Progress report Recent methodological advances in Quaternary palaeoecological proxies

This progress report reviews and assesses recent developments in the analysis and interpretation of palaeoecological proxies that have led to important advances in our understanding of past Quaternary environments that emerge as crucial elements of more robust and reliable predictions of future climates and their ecological implications. Recently discovered archives, or technological advances associated with the biological proxies they contain, are leading to higher resolution and more detailed reconstructions of environments in a wide range of geographical circumstances. There are also important emerging palaeoe-cological methodologies that enable scientists to reconstruct past environments in greater detail and to apply chronologies that are more precise and accurate. Given these developments, a variety of applications, some of which are more obviously aimed at resolving practical problems in, for example, conservation science and even archaeology, are explored