The next meeting of the Palynologische Kring will take place on the afternon of Tuesday 13 June in Amersfoort. There will be scientific seminars from Roy van Beek (Wageningen University & Research), Otto Brinkkemper (Cultural Heritage Agency), and Jos Bazelmans (Cultural Heritage Agency) focused on the development of the Dutch landscape. In addition the prize for best palynological MSc thesis in the Netherlands – the Florschütz Award – will be given out.
To find out more details and how to register click here.
Wei, C., Jardine, P.E., Gosling, W.D. & Hoorn, C. (2023) Is Poaceae pollen size a useful proxy in palaeoecological studies? New insights from a Poaceae pollen morphological study in the Amazon. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 308, 104790. DOI: 10.1016/j.revpalbo.2022.104790
On the 19 May the Palynologische Kring (Dutch palynological society) held a hybrid seminar meeting under the theme “Dutch palynologists then and now”.
The meeting was opened by Prof. dr. Henry Hooghiemstra (University of Amsterdam) who focused on the “then” and presented a biopic of pioneering Dutch palynologist Frans Florschütz. Florschütz became one of the major figures in establishing palynology within the Netherlands during the 1900s. Originally, he studied political economy and law, but went on to become the Secretary to the Board of Governors of the Agricultural School in Wageningen. From his position in Wageningen Florschütz had a base to develop his interests in palynology and past environmental change. He started work on the seminar work “Nederland in Ijstijd” (The Netherlands in the Ice Age) in 1939 and it was published in 1950. During his career Florschütz also held positions at Utrecht University (obtaining his doctorate), University of Leiden (endowed chair, until 1958) and University of Nijmegen (post retirement). Click here for further information on Frans Florschütz visit.
The second part of the meeting focused on the “now” with presentations form three Dutch researchers engaged in research abroad. First up with Eric de Boer (Universidad de Granada, Spain), then Thya van den Berg (University of Hull, UK), and finally Henk Cornelissen (University of Manchester, UK). Eric presented new data on the human and climate impacts on the Iberian Peninsula. Thya presented her work in two parts focused on the new datasets on past environmental change from Yorkshire (UK) and then the development of modelling approached to estimate landscape cover on the basis of pollen datasets. Henk took us to the high atlas of Morocco and showed how pollen and chemical data can be integrated to reveal past human presence and impacts.
The next scheduled event will be in the annual excursion which this year will be to Leiden. For further details and to find out more about the Palynologische Kring visit the web pages here.
I am pleased to announce the next seminar series from the Palynologische Kring“Dutch Palynologists Then and Now: A brief history or Frans Florschütz, and new research from scientists who have been working abroad”
The meeting will take place on the afternoon of the 19th May at the Institute for Biodiversity & Ecosystem Dynamics (University of Amsterdam); if you are not a member of the society and want to follow the talk online or attend in person please contact me for details.Full program below.
The fifth Mapping Ancient African project took place on Monday 11 April 2022 and focused on the African Pollen Database and past vegetation change in Africa.
The seminar was delivered by Sarah Ivory (Penn State University), Rahab Kinyanjui (National Museums of Kenya), and Lynne Quick (Nelson Mandela University). The seminar covers the principles behind and the working of the African Pollen Database (why make data openly available?) and the latest advances in eastern and southern Africa.
For more about the African Pollen Database check out:
In June there will be a “European Pollen Database in Neotoma” meeting in Prague. For full details visit the European Pollen Database web site, click here.
The next online seminar day of the Palynologishe Kring will take place on Friday 18 February.
Programma
13:00 Welcome
13:10 – 13:30 Annual General Meeting – finances, activities and board election. New Board member: Nelleke van Asch
13:30 – 14:00 Sander Houben (TNO) – Advances in Palaeozoic stratigraphy in the Netherlands
14:00 – 14:30 Marjolein van der Linden & Lucy Kubiak-Martens (BIAX) – What goes up must come down: The Neolithic human diet based on coprolites from the Swifterbant sites
14:30 – 14:45 Break
14:45 – 15:00 Announcement of Florschütz award winner 2021
15:00 – 15:30 Iris de Wolf and Thomas Giesecke (UU) – Unlocking the wealth of Dutch Pollen data: A new data portal and highlights
15:30 – 16:00 Stefan Uitdehaag (NFI) – Pollen – Silent witness to solving homicides
This note is to acknowledge the passing yesterday of one of the most influential figures in the fields of palynology and palaeoecology, Eric Grimm. While I did not know Eric well he did visit Amsterdam twice in recent years. Firstly, as part of a collaborative initiative to digitise pollen data from the University of Amsterdam archives (March-July 2017), and secondly to train Data Stewards for the African Pollen Database (January 2020). During these visits Eric was generous with his time, masterful with his knowledge, and infectious with his enthusiasm. He will be sadly missed. My deepest condolences to his family and friends. Rest in peace Eric.
Some photos from the meeting in January
Eric Grimm (Amsterdam, January, 2020)
Eric Grimm (Amsterdam, January, 2020)
Eric Grimm (Amsterdam, January, 2020)
Participants of the African Pollen Database data steward training event (Amsterdam, Jan 2020)
I am delighted to announce that a new volume of the classic book series “Palaeoecology of Africa“ is now under development. This new volume (hopefully number 35) will focus on “Quaternary Vegetation Dynamics” and build on recent initiatives to develop the “African Pollen Database”. The volume will be guest edited by Anne-Marie Lezine (LOCEAN), Louis Scott (University of the Free State) and myself, along side the series editor Jürgen Runge (Johann Wolfgang Goethe University). If you are interested to contribute please get in touch.
Scope
The Quaternary Vegetation Dynamics volume of the long-running Palaeoecology of Africa series will showcase palynological work from across the African continent and surrounding regions, and place this in the context of past climatic, human and evolutionary change. We are keen to use this opportunity to catalyse the archiving of previously published and new datasets into the open access online African Pollen Database. The volume will be published entirely open access online and will contain four types of manuscript: (i) Research papers, (ii) Data papers, (iii) Review papers, and (iv) Perspectives.
Figure 1: (a) Illustrative images of sample locations in Amsterdam and the Hoge Veluwe. (b) The newly developed ‘pollen sniffer’ collects airborne pollen from the environment. (c) The FTIR can chemically characterise individual pollen grains.
Does environmental pollution enhance the allergenic nature of pollen? This is the question that drives my NWO Idea Generator grant that has just started. This project links up the pollen chemistry expertise in my group within the Department of Ecosystem & Landscape Dynamics (University of Amsterdam) and the work of Letty de Weger into human health and pollen (Leiden University Medical Centrum). Over the 2020 flowering season we will be monitoring pollen in Amsterdam (urban) and in the Hoge Veluwe (rural) in the space in which people have allergic reactions to see if there is any chemical difference between the pollen in urban and rural settings.
We are delighted that Cas Verbeek has joined the team as a Research Assistant; taking time out from his MSc Biological Sciences degree (University of Amsterdam). Cas is already busy in the field and lab fine tuning our collection and analysis protocols.
Ecology of the past 