Hilary H Birks
Biographic Data
| ID | 1963543 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Hilary H Birks |
| GIVEN NAMES | Hilary H |
| FAMILY NAME | Birks |
| SIGNATURE | BIRKS H H |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Bergen |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6881-9133 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 28 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 206 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 28 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1976 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
The Würmian Late-Glacial and early-Holocene vegetation and environment of Gourds des Aillères in the Monts du Forez (Massif Central, France) based on pollen and macrofossil evidence
Evidence for the diet and habitat of two late Pleistocene mastodons from the Midwest, USA
We analyzed intestinal contents of two late-glacial mastodons preserved in lake sediments in Ohio (Burning Tree mastodon) and Michigan (Heisler mastodon). A multi-proxy suite of macrofossils and microfossils provided unique insights into what these individuals had eaten just before they died and added significantly to knowledge of mastodon diets. We reconstructed the mastodons’ habitats with similar multi-proxy analyses of the embedding lake sedi…
Holocene fire-regime changes near the treeline in the Retezat Mts. (Southern Carpathians, Romania)
Modern pollen assemblages and their relationships to vegetation and climate in the Lhasa Valley, Tibetan Plateau, China
Treeline and timberline dynamics on the northern and southern slopes of the Retezat Mountains (Romania) during the late glacial and the Holocene
Holocene treeline and timberline changes in the South Carpathians (Romania)
Two high-altitude lake-sediment sequences (Lake Lia, 1910 m a.s.l. and Lake Bucura, 2040 m a.s.l.) from the Retezat Mountains (South Carpathians, Romania) were analysed using multi-proxy methods to study responses of treeline, timberline and alpine/subalpine vegetation to climate change and human impact during the past 16,000 years. Woody species ( Pinus mugo, Pinus cembra, Picea abies and Juniperus communis) reached Lake Lia between 12,000 and 1…
Impacts of palaeoclimate change 60 000–8000 years ago on humans and their environments in Europe
John Birks
We describe the career of John Birks as a pioneering scientist who has, over a career spanning five decades, transformed palaeoecology from a largely descriptive to a rigorous quantitative science relevant to contemporary questions in ecology and environmental change. We review his influence on students and colleagues not only at Cambridge and Bergen Universities, his places of primary employment, but also on individuals and research groups in Eu…
South to north
Norway shows south–north climate and vegetation gradients today. Were there similar gradients during the late-glacial and early Holocene, 14,700–9000 years ago? A comparison was made along a south–north transect in Norway of plant-macrofossil reconstructions of past vegetation changes and independent summer temperature records derived from parallel chironomid data (C-Tjul). Three lake sites were selected with sediment cores with good chronologica…
Ecological responses to late-glacial climate changes in northern and western Norway
Vegetation responses to rapid climatic changes during the last deglaciation 13,500–8,000 years ago on southwest Andøya, arctic Norway
Long-term ecosystem dynamics of a small lake and its catchment in west Greenland
We investigated the interplay between climate and the Holocene ecological development of a small low-Arctic lake and its catchment. The remains of terrestrial and aquatic oribatid mites, plant macrofossils, and other invertebrates in a sediment core from Lake SS16 in west Greenland revealed its palaeoecological history over the last 6950 years. Betula nana immigrated into Dryas fell-field and open grassland around 6600 cal. yr BP and then expande…
Can we detect a west Norwegian tree line from modern samples of plant remains and pollen? Results from the Doormat project
The Ecological implications of a Yakutian mammoth's last meal
