Using Biology to Study Long-Term Environmental Change

Abstract

A central theme in ecology has always been the attempt to classify ecosystems by the biota they support. For example, presenting even a school-age child with a picture of polar bears and arctic hare will immediately suggest a cold, arctic environment, whereas a picture of camels and cacti will indicate an arid, hot, desert environment. Much of what biological paleolimnology does is simply an extension of these types of relationships. However, the 1 J P. Smol, H.