturbance regimes, palaeoecology reveals how ecosystems have responded to natural forcings—such as orbital cycles, greenhouse events and glacial–interglacial transitions—as well as to early human impacts. Insights from deep-time analogues inform present-day conservation, resource management and predictions of ecosystem resilience under future climate change.

Research from Nature Portfolio

New high-resolution records from Mediterranean speleothems demonstrate that atmospheric CO₂ levels have forced shifts between forest and steppe biomes over the past half-million years. Applying convergent cross-mapping to coupled pollen and geochemical data, researchers identified moisture thresholds that trigger abrupt regime changes, offering a deep-time analogue for future biome shifts under rising CO₂. In the hadal trenches of the western Pacific, micro-CT imaging of gravity-flow deposits from depths exceeding 7 km has revealed complex successions of deposit-feeding burrows and microbe-farming trace fossils. This work highlights how extreme depths and episodic substrate liquefaction shape benthic colonisation strategies. In terrestrial environments, analysis of in situ phytoliths in the digestive tract of an Early Cretaceous bird has provided direct evidence of leaf consumption, extending the record of plant–herbivore interactions and underscoring early avian folivory within angiosperm-dominated canopies.

Research from all publishers

A gridded pollen-based reconstruction covering temperate and northern subtropical China over the Holocene has applied the REVEALS model at 1°×1° resolution to derive quantitative plant-cover estimates for 27 taxa. The dataset supports improved palaeoclimate modelling and evaluation of anthropogenic land-cover-change scenarios. In Central Europe, the combination of precisely dated tree-ring chronologies with REVEALS-derived forest-cover estimates has traced timber harvesting and landscape homogenisation from 1150 to 1850 CE. Patterns of deforestation varied with elevation and reflected demographic growth and industrial demands. Climate-model experiments using an isotope-enabled general-circulation framework have revealed a mid-Holocene north–south dipole in South Atlantic Convergence Zone rainfall, driven by shifts in easterly winds and low-level jet strength, providing a mechanistic basis for proxy-recorded hydroclimate changes in eastern Brazil.

Palaeoecology publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in palaeoecology across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Proxy: An indirect indicator of past environmental conditions preserved in natural archives, such as pollen, phytoliths or isotopic ratios.

Bioturbation: The disturbance and reworking of sediment by living organisms, reflected in trace-fossil structures.

Palaeoclimate: The climate conditions prevailing in the geological past, inferred from biological, chemical or physical proxies.

Phytolith: A microscopic silica body formed within plant tissues, resistant to decay and used to identify past vegetation.

Convergent cross-mapping: A statistical method for detecting causal interactions between time-series variables, used to link CO₂ forcing and vegetation dynamics.

References

1. Atmospheric CO2 forcing on Mediterranean biomes during the past 500 kyrs. Nature Communications (2023).
2. Bioturbation in the hadal zone. Nature Communications (2025).
3. Intra-gastric phytoliths provide evidence for folivory in basal avialans of the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota. Nature Communications (2023).
4. Gridded pollen-based Holocene regional plant cover in temperate and northern subtropical China suitable for climate modelling. Earth System Science Data (2023).
5. Legacy of last millennium timber use on plant cover in Central Europe: Insights from tree rings and pollen. The Science of The Total Environment (2024).
6. A North–South Dipole Response of the South Atlantic Convergence Zone During the Mid‐Holocene. Geophysical Research Letters (2023).