The Holocene

March 24, 2023
WDG

I am excited to announce that I have recently joined the “Advisory Editorial Board” of The Holocene journal. Many thanks to editor-in-chief John Matthews for the invitation. Interesting to join a very experienced team, which includes both my PhD and post-doc supervisors; the esteemed Frank Mayle and Mark Bush! I look forward to receiving interesting new papers to examine.

The Holocene journal publishes research, review and forum papers focused on environmental change during the Holocene (last 11,700 years). It encourages the submission of manuscripts with an interdisciplinary approach covering palaeoenvironments, palaeoclimate, palaeoecology, palaeohydrology, palaeopedology, palaeoceanography and geo-archaeology. So if you have a some research in this area that you are looking for a home for please check out the details aims and scope, and criteria on the journal web page, click here.

Landscape Dynamics in an era of change

March 15, 2023
WDG

The course “Landscape Dynamics in an era of change: Learning from the past to face the future” took place in the Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa between 5 and 15 March 2023. The course was run by the Graduate School for Production Ecology and Resource Conservation (PERC) and participants were drawn from universities in the Netherlands and South Africa. The main goal of the course was to investigate the past and current dynamics of the region and predict possible futures in an inter- / trans-disciplinary context. Consequently the content of the course was incredibly diverse including: geology, geomorphology, palaeoecology, cultural history, vegetation studies, soil science, farming systems and forestry. These topics were integrated into four group projects centered on invasive species, rewilding, commercial farming and small scale farming.

APD workshop: Database tour and discussion of best practices

March 4, 2023
sji15

Please join us Wed, March 8 at 9am EST for our second APD workshop, which will be a tour of the African Pollen Database as well as a panel discussion about best practices for using and sharing paleoecology data.

Anne-Marie Lézine will be giving us a tour of the African Pollen Database website, which includes lots of awesome tools including an interactive pollen determination tool, lots of ways of search for modern and fossil pollen data, and an updated pollen taxonomy for all of Africa.

We also will be joined by a panel of six experts working in African paleoecology (Graciela Gil-Romera, Rahab Kinyanjui, Manuel Chevalier, Lynne Quick, Rob Marchant, Emuobo Orijemie) who will lead a discussion about the benefits of data sharing in paleoecology and best practices for interacting with pollen databases.

When: Wednesday, March 8 at 9am EST

Where: email Sarah Ivory (sji15@psu.edu) for a zoom link

Who: everyone involved in African paleoecology, but especially early-career folks!

apd_workshop_schedule_sp23Download

Island ecosystem responses to the Kuwae eruption and precipitation change over the last 1600 years, Efate, Vanuatu

March 1, 2023
WDG

Open access:

Strandberg, N.A., Sear, D.A., Langdon, P.G., Cronin, S.J., Langdon, C., Maloney, A., Bateman, S., Bishop, T., Croudace, I., Leng, M., Sachs, J.P., Prebble, M., Gosling, W.D., Edwards, M. & Nogue, S. (2023) Island ecosystem responses to the Kuwae eruption and precipitation change over the last 1600 years, Efate, Vanuatu. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 11, 1087577. DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2023.1087577

Mapping Ancient Africa: Seminar 11

February 28, 2023
WDG

The eleventh Mapping Ancient Africa online seminar will take place on 16 March 2023 (17:00 CET). Details are as follows:

  • Speaker: Hannah Keller (Yale University) 
  • Title: Ostrich eggshell taphonomy: Forager subsistence strategies and environmental indicators in northern Malawi during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene
  • To find out more about Hannah’s work visit her blog: Postcards from an Archaeologist

The seminar will be delivered via Zoom. The link for the seminar can be obtained from the MAA Slack channel or by contacting the chair of this seminar Lynne Quick. If you want to know more about the Mapping Ancient Africa project visit our web pages and please do not hesitate to get in contact if you want to get involved.

