Alfred Wegener Intitute
Bio Science Division
+49(471)4831-1326
lars.beierlein(at)awi.de

What can we learn from the past about the future of coastal marine ecosystems in the northern North Atlantic? Global warming will change the environmental conditions of these systems. These changes will be particularly dramatic in sub-Arctic and Arctic regions, which are looking forward to climate conditions experienced during the Holocene Optimum and during warm periods of Pleistocene and Pliocene.

Biogenic carbonate archives from those epochs, particularly mollusk shells, contain information on past environmental conditions in their morphology and anatomy, i.e. growth rate and carbonate structure, and in their biogeochemistry, i.e. stable isotope ratios and trace element concentrations. We will analyze such bioarchives from Spitsbergen (Holocene Optimum), Greenland (Pleistocene) and Iceland (Pliocene) in order to reconstruct local environmental conditions during these warm periods with emphasis on intra-annual variability (how strong was the seasonal signal?) and decadal oscillations (can we see NAO or ENSO like patterns?). A comparison of our findings with other palaeo-records and model predictions can facilitate the understanding of past climate dynamics.

Our prime target organism is the long-lived “ocean quahog” Arctica islandica that shows a wide northern-boreal distribution and was present in that area during the last 5 million years at least. In order to maximize the gain from these archives, some effort will be put on the calibration of particular proxies using recent shells of A. islandica. Specific tasks are the development of a multi-proxy model for primary production and the inter-calibration of temperature proxies. Working on this topic demands a background in marine ecology, biogeochemistry and climate sciences.

Project start: 01 July 2011
Defence of doctoral thesis: 08 Oct 2014

Prof. Dr. Thomas Brey (AWI)
Prof. Dr. Gerrit Lohmann (AWI)
Prof. Dr. Bernd R. Schöne (University of Mainz)
Dr. Torsten Bickert (University of Bremen)
Dr. Gernot Nehrke (AWI)

• Beierlein, L., Salvigsen, O., Brey, T., Schöne, B.R., Dima, M. and Mackensen, A. “The seasonal water temperature cycle in the Arctic Dicksonfjorden (Svalbard) during the Holocene Climate Optimum derived from sub-fossil Arctica islandica shells.” The Holocene, DOI: 10.1177/0959683615580861, 2015.

• Beierlein, L., Nehrke, G. and Brey, T. “Confocal Raman microscopy in sclerochronology: A powerful tool to visualize environmental information in recent and fossil biogenic archives.” Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 16, 325-335, 2015.
• Beierlein, L., Nehrke, G., Trofimova, T. and Brey, T. “Bivalve shells - unique high-resolution archives of environmental past”. In: Towards an interdisciplinary approach in Earth System Science: Advances of a Helmholtz Graduate Research School“. Lohmann, G., Meggers, H., Unnitan, V., Wolf-Gladrow, D., Notholt, J. and Bracher, A. (editors). Springer Earth System Sciences.
  
  
• Beierlein L and Sheward R, 2013. “Climate Service - Definition and Function” In: Climate change in the marine realm: an international summer school in the framework of the European Campus of Excellence. Dummermuth A and Grosfeld K (editors). Berichte zur Polar- und Meeresforschung, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, 72–75.
  
  
• Maurer A-F, Galer SJG, Knipper C, Beierlein L, Nunn EV, Peters D, Tütken T, Alt KW, Schöne BR, 2012. “Bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr in different environmental samples – Effects of anthropogenic contamination and implications for isoscapes in past migration studies”. Science of the Total Environment 433, 216–229.

• Beierlein, L., Dima, M., Schöne, B.R., Salvigsen, O. and Brey, T. “A pronounced 11-year oscillation in high Arctic marine bivalve shells during the early Holocene Climate Optimum.” Ocean Sciences Meeting, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, 02/2014.
  
  
• Beierlein L, Salvigsen O, Schöne BR, Dima M, Mackensen A, Lohmann G, Bickert T and Brey T. “Seasonality and inter-annual variability during the Holocene Climate Optimum on Svalbard derived from sub-fossil bivalve shells (A. islandica)“. 11/2013. Helmholtz Research School on Earth System Science, Annual Retreat 2013, “botanika Bremen”, Bremen, Germany.
  
  
• Beierlein L, Brey T, and Salvigsen O. “Learning from the past: seasonality and decadal oscillations in Svalbard during the Holocene Climate Optimum derived from sub-fossil bivalve shells (A. islandica).” 05/2013. 3rd International Sclerochronology Conference, Caernarfon, Wales, UK.
  
  
• Beierlein L, Nehrke G, and Brey T. “Confocal Raman microscopy and its contribution to sclerochronology” 09/2012. Centenary Meeting of the Paläontologische Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany.

• von Leesen, G., Beierlein, L., Scarponi, D., Schöne, B.R. and Brey, T. “The Mediterranean Sea during the Pleistocene – bivalve shells and their potential to reconstruct decadal and seasonal climate signals of the past” 4th International Sclerochronology Conference, Portland, Maine, USA, 06/2016.    
               
  
• Beierlein, L., Nehrke, G., Schöne B.R., Bickert T., Mackensen A. and Brey, T. “From aragonite to  calcite: Impacts of recrystallization on stable isotope (δ18O & δ13C) composition of the bivalve bio-archive Arctica islandica.” Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, Baltimore, USA, 11/2015.
  
