West African Palaeoclimate Project

Published on by Gillian

In late 2022 Dr Lisa Baldini received a National Geographic Explorer grant to seek out stalagmite-bearing caves in western Africa for palaeorainfall reconstruction. Very little is know about long-term rainfall variability in this region of Africa and this information is critical for climate models aimed at predicting future change.

You might be interested in following the project on FB, ‘Western African Palaeoclimate Project’ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091358012423https://lnkd.in/enK-Anaa  or the Twitter page https://twitter.com/westafricacaveshttps://lnkd.in/e6rfdNmd . Through both of these social media sites (with sprinkles of highlights on LinkedIn), regular project updates and highlights (field and lab) as well as offer some insights into climate change, how and why we reconstruct past climate using stalagmites, and all things cave/climate related! You’ll also be able to meet our team of wonderful project partners from the UK, Morocco, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon! Please feel free to share widely. Student followers are most welcome.

INQUA 2023 – Roma, Italy

Published on by Gillian

INQUA 2023 was held in Rome 13th-20th July, Sapienza University. The congress was opened by the President of Italy, in the most amazing lecture theater. The congress covers quaternary sciences, but includes human evolution, anthropocene, climate records, processes and models. The climate discussions were a very hot topic (!!) with rome reaching a record temperature of 41.8oC. Despite this, conference organizers did a superb job to help attendees, the lunch and coffee break sessions were fantastic.

We had two presentations, firstly by Dr Caroline Orr – Microbial and chemical characterisation from occupation contexts involved in the preservation of Roman writing tablets, and secondly Dr Gillian Taylor –  Monitoring peatlands changes at the Roman site of Magna, Northumberland, UK.

Talks and poster sessions were well attended (higher for those in airconditioned rooms!), the quality, expertise and diversity of the talks makes this the best conference I have been too in a long time.

New Publication: Assessment of genetic and morphological differentiation among populations of the Diederik Cuckoo Chrysococcyx caprius – Dr Desire Dalton

Published on by Gillian

Migration strategies within the tropics are poorly understood as are the drivers of movement and the degree of connectivity between sites in migrant birds that have their global range and life cycle exclusively on a single continent (intra-continental migrants). Dr Desiré Lee Dalton (Lecturer, Teesside University), Dr Jamie Bojko (Senior Lecturer, Teesside University) and collaborators have conducted a study on Diederik Cuckoo, an African bird species that is widely distributed south of the Sahara which migrates seasonally between breeding and nonbreeding sites. The aim of the study was to determine if the species is a single panmictic population or if it is genetically structured. Assessment of five morphometric measures did not identify differences between locality or sex. We additionally identified a lack of phylogeographic structure between populations from the northern and southern ends of the distribution which may be attributed to high levels of contemporary gene flow. However, we detected two genetic lineages that occurred in sympatry at a single location in South Africa (Limpopo). The sympatric lineages in the Diederik Cuckoo could be linked to maternal divergence in host selection of these brood parasites — a hypothesis requiring additional data to be tested.

Access the publication through the publisher’s website with this link (https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2023.2222230)

New Publication in Nature – TU Press Release

Published on by Lisa

Date of historic volcanic eruption wrong by 130 years? 

New research involving Teesside University has found the eruption date of a historic volcano is wrong by 130 years and that this miscalculation could impact our understanding of climate change.

The study, published in leading journal Nature on Thursday, 6 July 2023, argues that the Laacher See volcanic eruption in Germany took place 12,880 years ago – 130 years after the date previously reported.

The eruption of the Laacher See volcano is one of central Europe’s largest eruptions over the past 100,000 years.

The research team believe that having the wrong date impacts the ability to evaluate natural climate change in the past, impacting how scientists predict future, human caused, climate change.

Dr Lisa Baldini, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science in Teesside University’s School of Health & Life Sciences, who co-authored the study, said: “A correct age for this eruption is critical because the volcanic material that was deposited across Europe during the event is used to date numerous important sedimentary archives of past climates.

“Getting the date wrong will impact on our ability to evaluate the drivers of natural climate change in the past, which is critical for developing models that accurately predict future, human-caused, climate change.”

