Description: Drilling predation is among the most studied biotic interactions in the fossil record, and its overall patterns are well established on Cenozoic mollusks from North America. Few studies have examined such predation in Europe, which experienced a different geologic history. This study aims to evaluate taxonomic and environmental effects on molluscan drilling intensities from the Miocene of the Central Paratethys using drill frequency (DF) and prey effectiveness (PE), a measure of prey's ability to survive predatory attacks. 166 bulk samples from Austria and Slovakia that included 39,234 whole shells from the Karpatian (upper Burdigalian) and Badenian (Langhian and lower Serravallian) showed that at the level of stages, environments and localities, DF and PE were always below 10% and were slightly higher in bivalves than gastropods. Predation intensities from the Central Paratethys are therefore distinctly lower than those of other Miocene seas and it is hypothesized that this is explained by the rarity of naticid and muricid gastropods in the study area. The underlying factors controlling abundances of these drilling predators in the Central Paratethys could be related to the complex paleogeographic history of this inland sea. Intertidal DFs and PEs increased temporally, but differences in sublittoral DFs were not significant and PE values decreased significantly. Temporal patterns in DF and PE are influenced by disparities in sampled environments between the lower and middle Miocene. In general, comparisons of DFs across environments within the Karpatian and Badenian yielded similar results using higher and lower taxa. In contrast, such comparisons of PE were dependent upon taxonomic resolution.

Description: Pollen analyses have been proven to possess the possibility to decipher rapid vegetational and climate shifts in Neogene sedimentary records. Herein, a c. 21-kyr-long transgression-regression cycle from the Lower Austrian locality Stetten is analysed in detail to evaluate climatic benchmarks for the early phase of the Middle Miocene Climate Optimum and to estimate the pace of environmental change. Based on the Coexistence Approach, a very clear signal of seasonality can be reconstructed. A warm and wet summer season with c. 204-236 mm precipitation during the wettest month was opposed by a rather dry winter season with precipitation of c. 9-24 mm during the driest month. The mean annual temperature ranged between 15.7 and 20.8 °C, with about 9.6-13.3 °C during the cold season and 24.7-27.9 °C during the warmest month. In contrast, today's climate of this area, with an annual temperature of 9.8 °C and 660 mm rainfall, is characterized by the winter season (mean temperature: -1.4 °C, mean precipitation: 39 mm) and a summer mean temperature of 19.9 °C (mean precipitation: 84 mm). Different modes of environmental shifts shaped the composition of the vegetation. Within few millennia, marshes and salt marshes with abundant Cyperaceae rapidly graded into Taxodiaceae swamps. This quick but gradual process was interrupted by swift marine ingressions which took place on a decadal to centennial scale. The transgression is accompanied by blooms of dinoflagellates and of the green alga Prasinophyta and an increase in Abies and Picea. Afterwards, the retreat of the sea and the progradation of estuarine and wetland settings were a gradual progress again. Despite a clear sedimentological cyclicity, which is related to the 21-kyr precessional forcing, the climate data show little variation. This missing pattern might be due to the buffering of the precessional-related climate signal by the subtropical vegetation. Another explanation could be the method-inherent broad range of climate-parameter estimates that could cover small scale climatic changes.