  
• Beierlein L, Nehrke G, and Brey T. “Deciphering fossil bio-archives: how Raman microscopy contributes to palaeo-environmental studies.” 07/2013. CORALS 2013 Conference, Vienna, Austria.
  
  
• Beierlein L, Nehrke G, and Brey T. “Raman microscopy in sclerochronology.” 05/2013. 3rd International Sclerochronology Conference, Caernarfon, Wales, UK.
  
  
• Bayer MS, Brey T, Beierlein L and Gordillo S. “Late Quaternary climatic variability in northern Patagonia Argentina – information from modern and fossil shells of Amiantis purpurata (Bivalvia, Veneridae).” 05/2013. 3rd International Sclerochronology Conference, Caernarfon, Wales, UK.
  
  
• Trofimova T, Beierlein L, Basova L, Sukhotin A and Brey T. “A comparative analysis of coastal environmental conditions in the eastern Norwegian Sea and southern Barents Sea by means of Arctica islandica growth records.” 05/2013. 3rd International Sclerochronology Conference, Caernarfon, Wales, UK.
  
  
• Beierlein L, Nehrke G and Brey T. “Confocal Raman microscopy and its contribution to sclerochronology“. 11/2012. Helmholtz Research School on Earth System Science, Annual Retreat 2012, “Deutsches Auswandererhaus”, Bremerhaven, Germany.
  
  
• Beierlein L, Brey T, and Salvigsen O. “Holocene bivalves from Spitsbergen as palaeo-climatic bio-archives.” 10/2012. 3rd Young Scientists Conference, Kiel, Germany.
  
  
• Beierlein L, Schöne BR, Nunn EV, Radermacher P and Maurer A-F. “High-resolution climate archives from archaeological sites in Central Europe: new data from freshwater bivalve shells.” 04/2011. European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly, Vienna, Austria.

• Master Thesis Gotje von Leesen, “The Mediterranean Sea during the Pleistocene – bivalve shells and their potential to reconstruct decadal and seasonal climate signals of the past”. University of Bremen, Germany, 01/2016 – 06/2016
  
  
• Master Thesis Verena Merk, “Calibrating the Arctic bivalve Serripes groenlandicus as a new potential bio-archive for temperature reconstructions at high northern latitudes”. University of Rostock, Germany, 10/2014 – 03/2015
  
  
• Bachelor Thesis Gotje von Leesen, “Thin-sections from marine bivalve shells: a window to environmental reconstructions on a daily scale?”. University of Bremen, Germany, 03/2014 – 08/2014
  
  
• Internship Michaela Deininger. “Inter-annual variabilities in growth of Pleistocene Arctica islandica bivalve shells from Ile de France, Greenland”. 07/2013 – 09/2013. AWI Bremerhaven, Germany.
  
  
• Master Thesis Tamara Trofimova. “The potential of Arctica islandica growth records to reconstruct coastal climate in the eastern Norwegian Sea and southern Barents Sea”. 01/2013 – 09/2013. University of Bremen, Germany and St. Petersburg State University, Russia.
  
  
• POMOR Project Tamara Trofimova. “Bivalve shells from the North Atlantic as archives for environmental reconstructions”. 10/2012 – 12/2012. AWI Bremerhaven, Germany and St. Petersburg State University, Russia.
  
  
• Internship Zoey Voigts. “Sclerochronological work on modern Laternula elliptica and Unio sp. specimens”. 09/2012 – 12/2012. AWI Bremerhaven, Germany
  
  
• HIGHSEA School Project Scarlett Scheper, Alena Kuhr, Jasmina Friedrich. “Das Klimaarchiv Arctica islandica”. 03/2012 – 05/2012. AWI Bremerhaven, Germany
  
  
• Bachelor Thesis Florian Bauer. “Eine Masterchronologie von Arctica islandica bei Helgoland”. 07/2011 – 09/2011. University of Bremen, Germany

• 10/2015 Invited Talk, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, New York, USA, Beierlein, L., “Past seasonal and inter-annual variability derived from Holocene bivalve shells“.
  
  
• 08/2015 Interdisciplinary Modelling of Climate Change in Coastal Western Antarctica (IMCONet) Scholarship, Three months stay at Syracuse University and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, New York, USA.
  
  
• 04/2015 Interdisciplinary Modelling of Climate Change in Coastal Western Antarctica (IMCONet) Scholarship, Three months stay at CICTERRA Institute, Córdoba, Argentina.
  
  
• 11/2013 Best talk award, Helmholtz Research School on Earth System Science, Annual Retreat 2013, Bremen, Germany, Beierlein, L., Salvigsen, O., Schöne, B.R., Dima, M., Mackensen, A., Lohmann, G., Bickert, T. and Brey, T. “Seasonality and inter-annual variability during the Holocene Climate Optimum on Svalbard derived from sub-fossil bivalve shells (A. islandica)“.
  
  
• 05/2013 Best poster award, 3rd International Sclerochronology Conference, Caernarfon, Wales, UK, Beierlein, L., Nehrke, G. and Brey, T. “Raman microscopy in sclerochronology.”
  
  
• 07/2011 Earth System Sciences Research School (ESSReS) Scholarship, Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research.