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.
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.
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.
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.
During the seminar afternoon (17 October) we heard four talks. The first from Harm Smeenge and Ariët Kieskamp (both Bosgroep) introduced the sites we were to visit on the excursion the next day. This focused on the landscape ecology and ecological history of the bogs on the eastern slopes of the Veluwe. The second talk, by Roy van Beek (Wageningen University & Research), focused on the Celtic field systems around the Veluwe. He explained the latest archaeological and archaeobotaincal work investigating the age and origins of these field systems. The third presentation was by Jasper Candel (Wageningen University & Research) and focused on the geomorphological features from glacial activity in the Veluwe region and how this has effected the development of mire ecosystems. I (William Gosling) gave the final talk, presenting the outputs of the research theses of Sanna Wessel, Chiara Raino and Roos Dik who all completed projects at the University of Amsterdam and worked together to investigate how different mega-herbivore populations in the Dutch landscape were represented by the dung fungal spores preserved in the soil.
13.00-13.30: Ontvangst met koffie / Arrival with coffee
13.30-14.00: Harm Smeenge & Ariet Kieskamp (Bosgroepen): Landscape ecological/historical ecological characteristics of bogs in the eastern slopes of the Veluwe
14.00-14.30: Roy van Beek (WUR): Archeological, archeobotanical and morphological aspects of the Celtic Field complex of Vaassen (Veluwe)
14.30-15.00: Koffiepauze / Coffee break
15.00-15.30 Jasper Candel (WUR): Geophysical research in the push moraine of the Veluwe and relation with peat development in valley mires
15.30-16.00: William Gosling (UvA): On the use of spores of coprophilous fungi in characterizing herbivory past and present in Dutch landscapes
Voor mensen die slecht ter been zijn, is er beperkte mogelijkheid om met eigen auto deel te nemen aan de excursie (max. 2 auto’s kunnen parkeren bij de excursiepunten). / For people with walking or cycling difficulties there is a limited opportunity to come in a car on the trip (maximum 2 cars can park at the excursion points).
For further information and costs please email Nelleke van Asch (secretary of the Palynologische Kring). Contact details can be found at: https://www.palynologischekring.nl/contact/
On Friday 24 May 2024 the Palynologische Kring (Dutch palynological society) held a seminar series and laboratory workshop at the Institute for Biodiversity & Ecosystem Dynamics (University of Amsterdam). During the afternoon we had the annual meeting of the society, the presentation of our MSc Thesis prize, four seminars and two laboratory demonstrations. The MSc thesis prize “Florschütz Award” was won by Caroline Goossens (VU Amsterdam) for her thesis entitle: “An Eemian-Early Weichselian sequence in the Amersfoort Basin, the Netherlands”; the project was supervised by Natalie Van der Putten, Cees Kasse and Jeroen Schokker. We hope that Caroline will present her thesis at a future Palynologishe Kring meeting.
Teye Aukes presenting on the diatoms of ancient Rome
The talk series was kicked off by Nina Witteveen (University of Amsterdam) who presented part of her PhD thesis (currently awaiting defense), entitled: “Long-term forest recovery in Amazonia insights from phytolith analysis”. Nina discussed the impact of past peoples on the vegetation of Suriname based on her work identifying phytoliths in soil samples collected at varying distances from an archaeological site. The second talk was given my Amanda Henry (Leiden University) who demonstrated how the analysis of starch grains extracted from archaeological context can provide insights in to past diets. She used these evidences to suggest that early humans and Neanderthals had a similar diversity of plants in their diets. The third talk was given by University of Amsterdam MSc researcher Teye Aukes and focused upon his identification of diatoms from an swampy lagoon environment near Ostia (Italy). He drew conclusions from these data about the antiquity of salt production in ancient Rome. The final talk was given online by Welmoed Out (Moesgaard Museum) who presented a detailed analysis of inter- and intra-analyst variability in phytolith morphometric analysis.
After the seminars we moved upstairs to the microscope laboratory where Nina Witteveen and Ana Smuk (University of Groningen) showed off phytoliths from their study site in South America and the Netherlands.
Some of the Palynologische Kring members enjoying some refreshment after the event.
de Weger, L.A., Verbeek, C., Markey, E., O’Connor, D.J. & Gosling, W.D. (2024) Greater difference between airborne and flower pollen chemistry, than between pollen collected across a pollution gradient in the Netherlands. Science of The Total Environment 172963. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172963
If you think you might fulfill all the criteria for application, and are interested in conducting a PhD on a “ecology of the past” related theme at the University of Amsterdam, please do not hesitate to get in contact. I am then happy to check eligibility and discuss if your skill set and interests would be appropriate to apply for a PhD scholarship with us. I would be delighted if we would be able to support an applicant to this scheme.
Deadline for applications: 21 May 2024 (but please get in contact as soon as possible so that we can make the relevant eligibility checks and discuss ideas).
A new funding stream is about to open up (1 December 2023) to support African scientists to carry out PhD research at Dutch universities. The GROW research programme (Graduate Research on Worldwide Challenges) will fund 51 PhD positions to be based at one of five Dutch universities, including with the Institute for Biodiversity & Ecosystem Dynamics, at the University of Amsterdam.
Ecology of the past 