Back to the future: Lake sediments as a time machine

 

Have you ever wondered what the landscape looked like when the first farmers settled in the Alps? Or since when the vegetation, which is "normal" for us today, exists in this form? With the help of paleoecology, we take you on a journey through time and look thousands of years into the past to answer precisely these questions, among others.

 

Did you know that lake sediments can act as a time capsule, preserving evidence of ecological processes that took place thousands of years ago? By studying these sediments, we can learn about the evolution of our environment and the impact that humans have had on it over time. Understanding the long-term perspective is fundamental to comprehend what will happen in the future.

 

It is our responsibility to protect the environment and build durable and progressive systemic changes. Radical measures need to be taken, for example, in forestry, agriculture, and conservation. Climate change and land use are already majorly impacting our environment and are the leading causes of biodiversity loss. We will discuss human and landscape interactions, but also our place as a species in nature.