Shared Pasts and Shared Futures in New Orleans!

April 21, 2026
cmcmicha

I just attended a symposium at Tulane University organized by Kris Lane and Jason Nesbitt of the Center for Latin American Studies. “Andes + Amazon, Shared Pasts and Shared Futures” was an amazing interdisciplinary experience, with talks from scholars in disciplines ranging from law and history to paleoecology and paleogenetics. But we all had a common goal, which is understanding how human-environment interactions have shaped, and will continue to shape, the immense biological and cultural diversity of Andean and Amazonian ecosystems.

I enjoyed seeing colleagues, meeting new colleagues, and speaking with PhD students who are eager to work in tropical ecosystems. One of my highlights was meeting Bill Baleé, whose work I’ve read since I was a PhD student. He is a historical ecologist who studies how Indigenous people modify Amazonian forests. His knowledge is immense, and he is also an incredibly warm and welcoming person. I am really looking forward to our future collaborations. I think there is strong momentum coming from this symposium, and we plan to put out a volume of articles that show the importance of a multidisciplinary lens for understanding the future of Andean and Amazonian ecosystems. Stay tuned!

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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.

Hugo de Vries Prijs winner!

June 18, 2025
WDG

Ecology of the Past blog contributor Nina Witteveen was awarded the Hugo de Vries prize on 13 June 2025 at the Botanic Gardens in Nijmegen. The Hugo de Vries prize is awarded by the KNbv (Royal Dutch Botanical Society) and the Stichting Hugo de Vries fonds (Hugo de Vries foundation) for the best PhD thesis in Botany defended at a Dutch University. This years prize was awarded to Nina for her thesis “Long-term Forest Recovery in Amazonia: Insights from Phytolith Analysis” (University of Amsterdam) which was completed under the supervision of Crystal McMichael.

After much debate the jury decided to award two first prizes this year, with the other prize also going to a tropical PhD thesis. That of Tomonari Matsuo for his thesis “Drivers and mechanisms of tropical secondary forest succession” (Wageningen University & Research).

To find out more about the prize and how to submit a thesis for the award visit: https://www.knbv.eu/hugo-de-vries-prijs/

Follow Nina’s journey into tropical palaeoecology through her blog posts here: https://ecologyofthepast.info/?s=nina+witteveen

Nina presenting here PhD thesis at the prize giving of the Hugo de Vries award 2025!

Time for topical ecology

March 14, 2025
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8th European Conference of Tropical Ecology

36th Annual Meeting of the Society for Tropical Ecology

24-28 February 2025, Amsterdam

The 8th European Conference of Tropical Ecology took place in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) from 24 to 28 February 2025. This meeting was organized for the Society for Tropical Ecology. The event was hosted by the Institute for Biodiversity & Ecosystem Dynamics (University of Amsterdam), held at Hotel Casa, and the main sponsor was the NWO (Dutch Science Foundation).

During the conference around 250 scientists delivered 150 oral and 69 poster presentations. The science spanned the full breadth of tropical ecology, ranging from interactions of coral dwelling crabs, through carbon cycling dynamics in forests, to the governance of hunting activity. The six keynote speakers were paired under three topics “Human legacies in the tropics”, “Tropical ecosystem dynamics”, and “Protecting tropical ecosystems”. Within each topic we invited a senior scientist and a ‘rising star’ to provide their perspective on a particularly hot-button issue. If you want to find out more about what was presented all the abstracts are now published, open access, in the Society for Tropical Ecology’s journal Ecotropica.

Abstract booklet

Open access:
Gosling, W.D. & McMichael, C.N.H., eds. (2025) Time for tropical ecology: Abstracts of the 8th European Conference of Tropical Ecology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; 24.-28.2.2025. The Society for Tropical Ecology, Ecotropica, 26 (1-2): 1-222. https://doi.org/10.30427/ECOTROP202501

Heat, hydroclimate and herbivory

January 6, 2025
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Mapping Ancient Africa Quaternary International special issue article #5

Kiely, R.E., Paine, A.R., McMichael, C.H. & Gosling, W.D. (2025) Heat, hydroclimate and herbivory: A late-Pleistocene record of environmental change from tropical western Africa. Quaternary International 717, 109636. DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2024.109636

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

European Conference of Tropical Ecology: Registration Open

November 14, 2024
WDG

We are excited that more than 250 abstracts have been submitted for the 8th European Conference of Tropical Ecology “Time for Tropical Ecology” in Amsterdam. Furthermore, we are delighted to announce the NWO (the Dutch Science Foundation) as the main sponsors of the event. The conference is being organised by the Institute for Biodiversity & Ecosystem Dynamics (University of Amsterdam) on behalf of the European Society of Tropical Ecology. The conference will take place in February 2025 at a central location in the city (Hotel Casa).

We have an exciting program emerging including keynotes from three ‘rising star’ and three ‘senior’ scientists, a conference dinner (House of Watt), and a photo competition with prizes! Throughout the program we hope to create a vibrant atmosphere for the discussion of cutting edge research into the tropical regions of planet Earth.

You can be a part of this event by registering now. Early bird rate is valid until: 18 December 2024

Quantifying past forest cover and biomass changes in the Ecuadorian Amazon

November 7, 2024
WDG

Open access:

Witteveen, N.H., Kleijwegt, Z.S., Geara, H., Kool, C., Blaus, A., Saenz, L.C., Gomes, B.T., Philip, A., Bush, M.B. & McMichael, C.N.H. (2024) Quantifying past forest cover and biomass changes in the Ecuadorian Amazon. New Phytologist. DOI: 10.1111/nph.20237

This paper is the latest to come from the PhD thesis of Nina Witteveen who defended at the University of Amsterdam earlier in 2024. To find out more about Nina’s PhD click here.

Past fire and vegetation change in the hyperdiverse forests of the Ecuadorian Amazon

July 29, 2024
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Open access:

Heijink, B.M., Zwarts, A., Witteveen, N.H., Watson, J., Ebbenhorst, A., Veenman, F., Kessel, M., León-Yánez, S., Guevara-Andino, J., Endara, M., Rivas-Torres, G., Bush, M.B. & McMichael, C.N.H. (2024) Past fire and vegetation change in the hyperdiverse forests of the Ecuadorian Amazon. Plants 13. DOI: 10.3390/plants13152048

Indigenous and colonial influences on Amazonian forests

May 20, 2024
WDG

Open access:

Nascimento, M.N., Aukes, T.F. & McMichael, C.N. (2024) Indigenous and colonial influences on Amazonian forests. Plants, People, Planet. DOI: 10.1002/ppp3.10515

Pre-contact and post-colonial ecological legacies shape Surinamese rainforests

April 10, 2024
WDG

Open access:

Witteveen, N.H., White, C., Sánchez-Martínez, B.A., Philip, A., Boyd, F., Booij, R., Christ, R., Singh, S., Gosling, W.D., Piperno, D.R. & McMichael, C.N.H. (2024) Pre-contact and post-colonial ecological legacies shape Surinamese rainforests. Ecology, e4272. DOI: 10.1002/ecy.4272

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