Part of a large male woolly mammoth ( Mammuthus primigenius ) was preserved in permafrost in northern Yakutia. It was radiocarbon dated to ca. 18,500 14 C yr BP (ca. 22,500 cal yr BP). Dung from the lower intestine was subjected to a multiproxy array of microscopic, chemical, and molecular techniques to reconstruct the diet, the season of death, and the paleoenvironment. Pollen and plant macro-remains showed that grasses and sedges were the main …
Biological responses to rapid climate change at the Younger Dryas—Holocene transition at Kråkenes, western Norway
A fine-resolution pollen-stratigraphical study, supported by macrofossil analysis, has been made at Kråkenes Lake, western Norway through the Younger Dryas—Holocene transition and the early Holocene. The median sample-age difference is 14 cal. yr for the period 9175—11625 cal. yr BP. The chronology is based on 57 AMS radiocarbon dates. The pollen stratigraphy is interpreted as a primary succession following deglaciation at the end of the Younger …
Multi-proxy studies in palaeolimnology
Multi-proxy studies are becoming increasingly common in palaeolimnology. Eight basic requirements and challenges for a multi-proxy study are outlined in this essay – definition of research questions, leadership, site selection and coring, data storage, chronology, presentation of results, numerical tools and data interpretation. The nature of proxy data is discussed in terms of physical proxies and biotic proxies. Loss-on-ignition changes and the…
Holocene forest development along the Setesdal valley, southern Norway, reconstructed from macrofossil and pollen evidence
The identification of wingless Betula fruits in Weichselian sediments in the Gross Todtshorn borehole (Lower Saxony, Germany) – the occurrence of Betula humilis Schrank
Future uses of pollen analysis must include plant macrofossils
Before the development of pollen analysis following the seminal paper by 26, plant macrofossils were used to investigate Quaternary vegetational history. Basic aspects of Quaternary vegetational and climatic changes were established, including interglacials, the full-glacial, and the late-glacial (e.g. by Clement Reid, Hartz & Milthers, Jessen, etc.). However, quantitative pollen analysis was more immediately appealing and successful, particularl…
Late Weichselian Marine 14 C Reservoir Ages at the Western Coast of Norway
A shallow marine Late Weichselian deposit on the outer coast of western Norway contains both terrestrial plant material and articulated marine shells. We have 14 C dated both types of material from eight different stratigraphic levels covering the time interval 12,300 to 11,100 14 C yr B.P. The difference between 14 C-dated terrestrial plant material and marine shell material (the marine reservoir age) ranges from 200 to 525 yr, with a weighted a…
A calendar age estimate of the Younger Dryas-Holocene boundary at Kråkenes, western Norway
The Younger Dryas/Holocene transition (YD/H) in the sediments of Kråkenes Lake, western Nor way, is well marked both lithologically and palaeobiologically at 756.5 cm in the investigated core. A series of 70 AMS radiocarbon dates on terrestrial plant macrofossils and the NaOH-soluble fraction of lake sediment was measured between 585 and 840 cm, covering the time span c. 10 440 to 7915 BP on the radiocarbon timescale. Forty-three of these dates a…
New Radiocarbon Dates for the Vedde Ash and the Saksunarvatn Ash from Western Norway
The Vedde Ash Bed (mid-Younger Dryas) and the Saksunarvatn Ash (early Holocene) are important regional stratigraphic event markers in the North Atlantic, the Norwegian Sea, and the adjacent land area. It is thus essential to date them as precisely as possible. The occurrence of the Saksunarvatn Ash is reported for the first time from western Norway, and both tephras are dated precisely by AMS analyses of terrestrial plant material and lake sedime…
Distinguishing fossil Betula nana and B. pubescens using their wingless fruits
The Late Glacial in Northwest Europe
Holocene vegetational history and climatic change in west Spitsbergen - plant macrofossils from Skardtjørna, an Arctic lake
