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Motivated by the need for more paleodata for Pliocene paleoclimate data-model comparison, we revisited unpublished investigations of a fossiliferous site on the Niguanak River in Arctic North America. Analyses of the samples indicates forested conditions during an early phase of sedimentation in which environments were perhaps similar to those near tree line in the modern Anchorage area or farther south along the Pacific coast, whereas during a later phase of sedimentation, environments were characterized by shrub tundra vegetation and were possibly similar to the present-day conditions in the interior of southern Seward Peninsula. We describe the site stratigraphy and discuss the macrofossils and pollen recovered from the sediments, their paleoecological implications, and their significance for paleoclimate and sea ice. Mean annual temperatures were found to be 12.7°C warmer than current, with a pattern of much warmer winters, and less difference in summer warming as observed at other Pliocene Arctic sites. Finally, we discuss possible age assignments for the sediments, based on regional stratigraphy and geomorphology, and the probable sequence of evolution of arctic borderland climate and ecosystems.

Wildfire has extensive and profound impacts on forest structure and function. Therefore, it is important to study the spatial and temporal patterns of forest fire regimes and their drivers in order to better understand the feedbacks between climate change, fire disturbance, and forest ecosystems. Based on the Global Fire Atlas dataset, three forest fire regime components (fire occurrence density, burned rate, and median fire size) were extracted for China from 2003 to 2016. Three statistical models (Boosted Regression Tree, Random Forest, and Support Vector Machine) were used to systematically analyze the relationships between patterns of forest fire disturbance and climate, human activities, vegetation, and topography in China, as well as their spatial heterogeneity in different climatic regions. The results indicate that the spatial distribution of forest fires is heterogeneous, and different forest fire regime components are predicted by different factors. At the national level, the distribution of forest fire regimes mainly corresponds to climatic factors, although the relationship between median fire size and predictors is obscure. At the scale of each ecoregion, the main climate predictors of forest fire occurrence density and burned rate change from temperature in the north to temperature and precipitation in the south. Median fire size varies with elevation and temperature in the south. These results demonstrate that the spatial heterogeneity of predictors and scaling effects must be fully considered in the study of forest fire disturbance.

Relative weakness in sensitivity and contribution integration, especially lack of specific indicators at spatial and temporal scales, may hinder the formation of systematic knowledge for climate change impact on vegetation activity. Considering the interannual variability and periods difference, we investigated the ecosystem sensitivity to hydrothermal conditions and the contribution of individual climatic factors to vegetation activity on spatiotemporal scales during the period of 1980s–2013 in China. We ran simulations of the Common Land Model (CoLM) to obtain the photosynthetic rate, and used the satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), to which we applied a temporal sensitivity analysis, the slope change ratio of accumulative quantity (SCRAQ), and geographical detectors. We show that the discrepancy between warming and precipitation variation contributed to vegetation activity was more notable than the ecosystem sensitivity to hydrothermal conditions, regardless of which temporal and spatial scale was considered. The sensitivity of vegetation activity to hydrothermal variation in most parts of northeastern and western China was higher than elsewhere, and the contribution of warming to vegetation dynamics was relatively high in the Inner Mongolian Plateau and Tibetan Plateau (>60%), where the contribution of warming to the vegetation distribution was also greater than elsewhere in China. Conversely, the contribution of precipitation variation to vegetation dynamics was comparatively greater in northwestern China and subtropical and tropical regions (>55%). The spatiotemporal contribution of precipitation variation to vegetation activity differed between regions, especially on the Tibetan Plateau and in subtropical and tropical regions. Moreover, both the temporal and spatial sensitivities to climate change were weak in the subtropical and tropical regions, where the contribution of climatic factors to vegetation distribution was also small. Overall, temperature sensitivity and its contribution to vegetation activity were positively associated in most regions. However, the regions where precipitation contributed substantially to vegetation activity were not necessarily also highly sensitive to changes in precipitation within the range of variation explored.

The Winton Formation is increasingly recognised as an important source of information about the Cretaceous of Australia, and, more broadly, the palaeobiogeographic history of eastern Gondwana. With more precise dating and stratigraphic controls starting to provide temporal context to the geological and palaeontological understanding of this formation, it is timely to reassess the palaeoenvironment in which it was deposited. This new understanding helps to further differentiate the upper, most-studied portion of the formation (Cenomanian–Turonian) from the lower portions (Albian–Cenomanian), allowing a coherent picture of the ecosystem to emerge. Temperatures during the deposition of the Upper Cretaceous portion of the Winton Formation were warm, with high, seasonal rainfall, but not as extreme as the modern monsoon. The landscape was heterogeneous, a freshwater alluvial plain bestrode by low energy, meandering rivers, minor lakes and mires. Infrequent, scouring flood events were part of a multi-year cycle of drier and wetter years. The heavily vegetated flood plains supported abundant large herbivores. This was the final infilling of the great Eromanga Basin.

Owing to its specialised methodology, palaeoecology is often regarded as a separate field from ecology, even though it is essential for understanding long-term ecological processes that have shaped the ecosystems that ecologists study and manage. Despite advances in ecological modelling, sample dating, and proxy-based reconstructions facilitating direct comparison of palaeoecological data with neo-ecological data, most of the scientific knowledge derived from palaeoecological studies remains siloed. We surveyed a group of palaeo-researchers with experience in crossing the divide between palaeoecology and neo-ecology, to develop Ten Simple Rules for publishing your palaeoecological research in non-palaeo journals. Our 10 rules are divided into the preparation phase, writing phase, and finalising phase when the article is submitted to the target journal. These rules provide a suite of strategies, including improved networking early in the process, building effective collaborations, transmitting results more efficiently to improve cross-disciplinary accessibility, and integrating concepts and methodologies that appeal to ecologists and a wider readership. Adhering to these Ten Simple Rules can ensure palaeoecologists' findings are more accessible and impactful among ecologists and the wider scientific community. Although this article primarily shows examples of how palaeoecological studies were published in journals for a broader audience, the rules apply to anyone who aims to publish outside specialised journals.