On ceremony… twice!

March 19, 2026
WDG

Reyan Christ graduating with an MSc in Earth Sciences

On the 18 March 2026 I had the fun challenge of speaking at two MSc graduation ceremonies that were running at the same time. Two ‘long-term’ members of the palaeoecology team at the University of Amsterdam had reached the culmination of their degree program.

Reyan Christ graduating Cum laude in MSc Earth Sciences (track Earth System Science) and Jelle Kraak graduating in MSc Biological Sciences (track Ecology & Evolution).

Reyan was up 2nd in the Earth Sciences program, and Jelle was up 5th in Biological Sciences, giving me approximately 10 mins to get between rooms! Thankfully everything ran to time and I was able to deliver my speeches for them both. It was great to meet their friends and families and celebrate this important moment for their education.

Jelle Kraak graduating with an MSc in Biological Sciences

It was also great to celebrate the submission of a manuscript (the day before) on which they are first and second author. This manuscript is based on a combination of their, and other students, theses work on past environmental change in the Drakensberg Mountains (South Africa), and conducted in collaboration with Jemma Finch and Trevor Hill at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. We now cross our fingers that the journal editors and reviewers are as excited as we are about their findings. Fingers crossed we can be announcing the published version on here later in the year…

Mapping Ancient Africa: Research & writing workshop

March 6, 2026
WDG

The third Mapping Ancient Africa (MAA) workshop took place in South Africa during March 2026. This workshop was supported by the International Union for Quaternary Research as part of the MAA multi-year project. The aim of this work shop was to provide specialist training in developing research projects and writing of scientific articles. During the workshop each participant developed, and progressed, their own personal work plan. These personal programs allowed the training to be tailored to the participants needs. They included a wide range of challenged ranging from the development of project ideas through to dealing with reviewer comments on manuscripts, and inclusivity, equality and diversity issues.

In addition to the academic program, social activities and excursions were designed to help build academic networks and promote informal discussion of past environmental change issues. These included hikes to the Holley Shelter archaeological site (Bader & Conrad, 2023) and Game Pass shelter rock art site (Hoerle, 2005).

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European Conference of Tropical Ecology (2026)

February 27, 2026
WDG

The European Conference of Tropical Ecology is organised on behalf of the Society for Tropical Ecology. To find out more about the society click here.

The 9th European Conferenc of Tropical Ecology took place in Passau (Germay) between the 23 and 27 February 2026. The theme of the meeting was “Species-Ecosystems-People” and it brought together around 250 tropical ecology researchers from around the globe to discuss the latest research in the field. The meeting ran very smoothly – credit to Christine Schmitt and her team at the University of Passau – and I enjoyed the conference very much. I followed sessions focused on topics ranging from climate change impacts and change through time, through human-environment interactions, to traits, and recovery and restoration.

It was great to see a good contingent of tropical palaeoecologists present. With Rob Marchant (York University) providing a key note spanning past environmental change through to socio-ecological systems, entitled: “Embedding the past for balanced future tropical mountain social ecological systems”. Palaeoecological talks and posters came from around the world, including Bolivia, Cuba, Brazil, Seychelles, and Democratic Republic of Congo. All provided new insights and suggested high potential for revealing novel information about past ecosystems and the drivers of change.

To find out more about the talks check out the abstract booklet which is available via the conference web site: https://gtoe2026-passau.de/book-of-abstracts.html

Dung fungal spores at the zoo?

February 20, 2026
WDG

Dung fungal spores (or spores of coprophilous fungi) are often used to track herbivore presence or abundance in the past (e.g. van Geel, 2001; Lee et al., 2022). While the animals are not preserved evidence of them is through the type and quantity of the fungal spores preserved in the sedimentary record.

On 12 February 2026, along with University of Amsterdam MSc researchers Chiara Raino, Sarah Main and Bouwe Groeneveld, I travelled to Beekse Bergen zoo in the south of the Netherlands to collect samples to see if we could related specific animal types to particular dung fungal spore assemblages.

At the zoo we met with Stijn Berger who coordinates scientific collaboration for Beekse Bergen. Stijn kindly arranged for us to visit a number of enclosures before the animals were let out for the day. We collected samples from areas containing elephants, spring bok and rhinos. We new wait for the samples processing, and the students analysis, to see if there is any relationship between the animal and fungal spore types.

