Quaternary insects and their environments

About this book

Quaternary Insects and Their Environments addresses science's long neglect of fossil insects by demonstrating their immense potential contribution to our knowledge of the paleoenvironmental record of the past 1.7 million years. In this first comprehensive survey of the field, Scott A. Elias recounts the development of Quaternary entomology, reviews the fossil insect record from Quaternary deposits throughout the world, and points to rewarding areas for future research. Although nineteenth-century scientists believed that Pleistocene insect specimens belonged to extinct taxa, recent research reveals extraordinary species stability: insects responded to climatic change by moving rather than evolving. Elias argues that because of this trait, and the species' relatively refined environmental sensitivity, fossil insects are often more reliable indicators of past environments and climates than the pollen data now commonly used. Elias discusses the methods used to sample and analyze Quaternary insect fossils as well as the principal characters used in their identification. He describes the mutual climatic range method of paleoclimate interpretation and offers data on distributional shifts and the longevity of modern species through the Quaternary. Using examples from Europe, Greenland, and North America, he reviews the methods employed in archaeological research. Quaternary Insects and Their Environments is written to be of use and interest to biologists, geologists, environmental scientists, and archaeologists.