Recently, techniques for obtaining empirical climate and environmental reconstruction data have become increasingly more accessible and quicker to obtain. We are now able to collect time-integrated materials (lake cores, peat and mire deposits) that can be dated accurately and analysed for a range of environmental and climatic markers and fingerprints quickly. However, until now many of these proxies have largely been investigated in isolation or occasionally as a combination of components. This studentship will bring together data from organic geochemistry (lipid, and plant wax biomarkers), palaeoecology (non-pollen palynomorphs in the form of spores), inorganic geochemistry (heavy and light stable isotopes) and ancient DNA from upland Andean Lake and mire systems to explore the connections between the response to past climate changes. Chronologies of the sequences will be established with radiocarbon dating and tephra horizon identification. Four sites will be cored in upland lakes from Peru (Ayacucho, Cusco, Chillón valley and Huarca, N. Peru covering all the key climate classification zones) and analysed for multi-proxy signals detailed above and compared statistically to singular records from existing core material available on the NOAA palaeoclimate database. The reconstructed climate and environmental markers will be used to create predictions for a geographical-based model (built in ArcGIS Model Builder) to combine all the data together to produce time-sliced geographical outputs of environmental and climate sensitivity which will be useful for coping with future climate change.
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