References

  • van Geel, B. van. (2001). Non-pollen palynomorphs. In S. J.P., H. J. B. Birks, & W. M. Last (Eds.), Tracking environmental change using lake sediments. Vol. 3 (pp. 99–119). Kluwer.
  • Lee, C. M., van Geel, B., & Gosling, W. D. (2022). On the use of spores of coprophilous fungi preserved in sediments to indicate past herbivore presence. Quaternary, 5(3), 30. https://doi.org/10.3390/quat5030030

Holocene vegetation dynamics of the Koobi Fora Basin, East Turkana, Kenya: Insights from phytolith analysis

January 18, 2026
WDG

Mapping Ancient Africa Quaternary International Special Issue #10

Kinyanjui, R. N., Mashaka, H. K., Chritz, K. L., Wemanya, S. N., Ndiema, E. K., Braun, D. R., & Bamford, M. (2026). Holocene vegetation dynamics of the Koobi Fora Basin, East Turkana, Kenya: Insights from phytolith analysis. Quaternary International, 759, 110131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2026.110131

To find the complete list of articles in the Mapping Ancient Africa special issue of Quaternary International click here.

Hugo de Vries prize 2025

December 16, 2025
WDG

The annual PhD thesis prize from the Koninklijk Nederlandse Botanische Vereniging (Royal Dutch Botanical Association) is now open. The prize of EURO 5000 will be awarded to the best PhD thesis defended between January and December 2025 at a Dutch university. The subject matter of the thesis is broadly defined within the field of botany, and includs topics such as taxonomy, (palaeo- / macro-) ecology, and cell biology.

For details of past winners, and how to nominate someone for this years prize visit:
https://www.knbv.eu/hugo-de-vries-prijs/

The winner of the prize last year was one of our blog contributors, Nina Witteveen, read about her thesis and award here.

Herbivory and vegetation openness in a pre-farming European landscape

November 19, 2025
WDG

Plant Ecology & Diversity

Gosling, W. D., de Wolf, I. K., Witteveen, N. H., de Zwaan, S. B., Van Teulingen, C., Föllmi, D., Thissen, W., Vink, V. B., Woutersen, A., Philip, A. L., van Herk, M. J., Nascimento, M. N., Prins, M. A., & McMichael, C. N. H. (2025). Herbivory and vegetation openness in a pre-farming European landscape. Plant Ecology & Diversity, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/17550874.2025.2576566

This manuscript has been developed over many years through the contributions of many MSc and BSc students based at the University of Amsterdam.

Reinterpretation of palaeoecological records from Tswaing crater (South Africa) reveals the crucial role of fire in shaping savanna

November 19, 2025
WDG

Mapping Ancient Africa Quaternary International Special Issue #9

Dabengwa, A. N., Scott, L., & Bamford, M. (2025). Reinterpretation of palaeoecological records from Tswaing crater (South Africa) reveals the crucial role of fire in shaping savanna. Quaternary International, 750, 110010. DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2025.110010

To find the complete list of articles in the Mapping Ancient Africa special issue of Quaternary International click here.

Vegetation and climate dynamics in a 16,600-year marine sequence offshore Mozambique in Delagoa Bight, south-eastern Africa

September 8, 2025
WDG

Mapping Ancient Africa Quaternary International special issue article #8

Open access:

Neumann, F. H., Finch, J., Hahn, A., Miller, C. S., Scott, L., Schefuß, E., Dupont, L., Cawthra, H. C., & Engelbrecht, F. (2025). Vegetation and climate dynamics in a 16,600-year marine sequence offshore Mozambique in Delagoa Bight, south-eastern Africa. Quaternary International, 747, 109956. DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2025.109956

To find the complete list of articles in the Mapping Ancient Africa special issue of Quaternary International click here.

A multi-model approach to the spatial and temporal characterization of the African Humid Period

July 25, 2025
WDG

Mapping Ancient Africa Quaternary International special issue article #7

Open access:

Gosling, W.D., Chevalier, M., Fischer, M.L., Holewijn, M., Finch, J., Gil-Romera, G., Hill, T., Houngnon, A., Leonardi, M., Manica, A., & Kaboth-Bahr, S. (2025). A multi-model approach to the spatial and temporal characterization of the African Humid Period. Quaternary International 744, 109933. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2025.109933

Gosling, W.D., Chevalier, M., Lothar Fischer, M., Holewijn, M., Finch, J. M., Gil-Romera, G., Hill, T. R., Houngnon, A., Leonardi, M., Manica, A., & Kaboth-Bahr, S. (2025). Code from: A multi-model approach to the spatial and temporal characterization of the African Humid Period. Figshare. https://doi.org/10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.29608400.V1

To find the complete list of articles in the Mapping Ancient Africa special issue of Quaternary International click here.

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