Global Change and Nature Conservation

Paleoecology is a branch of paleontology, a science that studies the conditions and habitat, climatic changes and interactions of organisms in the past. The main studied period of time in paleoecology in the Quaternary period is the Holocene. In the Holocene (~ 11,700 BC to the present day), the climate was replaced several times by cold spells and warming, both long-term and short-term. Such events are valuable examples of climate change in response to natural and anthropogenic impacts, with the help of which future forecasting models can be built. However, there is still uncertainty about the timing, geographical scope, and even the nature of climate change. Reliable instrumental observations of climate and ecological records rarely extend further than over the last 200 years, which makes the reconstruction of climate and environment based on indirect data necessary for the dissemination of climate records throughout the Holocene. The course explains many of the modern methods of paleoecological research, both physico-chemical and biological based on bioindication of model groups of organisms. Examples of research objects are also given, their value and essence as an archive of historical data of natural changes are explained. These and many other aspects of paleoecology (such as geochronology, geology, bioindication, paleontology, Holocene history, etc.) are discussed at lectures and seminars. In practical and laboratory classes, some of the modern biological and physico-chemical methods that are used today to carry out reliable reconstruction of climatic changes in the Holocene are mastered. The skills acquired in the course of training in this course will be useful when working in any biological laboratory. Theoretical knowledge allows us to understand both the natural development of climatic processes and natural changes resulting from human influence. This, in turn, should be taken into account in state strategies for the development of society and nature, as well as the prevention of negative consequences of anthropogenic interference in natural processes.