subfossils

Dated subfossils (partially fossilized organisms) show that the pine treeline in northwestern Finnish Lapland retreated a distance of at most 70 km during this cooling, but that the shift was less pronounced in more easterly parts of Lapland [96].

Arctic climate variability prior to 100 years BP 2009

Also treelines are rising in the 20th century; presumably higher trees growing at lower temperatures will have narrower widths; these higher trees are not sampled in 20th century collections but are sampled from MWP subfossils.

Jacoby and D'Arrigo Archive Data! « Climate Audit 2006

In Alberta and the Alps, you can get 5000-year old subfossils being exhumed in modern jokulhaups – contexts where it is proven that there was tree growth upslope of where the subfossils were found more recent than 5000 years.

Green Alps #1 « Climate Audit 2006

So for a bird known only from a handful of subfossils, the sternum can be an eloquent datum, revealing at a glance whether the species was capable of flight.

The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

The remnants of these vanished birds in the form of subfossils ancient bones, not yet petrified and fossils suggest wide variation on the basic model: enormously tall moas of the genus Dinornis, smaller but thick-legged moas of the genus Pachyornis, medium-sized moas of the genus Bury apteryx, pygmy moas of the genus Anomalopteryx.

The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

The remnants of these vanished birds in the form of subfossils ancient bones, not yet petrified and fossils suggest wide variation on the basic model: enormously tall moas of the genus Dinornis, smaller but thick-legged moas of the genus Pachyornis, medium-sized moas of the genus Bury apteryx, pygmy moas of the genus Anomalopteryx.

The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

Even that sizable list gives only a hint of lemur diversity throughout time, since the subfossils are mainly quite recent, representing species that survived until just one or two thousand years ago.

The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

So for a bird known only from a handful of subfossils, the sternum can be an eloquent datum, revealing at a glance whether the species was capable of flight.

The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

Even that sizable list gives only a hint of lemur diversity throughout time, since the subfossils are mainly quite recent, representing species that survived until just one or two thousand years ago.

The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

Were people responsible for the extinction of Madagascar’s subfossils, and how will we ever know?

Western Indian Ocean Islands and biodiversity 2007