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!

Evidence for millennial-scale interactions between Hg cycling and hydroclimate from Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana

June 12, 2025
WDG

Open access:

Paine AR, Frieling J, Shanahan TM, Mather TA, McKay N, Robinson SA, Pyle DM, Fendley IM, Kiely R, Gosling WD. 2025. Evidence for millennial-scale interactions between Hg cycling and hydroclimate from Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana. Climate of the Past 21(4): 817–839. DOI: 10.5194/cp-21-817-2025

Charcoal insights on the vegetation, climate and subsistence patterns at Wonderwerk Cave

June 10, 2025
WDG

Mapping Ancient Africa Quaternary International special issue article #6

Hlophe B. & Bamford M.K. (2025) Charcoal insights on the vegetation, climate and subsistence patterns at Wonderwerk Cave. Quaternary International 728,109755. DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2025.109755

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

Dutch Palynological Society: Annual meeting and seminar series

May 14, 2025
WDG

Palynologische Kring: Jaarvergadering en lezingenmiddag

  • Date: 20 June 2025 / 20 juni 2025
  • Location: Minnaertgebouw, Utrecht Science Park

13.15: arrival / inloop

13.30-14.30: Annual meeting / Jaarvergadering

14.30-14.55: Tobias Vervaart MSc (Universiteit Utrecht): Introducing PhD project ‘Looking back to plan ahead: unfolding the natural heritage of Dutch landscapes’.

14.55-15.15: coffee break

15.15-15.40: Yannick Bats MSc (Universiteit Utrecht): Impact of chemical treatments on the molecular and stable carbon isotopic composition of sporomorphs.

15.40-16.10: Prof Dr. Corrie Bakels (Faculteit der Archeologie, Universiteit Leiden): Results from stable isotope analysis applied to charred grain preserved in two storage rooms found in Tell Damiyah, Jordan.

16.10-16.35: Dr. Otto Brinkkemper (Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed): The optimal sample size of cereal grains for stable isotope research.

16.35: Drinks/ borrel

For further information: https://www.palynologischekring.nl/

Drivers of vegetation change in tropical Africa

April 9, 2025
WDG

I was delighted to be invited to give a seminar as part of the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology “Human Palaeo-systems Research Group” series. In case you missed it the seminar is will soon be available to watch online (click here).

To see the full list of seminars in the series click here.

Eccentricity-driven glacial climate variability and its influence on speciation in the tropical Andes

March 12, 2025
WDG

Open access:

Chevalier, M., Gosling, W.D., Hooghiemstra, H., Cartapanis, O., Chase, B.M. & Kaboth-Bahr, S. (2025) Eccentricity-driven glacial climate variability and its influence on speciation in the tropical Andes. Quaternary Science Advances 100278. DOI: 10.1016/j.qsa.2025.100278

Palynologische Kring: Seminar day

January 14, 2025
WDG

The next seminar series of the Palynologische Kring (Dutch palynological society) will take place on 24 January 2025, at the Auditorium of TNO Utrecht. If you would like to attend please register by emailing the society (link).

PROGRAMME

13.00-13.15    Arrival

13.15-13.45    Irene Waajen (TNO): Re-evaluation of Early Weichselian pollen zones with new insights from the North Sea.

13.45-14.15    Nathalie Van der Putten (VU) & Jeroen Schokker (TNO): Zagwijn revisited: the Eemian to Early-Weichselian sequence in the Amersfoort Basin.

14.15-14.45    Freek Busschers (TNO): Response of the Eerbeek alluvial fan to 150.000 years of (sub)orbital climate fluctuations.

14.45-15.00    Break

15.00-15.30    Timme Donders (UU): An update of the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene vegetation and climate stratigraphy of NW Europe.

15.30-16.00    Sander Houben (TNO): A new stratigraphic framework for the Lower Pleistocene of the Netherlands.

16.00        Social drinks

Heat, hydroclimate and herbivory

January 6, 2025
WDG

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.

Big History

December 18, 2024
WDG

This week I will give a lecture on the University of Amsterdam, Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, BSc Big History course. This course sets out with the large ambition of covering “How the histories of the cosmos, life, Earth and human societies influence each other and shape important aspects of the world together?” The small component of this that I am involved in relates to the understanding of past environmental change and how humans have shaped the landscapes we see around us today.

Related to the topic of past environmental change Prof. Henry Hooghiemstra (University of Amsterdam), and the Big History team, have produced a short video “How are civilizations influenced by climate change?”. In this video a introduction to how we can obtain information on past environmental change from the sedimentary record is given, and examples of changing landscapes and cultures in the Netherlands and Mexico are discussed.

You can find more Big History content in the University of Amsterdam Big History MOOC (Massive Online Open Content) by clicking here.

Hugo de Vries Prijs 2024

December 2, 2024
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 2024 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/

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