Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research

As the study of Beringia approaches its second century, significant questions, challenges, and enigmas continue to inspire research about this largely unglaciated region between the Yukon Territory and northeast Asia, including the now submerged areas of the continental shelf. New environmental proxies such as ancient DNA, are propelling greater understanding of Beringian environments and how changes in climate drove large-scale changes in vegetation and large mammal populations, ultimately influencing the peopling of the Western Hemisphere.

During the Pleistocene, repeated declines in global sea level in response to growing global ice volume created a wide plain adjoining the arctic coast of northeast Asia and an inter-continental land bridge that allowed interchange of biota between Asia and the Americas. Periods of reduced glaciation saw sea-level rise, which opened the Bering Strait and connected the Arctic and North Pacific oceans with profound impacts on Beringian climate and ecosystems. The final (late glacial) flooding of the land bridge brought abrupt warming and cooling events, and possibly warmer-than-present climate. A better understanding of these environmental changes is particularly relevant for the modern inhabitants of the Arctic; they are now on the front lines of global climate change.

Recent studies in new locations and advances in proxy methods have raised new hypotheses about Beringian environments, climate, and human occupants during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. The aim of this inter-disciplinary collection is to provide a focused opportunity to bring the various strands of the latest research together. We are inviting scientists from the full range of paleoenvironmental disciplines and methods to contribute your latest research and to be a part of this special issue on Beringian Environments.

Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research is a peer-reviewed open access interdisciplinary journal dedicated to cold regions physical and environmental research. AAAR accepts research articles, review articles, short communications, and data notes. Specifically-formatted science briefs may be submitted to the journal’s Arctic Answers Collection, and could be included in both Collections, if applicable.

Please contact Managing Editor Jen Hall-Bowman with any questions ([email protected]).

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