Macrofossil analyses of a 335 cm-long core from Skardtjørna, a small lake on the west coast of Spitsbergen, Svalbard, are presented. The known processes of deposition of plant remains to arctic lake sediments are summarised, and used in the interpretation of the vegetation history at Skardtjørna. The basal sediment is AMS-dated to 8110 ± 110 BP. The rest of the profile is dated by palaeomagnetic correlation. The lowest sediments have the greatest…
The Late Glacial in Northwest Europe
Multi-proxy studies in palaeolimnology
Multi-proxy studies are becoming increasingly common in palaeolimnology. Eight basic requirements and challenges for a multi-proxy study are outlined in this essay – definition of research questions, leadership, site selection and coring, data storage, chronology, presentation of results, numerical tools and data interpretation. The nature of proxy data is discussed in terms of physical proxies and biotic proxies. Loss-on-ignition changes and the…
Holocene forest development along the Setesdal valley, southern Norway, reconstructed from macrofossil and pollen evidence
Biological responses to rapid climate change at the Younger Dryas—Holocene transition at Kråkenes, western Norway
A fine-resolution pollen-stratigraphical study, supported by macrofossil analysis, has been made at Kråkenes Lake, western Norway through the Younger Dryas—Holocene transition and the early Holocene. The median sample-age difference is 14 cal. yr for the period 9175—11625 cal. yr BP. The chronology is based on 57 AMS radiocarbon dates. The pollen stratigraphy is interpreted as a primary succession following deglaciation at the end of the Younger …
Can we detect a west Norwegian tree line from modern samples of plant remains and pollen? Results from the Doormat project
Holocene vegetational history and climatic change in west Spitsbergen - plant macrofossils from Skardtjørna, an Arctic lake
Macrofossil analyses of a 335 cm-long core from Skardtjørna, a small lake on the west coast of Spitsbergen, Svalbard, are presented. The known processes of deposition of plant remains to arctic lake sediments are summarised, and used in the interpretation of the vegetation history at Skardtjørna. The basal sediment is AMS-dated to 8110 ± 110 BP. The rest of the profile is dated by palaeomagnetic correlation. The lowest sediments have the greatest…
A calendar age estimate of the Younger Dryas-Holocene boundary at Kråkenes, western Norway
The Younger Dryas/Holocene transition (YD/H) in the sediments of Kråkenes Lake, western Nor way, is well marked both lithologically and palaeobiologically at 756.5 cm in the investigated core. A series of 70 AMS radiocarbon dates on terrestrial plant macrofossils and the NaOH-soluble fraction of lake sediment was measured between 585 and 840 cm, covering the time span c. 10 440 to 7915 BP on the radiocarbon timescale. Forty-three of these dates a…
Distinguishing fossil Betula nana and B. pubescens using their wingless fruits
The Cultural Landscape
Holocene treeline and timberline changes in the South Carpathians (Romania)
Two high-altitude lake-sediment sequences (Lake Lia, 1910 m a.s.l. and Lake Bucura, 2040 m a.s.l.) from the Retezat Mountains (South Carpathians, Romania) were analysed using multi-proxy methods to study responses of treeline, timberline and alpine/subalpine vegetation to climate change and human impact during the past 16,000 years. Woody species ( Pinus mugo, Pinus cembra, Picea abies and Juniperus communis) reached Lake Lia between 12,000 and 1…
South to north
Norway shows south–north climate and vegetation gradients today. Were there similar gradients during the late-glacial and early Holocene, 14,700–9000 years ago? A comparison was made along a south–north transect in Norway of plant-macrofossil reconstructions of past vegetation changes and independent summer temperature records derived from parallel chironomid data (C-Tjul). Three lake sites were selected with sediment cores with good chronologica…
Vegetation responses to rapid climatic changes during the last deglaciation 13,500–8,000 years ago on southwest Andøya, arctic Norway
Long-term ecosystem dynamics of a small lake and its catchment in west Greenland
We investigated the interplay between climate and the Holocene ecological development of a small low-Arctic lake and its catchment. The remains of terrestrial and aquatic oribatid mites, plant macrofossils, and other invertebrates in a sediment core from Lake SS16 in west Greenland revealed its palaeoecological history over the last 6950 years. Betula nana immigrated into Dryas fell-field and open grassland around 6600 cal. yr BP and then expande…
