The coastal tussac (Poa flabellata) grasslands of the Falkland Islands are a critical seabird breeding habitat but have been drastically reduced by grazing and erosion. Meanwhile, the sensitivity of seabirds and tussac to climate change is unknown because of a lack of long-term records in the South Atlantic. Our 14,000-year multiproxy record reveals an ecosystem state shift following seabird establishment 5000 years ago, as marine-derived nutrients from guano facilitated tussac establishment, peat productivity, and increased fire. Seabird arrival coincided with regional cooling, suggesting that the Falkland Islands are a cold-climate refugium. Conservation efforts focusing on tussac restoration should include this terrestrial-marine linkage, although a warming Southern Ocean calls into question the long-term viability of the Falkland Islands as habitat for low-latitude seabirds.

When Darwin visited the Falkland Islands in 1833, he noted the puzzling occurrence of the islands' sole terrestrial mammal, Dusicyon australis (or "warrah"). The warrah's origins have been debated, and prehistoric human transport was previously rejected because of a lack of evidence of pre-European human activity in the Falkland Islands. We report several lines of evidence indicating that humans were present in the Falkland Islands centuries before Europeans, including (i) an abrupt increase in fire activity, (ii) deposits of mixed marine vertebrates that predate European exploration by centuries, and (iii) a surface-find projectile point made of local quartzite. Dietary evidence from D. australis remains further supports a potential mutualism with humans. The findings from our study are consistent with the culture of the Yaghan (Yámana) people from Tierra del Fuego. If people reached the Falkland Islands centuries before European colonization, this reopens the possibility of human introduction of the warrah.

Conservation paleobiology aims to provide a longer-term perspective on environmental problems to inform decisions about natural resource conservation. As such, conservation paleobiology research falls short when geohistorical data and insights do not inform conservation practice, contributing to the well-known idea that a “gap” exists between the production and use of science in the environmental realm. Our study quantified the extent of this research-implementation (or knowing-doing) gap through a systematic literature review and survey questionnaire. We determined whether empirical studies in conservation paleobiology with a link to conservation, management, or restoration documented the use of geohistorical data to implement some form of action or if there was a specific mention of how the geohistorical data could be used in theory. Results indicate that “applied” conservation paleobiology has a poor record of translating research into action. Tangible conservation impacts were evident in only 10.8% of studies. Over half of these studies included coauthors affiliated with a conservation organization. Among the studies coded as having a theoretical application, 25.2% specified how the geohistorical data could be implemented to enhance conservation, management, or restoration actions. All studies documenting action used geohistorical data from the geologically recent past where the species and habitats are familiar to those found today. Drawing insights from the bright spots we identified, we offer some practical suggestions to narrow the gap between knowing and doing in conservation paleobiology.

The Southern Hemisphere westerly wind belt (SHWW) is a major feature of Southern Hemisphere, midlatitude climate that is closely linked with the sequestration and release of CO2 in the Southern Ocean. Past changes in the strength and position of this wind belt are poorly resolved, particularly across the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, a time period associated with fluctuations in atmospheric temperatures and CO2 levels. We used dust geochemistry, particle size measurements, and paleoecological analyses from a peat sequence in the Falkland Islands, South Atlantic Ocean, to describe changes in the SHWW between 16.0 and 6.5 ka (thousands of years before CE 1950). Wind strength was low at ~51°S before and during the Antarctic Cold Reversal (ACR, 14.9–13.0 ka), intensified between 13.1 and 12.1 ka as atmospheric temperatures increased, and then weakened, reaching a minimum between 12.1 and 10.9 ka during the Early Holocene thermal maximum. Northwesterly air masses became more dominant from 12.0 to 10.2 ka, and wind strength remained low until our record was affected by a storm surge or tsunami ca. 7.8 ka. These data indicate a southward shift in the latitude of the SHWW, from north of 51°S prior to and during the ACR, at ~51°S before the onset of the Holocene, and south of 51°S during the early Holocene thermal maximum. This pattern suggests that the latitude of the SHWW was coupled with atmospheric temperatures through the Pleistocene-Holocene transition.