INQUAlogo

MSc track Environmental Management

February 27, 2023
WDG

The “Environmental Management” track of the University of Amsterdam MSc Earth Sciences program is the more applied sister to the Earth System Science track. The Environmental Science track is focused on the solutions to societal challenges that can be gained from the Earth sciences. Drawing on linkages with social sciences you will gain a broad interdisciplinary training covering topics including: urban-ecological development, human-wildlife conflicts, and the climate crisis. During the degree you will work with researcher within the interdisciplinary Institute for Biodiversity & Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), carry out an independent research project, and an internship at a societal facing organisation.

  • Energy and Climate Change: Investigate the relationship between climate change and energy systems, and confront the challenges of creating a decarbonised world.
  • GIS and Remote Sensing in Ecosystem Dynamics: Learn how to use large remotely sensed datasets to gain insights into geological, geomorphological and soil systems.
  • Integrated Coastal Dune Management: Explore the concept of “Resilience Thinking” in tacking the complex management task of protecting the Dutch coastline and its ecosystems.
  • Metropol Ecology: Focused on the part of the Earth system where people are, investigate biodiversity and ecosystems in urban systems and mega cities.
  • Science Based Geo-ecological Management: How can science guide environmental management, address key challenges of supporting society, includes field visit to Oostvardersplassen.
  • System Innovation and Transition Management: Climate, energy and agricultural systems are all changing discover how understanding their dynamics is important for governance and sustainability.
  • Click here for further details and a full list of courses.
Environmental management of high Andean ecosystems. During the field school in Peru MSc Earth Science students work with locals and NGOs to improve practices (click here to find out more)

The Environmental Management track can be taken in conjunction with the “Science for Sustainability” minor offered by the Faculty of Science, or other free elective courses to broaden your program.

During the course you will do an internship to get direct experience of working outside academia. Organisations hosting internships in recent years have included:

Solidarity & Benefit Concert for Ukraine

February 26, 2023
WDG

On Friday 24 February (2023) I was back in the University of Amsterdam Aula for the first time since my Inaugural Lecture, this time for a different sort of event and to mark a very different occasion. A benefit concert was organised by the University of Amsterdam and the TRIDA Foundation to mark a year since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The benefit raised funds for humanitarian aid to Ukraine and to support talented Ukrainian refugees who are currently in the Netherlands. The Aula was packed out and decked in the Ukrainian blue and yellow. The amazing music was provided by Ukrainian classical and folk artists, some as young as 9, who cannot currently be in their country. The host was Dutch radio and television presenter Jet Berkhout. The concert was attended by the Mayor of Amsterdam (Femke Halsema), the Ukrainian Ambassador (Maksym Kononeko), the Dutch Minister for Foreign Affairs (Wopke Hoekstra), and the Chair of the Board of the University of Amsterdam (Geert ten Dam), as well as the Ellen Rutten (Prof. of Slavic Studies) who had instigated the event.

During the concert the Ukrainian Ambassador gave an impressive and moving speech in which he called for continued, and strengthened, support for Ukraine against Russian aggression. Different routes to supporting Ukraine, their scholars and their artists through this difficult time include:

Ecological legacies of past fire and human activity in a Panamanian forest

February 23, 2023
WDG

Open access:

McMichael, C.N.H., Vink, V., Heijink, B.M., Witteveen, N.H., Piperno, D.R., Gosling, W.D. & Bush, M.B. (2023) Ecological legacies of past fire and human activity in a Panamanian forest. Plants, People, Planet 5, 281-291. DOI: 10.1002/ppp3.10344

R basics for Paleoecologists – now online

February 23, 2023
sji15

The African Pollen Database is hosting a series of virtual practical workshops and discussions about integrating data into research and teaching. Our first data practical was today Wed Feb 22 led by Chris Kiahtipes. If you missed this and wish to follow along, the recording is here and the workshop materials are here for windows and here for Macs.

See our schedule of upcoming events. These are organized to build skills over the next few months in using APD data from Neotoma in R to answer a variety of research questions and for teaching students.

apd_workshop_schedule_sp23Download
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