By Eric Atkins
There are many techniques that can be used to offer insight to the past–a family of proxies that range from gas found in ice cores to fossilized feces. I have always been interested in fossils. The allure of something so ancient was introduced to me as a child. At the age of eight, I found a veiny imprint of a leaf in a chunk of sandstone. Fossils are a great tool for looking into the past. For nearly a century by paleoclimatologists and paleoecologists have been using leaf physiognomy as a proxy to deduce past climate environments. By looking at leaf mass per area, teeth area, number of teeth, and degree of blade dissection we can extrapolate information about past climates.
In recent years this type of proxy has evolved along with technology. Continue reading