Ecology of the past

Mapping Ancient Africa: Seminar 16

April 2, 2024
WDG

The next Mapping Ancient Africa seminar will take place online at 17:00 CEST on 12 April 2024.

Speaker: Stéphanie Bodin (Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt)
Title: Hunter-gatherers and Afromontane vegetation in the Ethiopian highlands since the end of the African Humid Period
Related publication:
- Bodin, S.C., Neumann, K., Hensel, E.A., Vogelsang, R., Demissew, S., Casas-Gallego, M. & Hahn, K. (2024) Afromontane forests and human impact after the African Humid Period: wood charcoal from the Sodicho rock shelter, SW Ethiopian highlands. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany. DOI: 10.1007/s00334-023-00977-3
- Casas-Gallego, M., Hahn, K., Neumann, K., Demissew, S., Schmidt, M., Bodin, S.C. & Bruch, A.A. (2023) Cooling-induced expansions of Afromontane forests in the Horn of Africa since the Last Glacial Maximum. Scientific Reports 13, 10323. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-37135-8

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 (William Gosling). 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.

SASQUA 2024

March 27, 2024
WDG

The Southern African Society for Quaternary Research (SASQUA) is hosting its 24th congress 19-24 May 2024 in the Cango Valley, South Africa. The congress will bring together scientists working on all aspects of the Quaternary in southern Africa. Poster and oral presentations possible.

Abstract submission and student support application deadline: 31 March 2024
Registration deadline: 20 April 2024

For the latest information click here to visit the SAQUA web pages.

Mapping Ancient Africa: Video of seminar 15

March 26, 2024
WDG

The 15th Mapping Ancient Africa seminar took place online on Friday 15th March 2024. The seminar was delivered by Bruk Lemma (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany; Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute – EBI). In the seminar Bruk presented recent advances made in the application of biomarker and stable isotope techniques in revealing the climate dynamics of the Bale Mountains in Ethiopia. He showed that it is possible to identify some plant types using these approaches, but that degradation of the signal in the sedimentary environment is possible.

Details of this seminar can be found here. You can find more Mapping Ancient Africa seminar videos on the “Ecology of the Past” YouTube channel.

A Late Pleistocene coastal ecosystem in French Guiana was hyperdiverse relative to today

March 26, 2024
WDG

Antoine, P., Wieringa, L.N., Adnet, S., Aguilera, O., Bodin, S.C., Cairns, S., Conejeros-Vargas, C., Cornée, J., Ežerinskis, Ž, Fietzke, J., Gribenski, N.O., Grouard, S., Hendy, A., Hoorn, C., Joannes-Boyau, R., Langer, M.R., Luque, J., Marivaux, L., Moissette, P., Nooren, K., Quillévéré, F., Šapolaitė, J., Sciumbata, M., Valla, P.G., Witteveen, N.H., Casanova, A., Clavier, S., Bidgrain, P., Gallay, M., Rhoné, M. & Heuret, A. (2024) A Late Pleistocene coastal ecosystem in French Guiana was hyperdiverse relative to today. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 121, e2311597121. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2311597121

Mapping Ancient Africa: Writing workshop 2024

March 7, 2024
WDG

A workshop will be held at the National Museums of Kenya (Nairobi, Kenya) in June 2024. The aim of the workshop is to help authors prepare articles for the Mapping Ancient Africa (MAA) special issue proposed for publication in Quaternary International and lead by Dr. Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr. The workshop will be associated with the “1st Joint International Scientific Conference” (3-6 June). The MAA workshop is being organized by Dr. Rahab Kinyanjui, and the congress organization is being lead by Dr. Emmanuel Ndiema (click here to watch his 2022 MAA seminar) and Dr. Esther Kioko (Acting Director National Repository and Research).

For further information on attending the MAA workshop please contact Rahab directly.

To find out more about the Mapping Ancient Africa project click here.

Pre-Columbian vegetational and fire history in western Amazonia: Terrestrial soil phytolith and charcoal evidence from three regions

March 6, 2024
WDG

Piperno, D.R., McMichael, C.N.H., Pitman, N.C.A., Paredes, M.R., Torres-Montenegro, L.A. & Bush, M.B. (2024) Pre-Columbian vegetational and fire history in western Amazonia: Terrestrial soil phytolith and charcoal evidence from three regions. Quaternary International. DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2024.01.011

Wet and dry events influenced colonization of a mid-elevation Andean forest

March 5, 2024
WDG

Sales, R.A., McMichael, C.N.H., Peterson, L.C., Stanley, A., Bennett, I., Jones, T.E., Walker, A.S., Mulhearn, M., Nelson, A., Moore, C., O’Connor, M., Sinkler, W., Banner, C., Church, W., VanValkenburgh, P. & Bush, M.B. (2024) Wet and dry events influenced colonization of a mid-elevation Andean forest. Quaternary Science Reviews 327, 108518. DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108518

Mapping Ancient Africa: Seminar 15

March 4, 2024
WDG

The fifteenth Mapping Ancient Africa seminar will take place on 15 March 2024 (17:00 CET)

Speaker: Bruk Lemma (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany; Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute – EBI)
Title: Nature’s Fingerprints: Exploring the Use of Biomarkers and Stable Isotopes in Unraveling Chemotaxonomy and (Paleo-)Climate Dynamics of the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia

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 (Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr). 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.

Quantifying local-scale changes in Amazonian forest cover using phytoliths

March 1, 2024
WDG

Open access:

Witteveen, N.H., Blaus, A., Raczka, M.F., Herrick, C., Palace, M., Nascimento, M.N., Van Loon, E.E., Gosing, W.D., Bush, M.B. & McMichael, C.N.H. (2024) Quantifying local-scale changes in Amazonian forest cover using phytoliths. Frontiers of Biogeography. DOI: 10.21425/F5FBG62254

Mapping Ancient Africa: Video of seminar 14

February 29, 2024
WDG

The 14th Mapping Ancient Africa seminar took place on Thursday 28th February 2024. The seminar was delivered by Mathias Vinnepand (Leibniz-Institute for Applied Geophysics Hannover, Germany) and presented recent advances in developing a chronology for the Lake Bosumtwi sediment record over the last c. 1 million years.

Details of this seminar can be found here. You can find more Mapping Ancient Africa seminar videos on the “Ecology of the Past” YouTube channel.