The identification of wingless Betula fruits in Weichselian sediments in the Gross Todtshorn borehole (Lower Saxony, Germany) – the occurrence of Betula humilis Schrank
Studies in the Scottish Lateglacial Environment
Recent Paleolimnology of Three Lakes in Northwestern Minnesota
A paleolimnological study was undertaken to investigate changes in three Minnesota lakes over the last 100 years and to demonstrate the stratigraphic effects of cultural eutrophication in two of them. The study combined the analysis of the lake sediment from short cores with stratigraphic analyses of pollen, plant macrofossils, mollusks, diatoms and certain other algae, chydorid Cladocera, and Daphnia ephippia. The rise of Ambrosia type pollen (r…
Studies in the Scottish Lateglacial Environment
The Cultural Landscape
Holocene vegetational history and climatic change in west Spitsbergen - plant macrofossils from Skardtjørna, an Arctic lake
Macrofossil analyses of a 335 cm-long core from Skardtjørna, a small lake on the west coast of Spitsbergen, Svalbard, are presented. The known processes of deposition of plant remains to arctic lake sediments are summarised, and used in the interpretation of the vegetation history at Skardtjørna. The basal sediment is AMS-dated to 8110 ± 110 BP. The rest of the profile is dated by palaeomagnetic correlation. The lowest sediments have the greatest…
The Late Glacial in Northwest Europe
New Radiocarbon Dates for the Vedde Ash and the Saksunarvatn Ash from Western Norway
The Vedde Ash Bed (mid-Younger Dryas) and the Saksunarvatn Ash (early Holocene) are important regional stratigraphic event markers in the North Atlantic, the Norwegian Sea, and the adjacent land area. It is thus essential to date them as precisely as possible. The occurrence of the Saksunarvatn Ash is reported for the first time from western Norway, and both tephras are dated precisely by AMS analyses of terrestrial plant material and lake sedime…
Distinguishing fossil Betula nana and B. pubescens using their wingless fruits
A calendar age estimate of the Younger Dryas-Holocene boundary at Kråkenes, western Norway
The Younger Dryas/Holocene transition (YD/H) in the sediments of Kråkenes Lake, western Nor way, is well marked both lithologically and palaeobiologically at 756.5 cm in the investigated core. A series of 70 AMS radiocarbon dates on terrestrial plant macrofossils and the NaOH-soluble fraction of lake sediment was measured between 585 and 840 cm, covering the time span c. 10 440 to 7915 BP on the radiocarbon timescale. Forty-three of these dates a…
Late Weichselian Marine 14 C Reservoir Ages at the Western Coast of Norway
A shallow marine Late Weichselian deposit on the outer coast of western Norway contains both terrestrial plant material and articulated marine shells. We have 14 C dated both types of material from eight different stratigraphic levels covering the time interval 12,300 to 11,100 14 C yr B.P. The difference between 14 C-dated terrestrial plant material and marine shell material (the marine reservoir age) ranges from 200 to 525 yr, with a weighted a…
Future uses of pollen analysis must include plant macrofossils
Before the development of pollen analysis following the seminal paper by 26, plant macrofossils were used to investigate Quaternary vegetational history. Basic aspects of Quaternary vegetational and climatic changes were established, including interglacials, the full-glacial, and the late-glacial (e.g. by Clement Reid, Hartz & Milthers, Jessen, etc.). However, quantitative pollen analysis was more immediately appealing and successful, particularl…
The identification of wingless Betula fruits in Weichselian sediments in the Gross Todtshorn borehole (Lower Saxony, Germany) – the occurrence of Betula humilis Schrank
Holocene forest development along the Setesdal valley, southern Norway, reconstructed from macrofossil and pollen evidence
Multi-proxy studies in palaeolimnology
