April 10, 2024
Open access:
Witteveen, N.H., White, C., Sánchez-Martínez, B.A., Philip, A., Boyd, F., Booij, R., Christ, R., Singh, S., Gosling, W.D., Piperno, D.R. & McMichael, C.N.H. (2024) Pre-contact and post-colonial ecological legacies shape Surinamese rainforests. Ecology, e4272. DOI: 10.1002/ecy.4272
April 5, 2024
The Dutch science foundation (NWO) currently has a call for proposals to support migrants to the Netherlands to undertake a PhD project.
Applicants must have:
For full details click here visit the NWO Mozaiek 2.0 call web page.
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).
Contact: William D. Gosling
April 5, 2024
The Mapping Ancient Africa (MAA) special issue of Quaternary International (QI) will open for submission on 30 April and will close 30 July 2024. To submit your article go to the QI submission portal and click “submit new article”, you will then be asked to “select article type”. From the drop down list select “SI: Mapping Ancient Africa”. This will ensure that your manuscript is directed to the guest editorial team. Submissions should follow the standard QI guideline (click here for details) and take account of the advice for submission to this special issue (click here for details).
The special issue is centered around work and papers presented in the MAA Rome workshop and sessions at the INQUA Rome congress (session 1, session 2), however, if you have a manuscript that you think would be appropriate for inclusion given the research themes of the project please also consider submitting. If you have any questions feel free to contact the editorial team in advance.
For further information on:
April 3, 2024
If you are not already a member and would like to attend please contact the society via email or the web portal: https://www.palynologischekring.nl/contact/
To find out more about the Palynologische Kring click here to visit the web site.
March 27, 2024
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.
For the latest information click here to visit the SAQUA web pages.
March 26, 2024
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.
March 7, 2024
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.
March 6, 2024
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
March 5, 2024
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
March 1, 2024
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
Ecology of the past 