The latest edition of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) BSc course Palaeoecology took place in September. This course is centred around an “environmental forensics” project, during which students use palaeoecological tools to identify the location that their “mystery slides” came from. To achieve this the students gain experience of:
- Microscope work, learning how to identify the characteristics of the vegetation recorded in their slides in the pollen and phytoliths.
- Field work, learning to read the landscape and assess the modern and past vegetation.
- Statistical analysis, learning how to combine the micro-fossil data generated in the lab, with the vegetation data generated in the field.
During this edition of the Palaeoecology course we also included: excursions to the areas around Hilversum and Weesp to explore sediments and study the vegetation, a collaborative link up with the UvA Department of Archaeology, tours of the Geology Museum Hofland (Laren) and Allard Pierson Museum (Amsterdam), and guest lectures from two former MSc research students (Roos Dik and Jelle Kraak).
The principles and practice developed in this course provide a strong foundation for developing palaeoecological skills further through a BSc research project, or continuing the MSc level at the UvA with courses, such as Environments Through Time (next level data analysis and interrogation), Field Course Geoecological Systems (to Peru), or Tropical Ecology field course (to Ecuador).
These course are included in two MSc degree programs at the University of Amsterdam, to find out more click on the links below:
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