Exploring the Anthropocene in Southeast Asia using lake sediment records Seminar

Event details

Southeast Asia is undergoing rapid development, but the pace and extent of development varies regionally. Located in the tropics and straddling the Asian and Indian monsoonal systems, the area is vulnerable to climate extremes and changes associated with recent warming. Freshwater resources in this region require careful management to support the 640 million inhabitants and yet tropical freshwater ecosystems are under researched and water monitoring programmes are sparse. Lake sediment records provide a means of reconstructing past conditions in and around lake catchments to quantify the impacts of anthropogenic disturbances, in the context of longer-term climatic changes. This seminar will present work from ongoing research projects investigating recent (decadal-centennial scale) changes in Southeast Asian lake basins. Examples will include the assessment of the ecological impacts of deforestation, oil palm cultivation and bauxite mining on a lowland flood pulse wetland in Malaysia and the application of palaeolimnology to assess aquaculture impacts in the Philippines.