Investments in assets related to positive environmental, social, and governance (ESG) have grown, attracting interest from both academics and investment fund practitioners. In this work, we explore various methods for integrating ESG factors into portfolio construction, assessing their feasibility. We address three key questions. First, what are potential benefits and challenges of incorporating ESG factors into portfolio strategies? We compare our results to an equally weighted benchmark to assess the impact of ESG integration on portfolio performance. Second, how does performance vary across different portfolio optimization techniques? By exploring various optimization approaches, we identify the most effective strategies for constructing climate-resilient portfolios. Finally, does performance differ across countries and/or regions? Our study focuses its analysis on North American (S&P 500 Top 50) and European Union (EU STOXX 50) markets. Through this investigation, we examine the portfolio integration of ESG factors and the impact of country/region-specific characteristics on climate portfolio performance. This study contributes by introducing an ensemble portfolio methodology to ESG integration and providing a comparative cross-regional analysis. Our findings show that the effectiveness of ESG integration depend on the portfolio optimization framework, the portfolio sustainability choice, and the underlying market. Although no single strategy dominates across all settings, the proposed ensemble approach provides the best performance by balancing sustainability objectives with diversification and risk-adjusted returns across regions.

The present study reports the first records of the viviparous monogeneans Gyrodactylus atratuli and Gyrodactylus mediotorus from leuciscid fishes in Mexico, providing new insights into intraspecific haptoral sclerite variability across hosts and geographic regions in North America. Nuclear rDNA (ITS region) genetic analyses confirmed species identities; Mexican G. atratuli sequences showed a 0.7% divergence from Canadian specimens, while Mexican G. mediotorus sequences exhibited a 0.2–0.8% divergence from other North American populations, including those from Texas and Canada. Relative to original and previously published descriptions, morphometric analyses revealed a clear latitudinal trend, in which northern populations of both parasite species possess larger hamuli, marginal hooks and associated attachment elements, while southern Mexican populations exhibit smaller structures. While elements like hamulus points and marginal hooks remained highly conserved, parts of the connecting bars, particularly the ventral bar membrane, demonstrated greater phenotypic plasticity, potentially reflecting adaptive adjustments to temperature and host-specific microhabitats. Gyrodactylus atratuli was recovered from Rhinichthys cataractae, while G. mediotorus was found parasitizing Cyprinella lutrensis and Cyprinella cf. proserpina, confirming low host specificity and ecological host flexibility at the family level (Leuciscidae). These results demonstrate that host traits, latitude and environmental fluctuations jointly drive morphological variation, while ITS variability reflects natural allopatric population divergence across the Nearctic.

For millennia, Indigenous fisher-hunter-gatherer populations across the globe have navigated the complexities and sensitivities of estuarine ecosystems, leaving robust archaeological and ecological records of long-term, adaptive histories anchored by complex political, economic, and social forms. Regarding the broad, interdisciplinary literature of hunter-gatherer studies, archaeologists in particular have begun to address the undertheorized category of overtly sedentary hunter-gatherer communities and the ways that these societies were able to grow and persist sustainably. This research builds on recent studies investigating the long-term impacts of humans in estuarine environments, contributing a critical, small-scale perspective that expands and complements more recent regional approaches. In doing so, this study presents the largest analysis via the archaeological record of oyster resource management practices at a single Native American village yet to be conducted to evaluate community-scale sustainability among sedentary fisher-hunter-gatherers. More specifically, it investigates the growth of one of the largest Ancestral Muskogean towns to have existed along the Atlantic coast—on Ossabaw Island, Georgia—and the ways that people managed shellfisheries in the face of growing demographic pressures on both local ecologies and social, political, and economic institutions. Leveraging absolute chronologies and a shellfish morphometric dataset from two dozen domestic middens, sustainable resource management practices are evaluated across a single community’s history.

Efforts to decolonize archaeology have gained significant momentum in the last few decades, but have yet to extend robustly to zooarchaeology. Zooarchaeology is, however, well positioned to make unique contributions to decolonial practice. Drawing on insights from Indigenous studies, animal studies, and models of Indigenous science, we argue that North American zooarchaeology must engage in decolonization if reconstructions of past human–animal relationships are to be robust and ethically grounded. We identify some of the colonial legacies embedded in zooarchaeology’s methods, classifications, and interpretive frameworks, and highlight how these structures constrain knowledge production. We offer a series of interventions and actionable recommendations—from analytical protocols to disciplinary practice—that create pathways for zooarchaeologists to participate in the wider decolonial project.

The efficacy of using luminescence dating on glacial deposits is tested for a portion of the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 Laurentide Ice Sheet margin in southwestern Indiana. We assess small-aliquot quartz optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and feldspar infrared-stimulated luminescence (IRSL) dating of glaciofluvial, glaciodeltaic, and aeolian sediments against a well-established soil stratigraphy and a cosmogenic 10Be depth profile. Results indicate that standard blue-light OSL regenerative protocols used on MIS 2 glacial sediments in the region warrant caution when duplicated for MIS 6 sediments. Quartz OSL ages underestimate age by up to 50% compared with cosmogenic and feldspar post-IR IRSL200 ages. Presence of unstable or hard-to-bleach OSL signal components that cannot be removed with modified preheat protocols yields unreliable data. While dates obtained using post-IR IRSL200 protocols on feldspar are affected by partial bleaching and anomalous fading, these factors can be accounted for. Discrimination of negligible-fading small-aliquot data allowed us to obtain post-IR IRSL200 ages between 103 ± 12 and 241 ± 28 ka. Post-IR IRSL200 ages are mostly consistent with 10Be depth-profile dating and stratigraphic constraints and represent a viable option to study glaciofluvial sedimentation during MIS 6 and older glaciations in the region.