Multi-proxy studies are becoming increasingly common in palaeolimnology. Eight basic requirements and challenges for a multi-proxy study are outlined in this essay – definition of research questions, leadership, site selection and coring, data storage, chronology, presentation of results, numerical tools and data interpretation. The nature of proxy data is discussed in terms of physical proxies and biotic proxies. Loss-on-ignition changes and the…
The Ecological implications of a Yakutian mammoth's last meal
Part of a large male woolly mammoth ( Mammuthus primigenius ) was preserved in permafrost in northern Yakutia. It was radiocarbon dated to ca. 18,500 14 C yr BP (ca. 22,500 cal yr BP). Dung from the lower intestine was subjected to a multiproxy array of microscopic, chemical, and molecular techniques to reconstruct the diet, the season of death, and the paleoenvironment. Pollen and plant macro-remains showed that grasses and sedges were the main …
Biological responses to rapid climate change at the Younger Dryas—Holocene transition at Kråkenes, western Norway
A fine-resolution pollen-stratigraphical study, supported by macrofossil analysis, has been made at Kråkenes Lake, western Norway through the Younger Dryas—Holocene transition and the early Holocene. The median sample-age difference is 14 cal. yr for the period 9175—11625 cal. yr BP. The chronology is based on 57 AMS radiocarbon dates. The pollen stratigraphy is interpreted as a primary succession following deglaciation at the end of the Younger …
Long-term ecosystem dynamics of a small lake and its catchment in west Greenland
We investigated the interplay between climate and the Holocene ecological development of a small low-Arctic lake and its catchment. The remains of terrestrial and aquatic oribatid mites, plant macrofossils, and other invertebrates in a sediment core from Lake SS16 in west Greenland revealed its palaeoecological history over the last 6950 years. Betula nana immigrated into Dryas fell-field and open grassland around 6600 cal. yr BP and then expande…
Can we detect a west Norwegian tree line from modern samples of plant remains and pollen? Results from the Doormat project
Vegetation responses to rapid climatic changes during the last deglaciation 13,500–8,000 years ago on southwest Andøya, arctic Norway
Ecological responses to late-glacial climate changes in northern and western Norway
John Birks
We describe the career of John Birks as a pioneering scientist who has, over a career spanning five decades, transformed palaeoecology from a largely descriptive to a rigorous quantitative science relevant to contemporary questions in ecology and environmental change. We review his influence on students and colleagues not only at Cambridge and Bergen Universities, his places of primary employment, but also on individuals and research groups in Eu…
South to north
Norway shows south–north climate and vegetation gradients today. Were there similar gradients during the late-glacial and early Holocene, 14,700–9000 years ago? A comparison was made along a south–north transect in Norway of plant-macrofossil reconstructions of past vegetation changes and independent summer temperature records derived from parallel chironomid data (C-Tjul). Three lake sites were selected with sediment cores with good chronologica…
Impacts of palaeoclimate change 60 000–8000 years ago on humans and their environments in Europe
Holocene treeline and timberline changes in the South Carpathians (Romania)
Two high-altitude lake-sediment sequences (Lake Lia, 1910 m a.s.l. and Lake Bucura, 2040 m a.s.l.) from the Retezat Mountains (South Carpathians, Romania) were analysed using multi-proxy methods to study responses of treeline, timberline and alpine/subalpine vegetation to climate change and human impact during the past 16,000 years. Woody species ( Pinus mugo, Pinus cembra, Picea abies and Juniperus communis) reached Lake Lia between 12,000 and 1…
Holocene fire-regime changes near the treeline in the Retezat Mts. (Southern Carpathians, Romania)
Modern pollen assemblages and their relationships to vegetation and climate in the Lhasa Valley, Tibetan Plateau, China
Geology and Paleoclimatology Research (24 works) · Geography (23 works) · Physical geography (19 works) · Holocene (18 works) · Macrofossil (18 works) · Geology (17 works) · Biology (15 works) · Ecology (15 works) · Oceanography (12 works) · Pollen (11 works)