Biology | Ecology of the past

Engaging people with pollen data

May 11, 2023
WDG

Educational activities include use of the Neotoma Database

On Wednesday 11 May 2023 I was delighted to give a online seminar for the African Pollen Database group on integrating palaeoecological data into educational programs. Thanks to Sarah Ivory, Chris Kiahtipes, and Alejandra Domic for inviting me and organizing this series.

I covered topics including the motivation of students, designing a MSc level course, and setting up BSc/MSc research projects. My presentation was centered around my personal experience of running courses for BSc Biology and Future Plant Studies students (Palaeoecology), and for MSc Earth Science and Biological Science students (Environments Through Time) at the University of Amsterdam. It was nice to get a wider perspective from discussion with the audience and to pick up some additional ideas and advice. If you have other thoughts on this topic please feel free to comment on this post.

The entire African Pollen Database online seminar series is now available to watch via the associated YouTube channel. So to find more click here.

Characterising Dutch forests, wetlands and cultivated lands on the basis of phytolith assemblages

September 13, 2022
WDG

Open access:

de Wolf, I.K., McMichael, C.N.H., Philip, A.L. & Gosling, W.D. (2022) Characterising Dutch forests, wetlands and cultivated lands on the basis of phytolith assemblages. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 101, e17. DOI: 10.1017/njg.2022.14

This paper started off as a research thesis undertaken by Iris de Wolf at the University of Amsterdam as part of her BSc Biology degree in 2018. The project was supervised by Crystal McMichael and William Gosling and has subsequently been further developed. If you are student or researcher interested in undertaking a similar type of projects please get in touch.

Listen to Iris’s journal podcast speaking about the subject here.

Two jobs in IBED computational support

September 27, 2018
WDG

The Institute for Biodiversity & Ecosystem Dynamics is currently seeking two people to enhance our Computational Support team:

Click links for further details and how to apply. The closing date for both posts is 7 October 2018.

Ecology & Evolution

November 24, 2017
WDG

Come study with us! New and improved Ecology & Evolution masters track within the MSc Biological Sciences at the University of Amsterdam

To find out more click here.

MSc Biological Sciences University of Amsterdam

December 8, 2016
WDG

The MSc Biological Sciences at the University of Amsterdam is open to international students (taught in English) and offers four ‘tracks’ so you can specialize to your particular interest:

In addition as part of this MSc degree you will conduct research projects and have opportunities for internships. For further information to click here or watch our recent webinar with the program coordinator Joost Duivenvoorden.

Past environmental change on Mauritius: Unknown macro-fossils

December 18, 2015
WDG

Unknown macro-fossil JdK-type2

Past environmental change on Mauritius has been the focus of research with the Palaeoecology & Landscape Ecology group at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) for a number of years. This research has been lead by Erik de Boer and Henry Hooghiemstra and has already resulted in a number of key publications on the environmental history of the island (de Boer et al., 2013, 2014, 2015). One current past environmental change research project working on Mauritius is being undertaken by Jona de Krui; a student within the UvA BSc Biology program supervised by myself and Erik. Jona’s is working on a study site (modern day swamp) on the north-east of the island and is focused on improving our understanding changes in the:

depositional environment (loss-on-ignition analysis),
fire activity (macro-charcoal analysis), and
vegetation (macro-fossils) over the last c. 1000 years.

Jona has now completed the analysis of all his samples and we are currently collating the data sets; however, a number of the macro-fossils which he has discovered remain unidentified. Below are images of the unknown macro-fossils if you have any suggestions on identifications please comment, or get in touch directly.

: Unknown maro-fossil JdK-type1 (c. 5 mm)

: Unknown macro-fossil JdK-type1 (c. 5 mm)

: Unknown macro-fossil JdK-type2 (c. 4.5 mm)

: Unknown macro-fossil JdK-type3 (c. 1.9 mm)

: Unknown macro-fossil JdK-type4 (c. 0.9 mm)

: Unknown macro-fossil JdK-type5 (c. 0.3 mm)

: Unknown macro-fossil JdK-type6 (c. 3.2 mm)

: Unknown macro-fossil JdK-type6 (c. 3.2 mm)

: Unknown macro-fossil JdK-type7 (c. 4.1 mm)

: Unknown macro-fossil JdK-type8 (c. 4.3 mm)

Introducing Corine Driessen

July 7, 2015
corine102

Hi Everyone,

It’s very nice to be invited to write something for this blog, let me introduce myself a little bit.

I am a MSc Earth Sciences student at the University of Amsterdam. Currently I am working on my master thesis at Naturalis Biodiversity Center, under supervision of Niels Raes, Willem Renema and William Gosling. We are looking at species migration between Australia and Asia during the Miocene, and we compare it to migration between N and S America at the dawn of the Great American Biotic Interchange. To do so I’m analysing data on fossil occurrences in Australia and Southeast Asia. Hopefully this research will lead to interesting new insights.

Before starting my MSc Earth Sciences I did a bachelor in Biology at Leiden University. I decided to do a master’s in Earth Sciences because it offered a broader perspective of the natural world and its processes.

I like analysing and sorting out data like I’m currently doing for my thesis with fossil occurrence data. It also played a major role in my internship at TNO – Caribbean Branche Office, where I was involved in starting a database containing information on Aruba’s subsurface. During my internship I also experienced the “Green Aruba” conference and was involved in organising a geological excursion for some of the attendants. I am very interested in environmental issues and solutions, such as the transition to renewable energy. New technologies spike my interest a lot and I like being aware of innovations in a whole lot of fields.

Hopefully I will have my thesis ready within a couple of months, and can give an update about some of the findings.

Corine