The research team, led by Durham University and including scientists from Teesside University, University of Oxford, Royal Holloway University of London, and SYSTEMIQ Ltd, suggest that the eruption date may have been compromised by volcanic carbon.

They argue that volcanoes outgas carbon dioxide from the underlying magma chamber, which filters through the soil and is absorbed by any vegetation, including trees. This magmatic carbon dioxide has no radiocarbon in it, because it is ancient carbon that has been in the ground for millions of years. Incorporation of this dead carbon into the tree will produce a date which will be too old.

Professor James Baldini, of Durham University, who led the study, said: “Our new study notes that the recent date for the eruption does not consider dead carbon which is emitted by the volcano and is absorbed by trees. Therefore, the trees used in the Reinig et al. were contaminated by this volcanic carbon, producing an age that was around 130 years too old.”

“This perspective is supported by the presence of a very large sulphur spike found in the Greenland ice sheet with all the characteristics of the Laacher See eruption, dated 130 years after the new Reinig et al. date.

“The eruption, therefore, is still a viable trigger for the Younger Dryas Event.”

The Laacher See volcanic eruption was similar in size to the cataclysmic Mt Pinatubo eruption in 1991 (pictured).

The ash resulting from the eruption is widely used as a time marker in sedimentary sequences across Europe, so the timing of the eruption affects the reported timing of environmental change as reconstructed from these European lake cores.

New Publication: Biological clocks as age estimation markers in animals: a systematic review and meta-analysis – Dr Desire Dalton

Published on by Gillian

How do you determine how old an animal is? One way is to look at the teeth (tooth layer annulation and otolith layering). However, these methods are invasive and can generally only be used post-mortem, especially in wild animals as an age-at-death estimation. Two DNA based methods have been suggested as appropriate to determine age. Telomeres occur at the ends of chromosomal DNA and shorten as an animal ages. Aging is also correlated with changes in DNA methylation where a small molecule called a methyl group are added to the DNA. Louis-Stéphane IV Le Clercq a PhD student of Dr Desiré Lee Dalton (Lecturer in Forensic Science, Teesside University) has conducted a meta-analysis study that included 40 species and 60 age-estimation models. The study indicated that both methods can be used in studying age in animals and do not suffer significantly from variation due to differences in the lifespan of the species, genome size, karyotype, or tissue type but rather that quantitative method, patterns of inheritance, and environmental factors should be the main considerations. However, methylation may be superior to telomere length in terms of accuracy and cross-taxa portability; however, costs may be higher depending on the technique use to study methylation.

An animal cell indicating the mechanisms of cellular ageing at the molecular level that are currently used as molecular biomarkers for age.

Access the publication through the publisher’s website with this link (DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12992)

Florida comes to Vindolanda

Published on by Gillian

One of the highlights of research is being able to share your enthusiasm with visitors, and this week Dr Jamie Bojko and Dr Gillian Taylor hosted a group of students from University of Florida at Vindolanda and Magna.

The students were from diverse subject areas, but were fascinated by the talk from CEO Vindolanda Excavations – Dr Andrew Birley showing wooden structure from the earliest roman fort and (after a small hill and hot walk!) the stunning views that Hadrians Wall has to offer. The weather was hot but apparently cool in comparison to florida! The group from Behringer lab were travelling around the UK, as part of the studies, seeing amazing locations and experiencing a wide range of activities, such as snorkelling, rock climbing, hiking stunning coastlines.

The pictures are taken from some of the activities on the wall and UK.. simply stunning..

New Publication: Genetic diversity and origin of captive lion (Panthera leo) in South Africa: an assessment and comparison to wild populations

Published on by Gillian

In the last five decades, African lions (Panthera leo) have declined by almost 75% due to habitat fragmentation and prey declines. In South Africa, there are more than 3500 lions in the wild and approximately 7,400 individuals in captivity. Plans have been put in place to start processes to end captive lion activities. There are contrasting views on the potential conservation value of captive lions, with some suggesting that captive lions could be integrated into wild populations to restore populations, while others have argued that captive lions have no conservation value. Thus, collaborators with Dr Desiré Lee Dalton (Lecturer in Forensic Science, Teesside University) have analysed the genetic diversity and origin of captive lion in South Africa. Captive lions were found to be genetically similar to existing wild South African lions. However, the captive population are showing signs of genetic drift with the potential risk of inbreeding the future as they have been managed in isolation from wild populations. Thus, the reintroduction of captive individuals into wild populations may have detrimental impacts and these factors would need to be studied prior to the consideration of re-wilding.

