William Gosling | Ecology of the past

PCRG publications 2013

December 20, 2013
WDG

Open access versions of some papers avaliable via Open Research Online:

Gosling, W.D., Miller, C.S. & Livingstone, D.A. (2013) Atlas of the tropical West African pollen flora. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 199, 1-135

Gosling, W.D. & Williams, J.J. (2013) Ecosystem service provision sets the pace for pre-Hispanic societal development in the central Andes. The Holocene, 23, 1619-1624

Miller, C.S., Leroy, S.a.G., Izon, G., Lahijani, H.a.K., Marret, F., Cundy, A.B. & Teasdale, P.A. (2013) Palynology: A tool to identify abrupt events? An example from Chabahar Bay, southern Iran. Marine Geology, 337, 195-201

Roucoux, K.H., Lawson, I.T., Jones, T.D., Baker, T.R., Coronado, E.N.H., Gosling, W.D. & Lähteenoja, O. (2013) Vegetation development in an Amazonian peatland. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 374, 242-255

Rull, V., Montoya, E., Nogué, S., Vegas-Vilarrúbia, T. & Safont, E. (2013) Ecological palaeoecology in the neotropical Gran Sabana region: Long-term records of vegetation dynamics as a basis for ecological hypothesis testing. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, 15, 338-359

PCRG PhD studentship opportunity

December 16, 2013
WDG

Funded PhD studentship opportunity, October 2014 start
Department of Environment, Earth & Ecosystems, The Open Univeristy
Central England NERC Training Alliance (CENTA)
Closing date for applications : 31/01/2014

Past tropical vegetation stability: forest-savannah dynamics in tropical West Africa

William D. Gosling & Phil Jardine

Maintain a modern pollen monitoring network in lowland tropical West Africa
Reconstruct past vegetation change from fossil pollen records
Identify signature of approaching tipping points
Field work in tropical Africa (Ghana)

Continue Reading

MORE THAN MUD

December 16, 2013
WDG

Video from the INTIMATE Field School 2013
MORE THAN MUD – What we can learn about past climate from lake sediments

“This film portraits international climate scientists investigating lake sediments for clues of past climate changes. Science is always teamwork. The INTIMATE Field School 2013 at Hämelsee gathered a variety of experts and young scientists from all over Europe to understand past climate change. The researchers retrieved a sediment core from a lake in Northern Germany, now being investigated using a variety of different analytical methods. A film team from the Babelsberg Film University HFF took part in this event. They accompanied the researchers and portrayed the diverse personalities and explored what motivates them and their research.”

Links:
http://cost-es0907.geoenvi.org/
http://www.earth-in-progress.de

Fieldwork in Ecuador 2013

December 13, 2013
WDG

Nick and Will with Carman (director of the Pindo Mirador biological station)

Three members of the PCRG (William Gosling, Encarni Montoya and Nick Loughlin) visited Ecuador (November-December 2013) to develop collaborations with Ecuadorian institutions, recover more lake sediments, and find new potential sites for projects. Below are some photos from:

Lake Pindo,
Lake Huila, and
Lake Erazo.

Full reports on specific aspects of the fieldwork to follow.

Continue Reading

Miller, C.S. & Gosling, W.D. (2014) Quaternary forest associations in lowland tropical West Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews, 84, 7-25.

Fraser, W.T., Watson, J.S., Sephton, M.A., Lomax, B.H., Harrington, G., Gosling, W.D. & Self, S. (2014) Changes in spore chemistry and appearance with increasing maturity. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 201, 41-46.

Cárdenas, M.L., Gosling, W.D., Pennington, R.T., Poole, I., Sherlock, S.C. & Mothes, P. (2014) Forests of the tropical eastern Andean flank during the middle Pleistocene. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 393: 76-89.

Ghana field work: pollen traps, vegetation, lakes and horses!

November 13, 2013
WDG

Phil and Adele on horses in Ghana

Phil and Adele have survived field work in Ghana collecting pollen traps, looking at the vegetation, visiting Lake Bosumtwi and riding horses (!?) – hooray.

For full report and pictures visit Adele’s blog Plants in real life.

Atlas of the tropical West African pollen flora

November 12, 2013
WDG

Acacia seyal pollen

Gosling, W.D., Miller, C.S. & Livingstone, D.A. (2013) Atlas of the tropical West African pollen flora. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 199: 1-135. doi: 10.1016/j.revpalbo.2013.01.003

NERC Doctoral Training Partnership award

November 6, 2013
WDG

The outcome of the Natural Environments Research Council (NERC) call for Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs) was announced late on Monday 4th November. I am delighted to be able to report that The Open University (OU) has been funded through the DTP scheme as part of the “Central England NERC Training Alliance” (CENTA). Having co-developed the OU contribution to CENTA with our research centre director Prof. Simon Kelley I am also somewhat relieved by this positive outcome.

The CENTA group comprises four other universities in addition to the OU (University of Birmingham, University of Leicester, University of Warwick, and Loughborough University) and two partner organisations (British Geological Survey and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology). CENTA will host studentships across the range of NERC science with particular focus on four key science themes:

Anthropogenic impact and environmental sustainability
Evolution of organisms and ecosystems
Dynamic Earth
Organisms, ‘omics and biogeochemistry

Opportunities to join the PCRG here at the OU through this scheme will be adverstised shortly. If you are interested in PhD projects in any of the above areas keep an eye out for further details of CENTA projects and opportunities over the next few weeks.

To find out more about CENTA visit the DTP website by clicking here.