This study investigates Escuadrón 41, a former colonial battery turned detention and torture centre, to examine the material and mnemonic afterlives of state violence in Cuba. Through excavation, archival research and oral histories, it reveals how ruins, memory and erasure intersect, positioning archaeology as critical engagement with difficult pasts.

An archaeological survey of Kitsissut, a remote island cluster in the High Arctic of Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland), has revealed a human presence almost 4500 years ago, during the formation of a vital marine environment—Pikialasorsuaq polynya. Kitsissut is accessible only by a difficult open-water journey, and repeated occupation thus permits inferences on the sophistication of watercraft technology and navigational skill. Here, the authors argue that this demonstrable reach of Early Paleo-Inuit communities across marine and terrestrial ecosystems enhances our understanding of their lifeways and environmental legacy, raising critical new questions about Indigenous agency in shaping emerging Arctic ecosystems.

An extensive survey of North American catostomid fishes yielded insights into the diversity, host specificity and phylogenetic relationships of monopisthocotylans belonging to Pseudomurraytrematidae. Parasites were recorded from 14 of 16 host species surveyed. In total, 22 species of Anonchohaptor, Icelanonchohaptor and Pseudomurraytrema were collected, including 7 new species. Most species were recovered from gills, whereas two Icelanonchohaptor species were found on fins. Phylogenetic analyses based on 28S rDNA support the monophyly of Pseudomurraytrematidae and its sister relationship to Diplectanidae. Within the family, Pseudomurraytrema asiaticum – a parasite of the East Asian fish Myxocyprinus asiaticus – was recovered as sister to the clade of Nearctic pseudomurraytrematids, a placement that may reflect geographic and host-associated separation. The remaining Pseudomurraytrema species parasitize North American Catostominae and form a well-supported clade sister to the clade comprising species of Anonchohaptor and Icelanonchohaptor, primarily associated with Ictiobinae. Under this topology, Pseudomurraytrema, as currently circumscribed, may be paraphyletic. Relationships between morphologically similar species of Anonchohaptor and Icelanonchohaptor remain unresolved: in the 28S tree, Anonchohaptor is paraphyletic (with Icelanonchohaptor nested within it), whereas the concatenated 18S–ITS1–28S analyses recover a single clade with Icelanonchohaptor (2 spp.) sister to the remaining species of Anonchohaptor. The parasite phylogeny broadly reflects host relationships, though several incongruences point to historical host switching. Morphological data also support the monophyly of Pseudomurraytrematidae via a synapomorphic male copulatory organ (U-shaped copulatory tube with a submedial spine, 3-ramus accessory piece), indicating structural conservatism within this family.

Atop El Castillo, the largest pyramid within the Maya site of Chichen Itza, in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, stand two ruined columns that once portrayed the feathered serpent deity K’uk’ulkan. 3D-imaging technologies have identified scattered sculptural fragments belonging to these columns, allowing a digital reconstruction that opens new possibilities for their conservation.

Food preservation, including salting and barreling meat, has played a significant role in human history; however, it remains challenging to identify cases of salting in the archaeological record. Most studies have relied on limited datasets and focus on body-part profiles observed in faunal assemblages. Known and suspected cases of barreled meat and on-site butchery, drawn from six shipwrecks and seven fur trade posts, provide a means of identifying body-part profiles for salted pork and beef. Modeled body-part profiles based on these data reveal differences in expected body-part frequency between salted and locally butchered beef, although the patterning is less obvious for pork. Comparing these models against 26 military forts reveals that, despite the prominence of salted beef and pork in historic records, many forts exhibit patterns consistent with on-site butchery of live animals.

We report new interpretation of >19,500 beach strandlines from waterbodies in the western St. Lawrence and Champlain Lowlands in northern New York and adjacent areas of Vermont, Quebec, and Ontario from ≤2-m-resolution digital elevation models. Strandline evidence supports a deglaciation model in which proglacial lake and marine shoreline deposits adjusted continuously in response to steady shoreline regression linked to outlet incision, differential isostatic adjustments, and postglacial relative sea-level rise. Gaps in strandline preservation reflect times of rapid water-level decline associated with breakout floods and abrupt shifts in drainage to new outlets. Water levels returned to slower, steady decline and renewed beach sedimentation during the later stages of a breakout as water levels in the source and receiving waterbodies equilibrated. Our conclusions contrast with previous models that infer discrete lake stages were controlled by stable outlets then fell abruptly as lower outlets were exhumed from beneath the Laurentide Ice Sheet during deglaciation. We present a new deglacial chronology and lake nomenclature that reflects this paradigm and redefines the spatial and temporal distributions of proglacial lake and marine water in the region.

In October 2022 at the annual board meeting of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference (SEAC), a new image policy for the journal Southeastern Archaeology was adopted that prohibited publication of photographs of funerary objects/belongings. In the discourse surrounding these new policies, a range of misunderstandings and mischaracterizations regarding consultative, collaborative, and community-based Indigenous archaeology were highlighted. Through a range of examples and personal experiences, this paper explores some of the realities of collaborative archaeological practice in the Indigenous American Southeast and aims to contextualize and mediate some recurring misunderstandings. Of particular importance and focus is the unique concept and definition of “the community” as it relates to collaborative practice across Indigenous North America. Importantly, I emphasize that southeastern archaeology and southeastern archaeologists are doing transformative work that puts us in a position to be leaders in the ongoing structural changes to our discipline.