Access the publication through the publisher’s website with this link (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10592-023-01530-5)

Talk to Teesside Archaeological Society – Dr Gillian Taylor

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It was a great pleasure to be invited to give a talk for the Teesside Archaeological Society. This is a great society to interact and get involved with, so take a look at there website of events over the summer.

The talk was called ‘What the Romans left behind: chemical signatures from occupation layers’  and focused on analytical chemistry, the talk was inspired and taken from our recent frontiers publication, which sounds rather more complicated and boring!! ‘Archaeological soil from Roman occupation layers can be differentiated by microbial and chemical signatures’.   Thankfully I focused on the chemistry and leave the microbial parts to Dr Caroline Orr. The chemistry part focused on faeces, how do we extract, what do we look for and why it is important to know about activity, the talk talked about horse stables, and showed recent pictures of the excavation, the cook house floor and how we can tentatively infer from the soil smell what was going on 2,000 years ago!

But any talk is not complete without discussing climate change and talking about our new lottery heritage funded project, Roman Magna, a site under threat and changing, and I presented some of the data we are recording and how we are using the data.. There is an amazing new dig diary to follow. I will be at the magna site and presenting work at conferences in the summer so also watch this space for updates..

 

An evening at Pint of Science Festival – Aboli Vavle

Published on by Gillian

As a PhD student who is in her final year and writing her thesis, it gets incredibly stressful. But there are few things that can help you relax and I had one such evening last week. I was asked if I could give a little talk in an event called Pint of Science. If you are not aware, Pint of Science is a science festival that takes place over 3 days in five hundred cities around the world where local researchers go to their local pubs and cafes and discuss their research with members of public over a glass of pint! And I think it is one of the best ways to talk about your research.

So, on 24th May around 5:30 in the evening, all of us presenting gathered in a café closer to the Uni, Off the Ground where Rhys and Helen had organised the event. We started presentations a little after 6 p.m. The theme for the evening was ‘Microscopic Missions’ and I was supposed to go first. But my husband, Jack wanted to be there for the talk and because of his work, he was running late. Zoe, who is currently in 2nd year of her PhD very kindly agreed to go first and very wonderfully presented her topic about antimicrobial resistance where she talked about ‘superbugs’ and how they are a threat and can possibly cause the next pandemic. Luckily, Jack made it before my talk.

My topic was ‘A Secret Life of Dyes’ where I talked about ancient dyes and how they were important in different civilization. This was followed by, why it is important to study dyes as well as the difficulties that come with it and potential solutions. I also talked about any how different analytical methods especially the less-destructive ones are getting more importance and talked about how useful these methods are. I kept the talk light, without using heavy scientific words to make sure the audience is not lost or confused. I also explained chromatography and its principle with a lovely animation to explain HPLC and some of the audience came to me and said that my presentation was quite easy to follow. I was extremely pleased about this, as that’s what I was aiming for. Also, the presentation was full of colourful pictures which made it more interesting and attractive. Overall, the talk was received very well, and I got some very interesting questions about investigating dyes, which I was very happy to answer and discuss.

We then had a little break where the audience interacted with us, asking us questions and doubts, which was so amazing. The event ended with talk by Dom, who is a lecturer in microbiology. He gave a great talk about how radiations are used to understand microsporidia. He had these cool lasers to demonstrate reflections of green and red colours which all of us thought were remarkably interesting.

Overall, the event was a wonderful experience for all of us. Evenings or discussions like these should be organised more often as they help spread the information to people who are interested in these findings and topics regardless of how much background knowledge they have. It helps us as researchers as well to talk about our work in a less stressful environment and spread the knowledge. Here’s to more event like these!