Abstract Nine non-pollen palynomorph (NPP) groups occur in Quaternary marine and brackish-water sediments; these groups represent various planktonic or micro- to macrobenthic organisms. Some extant NPP were previously classified as fossil Acritarcha, Chitinozoa or scolecodonts. We refer to reviews of these fossils and their applications for Paleozoic–Mesozoic biostratigraphy and palaeoecology but focus on extant marine NPP that can be studied by laboratory culture, genetics or micro-geochemical methods. Marine NPP include resting cysts of planktonic dinoflagellates and prasinophytes, tintinnids and other cilates, copepod eggs and skeletal remains, and various microzoobenthos: microforaminiferal organic linings, ostracod mandibles and carapace linings, various worm egg capsules and mouthparts. New micro-Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy spectra suggest the probable affinities of the tintinnid cyst type P and Beringiella . Our applications in marine biodiversity and provincialism studies emphasize under-studied polar regions and neglected ice-algae nano-plankton and compare climate-based NPP distributions to Ocean Biogeographic Information System realms. Trophic relationships are outlined using sediment-trap studies. Seasonal to annual-scale investigations of palaeoproduction provide new perspectives on ocean carbon budgets during times of rapid climate change and atmospheric carbon increase. More taxonomic and source-linkage studies of non-dinocyst marine NPP are needed but we outline potentials for studies of hemispheric or global-scale shifts in marine food webs as driven by ocean warming.

ABSTRACT During the Paleocene–Eocene, the Earth experienced the warmest conditions of the Cenozoic and reduced equator-to-pole temperature gradients. Compared to low- and mid-latitude sites, Paleogene environmental changes are less documented in Arctic regions, although such high latitude areas constitute a critical domain to constrain global climate changes. Floral and faunal assemblages indicative of exceptionally warm and humid conditions during the late Paleocene–early Eocene have been reported in several localities around the Arctic Ocean. Additional studies are required to ascertain the effects of Paleocene–Eocene global environmental changes on western Arctic regions. Here we present multiproxy data from early Eocene deltaic plain sediments of the Mackenzie Delta (Canada). This environment is characterized by littoral forest, including swamp, showing that the mangrove Avicennia grew in Arctic Canada near 75°N under air temperatures averaging 21–22 °C annually and 10–14 °C in winter and with precipitation of 1200–1400 mm/yr. Kaolinite contents are high (up to 75% of clay assemblages), as under a modern subtropical climate. The Avicennia pollens recently found in the New Siberian Islands and in Arctic Canada imply that warm and wet conditions were widespread along the Arctic coast during the early Eocene. It also suggests a marine connection between the Arctic Basin and the mid-latitude oceans. We propose that an oceanic current must have connected the Arctic Basin to the Atlantic and/or Pacific and that an internal current developed in the Arctic Basin since the early Eocene.