Abstract
This volume is part of the Developments in Palaeoenvironmental Research (DPER) Series by Springer. To date this book series comprises four volumes which discuss different palaeolimnological methodologies, whilst later volumes have focused on the application of these methodologies to specific palaeoenvironmental studies. The authors argue that since the 1980s, palaeolimnological studies have developed from an essentially qualitative analysis of data sets to increasingly quantitative analysis of complex multiproxy data sets investigated through a range of data handling and statistical techniques. Thus, researchers now employ a greater range of data handling tools applied at different junctures within a study, including data collection, assessment, summarisation, analysis and interpretation. Volume 5 in the DPER series is a reference book that synthesises primary techniques used by palaeolimnologists to interrogate palaeoenvironmental data sets and thus fills the gap between the previously published volumes in the DPER series.
The book is divided into Parts I–IV with a total of 21 chapters. Each chapter, written by a range of contributors, comes with a separate reference list. Part I provides the context and explains the four-part division of the book. The editors discuss that some initial data handling techniques can be applied to both modern near-surface cores and deeper stratigraphical studies (Part II), whilst techniques dealing solely with stratigraphical data sets are considered in Part III. Part II describes the techniques applicable to both modern and palaeoenvironmental archives, and includes chapters concerning exploratory data analysis and data display, the assessment of uncertainties associated with laboratory methods, clustering and partitioning, classical and canonical ordination and statistical learning in palaeolimnology.
Part III concentrates solely on techniques applicable to data sets of stratigraphical palaeolimnological data and considers the analysis of stratigraphical data, estimation of age–depth relationships, core correlation, quantitative reconstructions of biological data, analogue methods and time series analysis. In both Parts II and III, data collection, assessment and summarisation are considered within single chapters. Examples of data analysis and data interpretation, such as the interpretation of modern assemblages in relation to external variables using canonical ordination, variance partitioning, simple discriminants or CARTs, can be found in seven different chapters across these two parts.
Part IV, ‘Case studies and future developments in Quantitative palaeolimnology’, focuses on three case studies to exemplify different data handling approaches to different contexts. These studies are limnological responses to environmental changes at interannual to decadal timescales, application of numerical techniques to evaluate surface water acidification and eutrophication, and the final case study assesses Holocene climate change using stratigraphical palaeolimnology data and numerical techniques. The book concludes with a chapter considering some of the future developments in this field of research.
Each part of the book begins with important overview chapters, which provide a context to the material subsequently addressed. They contain vital summaries in tables (e.g.Tables 4.1 and 10.1) which are useful signposts to the reader, indicating the location of specific numerical methods used in different parts of the text. Indeed this is a feature of the book, where there is constant cross-referencing to other chapters for additional explanation. All figures, tables and equations are well-reproduced and enhance the text substantially.
This book is a unique and timely publication within the field of palaeoenvironmental research. The authors, in the preface, hint that it has taken some time for the volume to get to press but their endeavours at completing such a thorough synthesis of the subject area should be commended. A strong theme running through the book is a recommended protocol for interrogating palaeolimnological data from hypothesis generation to data analysis and interpretation. Some chapters, such as those on statistical learning and quantitative environmental reconstructions from biological data, are highly detailed in their coverage. Nonetheless, all chapters provide sufficient treatment of the subject area through discussion of case studies or referencing to key papers in the field, and include recommendations of suitable protocols to follow when handling these types of data sets. There are places where it is not possible to complete a comprehensive synthesis of all techniques and the editors have ensured that the authors of each chapter provide links to suitable software packages, and all of the chapters have substantial reference lists. The content is also made accessible to new researchers through the 41-page glossary and a detailed index.
The preceding four volumes in the series have been very useful additions to university libraries and this volume will prove an important synthesis of current thinking in the field to active researchers in the subject. A proficient statistical background derived from undergraduate training is required before some of the more complex techniques can be tackled and therefore it is most likely that this book will be an essential reference for postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers in the early stages of their careers.