Ecology of the past

Post holiday, and pre-teaching, I was searching around for recent studies on the environmental history of Africa and came across the following which hopefully are also of interest to Mapping Ancient Africa enthusiasts. If you have a paper that would be nice to highlight here, please get in contact and I will be happy to include it.

• Bengo, M. D., Gomat, H.-Y., Bita, A. M., Ifo, S. A., Maley, J., & Giresse, P. (2026). High-resolution study of the Late Holocene from pollen of a marine core in the Gulf of Guinea (Cameroon): Paleoenvironmental and ecological dynamics in Central Africa during the last 2,500 years. Open Journal of Forestry, 16(01), 83–105. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojf.2026.161006
• Effiom, A. C., Neumann, F. H., Scott, L., & Bamford, M. K. (2025). Morphology and ecological significance of Holocene palynomorphs from the Indian Ocean Coastal Belt Biome of South Africa. Palynology, 49(3), 2428382. https://doi.org/10.1080/01916122.2024.2428382
• Garbe, P., Behl, M., Es-Senussi, A., Lange-Athinodorou, E., & Meister, J. (2026). Holocene vegetation dynamics and agricultural development at ancient Bubastis (Egypt): Insights from phytolith analysis. Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology, 5, 1778152. https://doi.org/10.3389/fearc.2026.1778152
• García-Morato, S., Sánchez-Goñi, M. F., Urrego, D. H., & d’Errico, F. (2026). Climatic variability, vegetation dynamics, and cultural innovation in Southern Africa during the Middle Stone Age. Communications Earth & Environment, 7(1), 75. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-03051-0
• Gunnell, Y., Mietton, M., Defive, E., Andriamitia, J., Montade, V., Jouannic, G., Voldoire, O., Ramanantsoa, A., Blondeau, S., Nicoud, G., & Rasoanimanana, R. R. (2026). Peat deposits as records of Quaternary tectonics and landscape dynamics in the semi-volcanic highlands of Madagascar. CATENA, 273, 110414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2026.110414
• Sylvestre, F., Melles, M., Wennrich, V., Dinies, M., Chalié, F., Swingedouw, D., Dallmeyer, A., Shi, X., Claussen, M., Jaeschke, A., Cocquyt, C., Karls, J., Kuper, J., Mallaye, B., Mazur, J.-C., Paillès, C., Rirongarti, R., Rethemeyer, J., Ritter-Prinz, B., … Kröpelin, S. (2026). Decadal-scale droughts disrupted the African Humid Period in the Sahara. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10336-7

Also, new volume of Palaeoecology of Africa coming soon, check out the contents list:

• Runge, J. (ed.) Environmental History and Climate Dynamics in Tropical Africa: Landscapes, Humans and Change ISBN 9781041215400