How palynology could have been paepalology: the naming of a discipline

Edwards, Kevin J.; Pardoe, Heather S.

doi:10.1080/01916122.2017.1393020

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…We presented here a comprehensive overview of available data and results within a defined number of topics. Quaternary pollen analysis developed a century ago (Birks & Berglund, 2017;Edwards 2018;Edwards & Pardoe, 2018) and was brought to Colombia in the 1950s by Thomas van der Hammen. Still today, palynology has a central position in palaeoenvironmental research.…”

Section: Discussion Conclusion and Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chapter 2

Hooghiemstra¹,

Flantua²

2019

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We provide an overview of environmental and climatic change in Colombia during the Quaternary, the last ca. 2.58 million years (Ma) before present. This period is characterised by a suite of glacial-interglacial cycles which are remarkably well documented in Colombian sediments. The distribution of Colombia's main ecosystems has changed repeatedly driven by orbital forcing at 21, 41, and 100 ky frequencies which were superimposed by millennial-scale (ca. 2.5 ky) climate oscillations. Fossil pollen records have detected biome dynamics through time but records vary in length: the shortest comes from the Chocó rainforest (extending back to ca. 7 thousand years before present, ka) and dry inter-Andean forest (ca. 12 ka), followed by the savannas of the Llanos Orientales (ca. 20 ka), the Amazonian rainforests (ca. 40 ka), and lower montane forest (ca. 40 ka). The longest records are from the deep sedimentary basins Bogotá (Funza09, last 2.25 Ma) and Fúquene (last 284 ka), alternatingly located in the upper montane forest and páramo during interglacial and glacial conditions, respectively. Climate change caused shifting biome distributions: mainly latitudinally in the lowlands and elevationally in the mountains. Extrinsic drivers (e.g., mean annual precipitation, length of dry season, atmospheric pCO 2 , mean annual temperature, freezing days) of migration and changes in vegetation composition and intrinsic drivers (such as interspecies competition and legacy effects) are still insufficiently understood, and thus hamper meaningful projections of the effect of future environmental change on biomes. Multi-site Pleistocene and Holocene information has been spatially synthesised by developing the Latin American Pollen Database. Multi-site information has been analysed by the biomisation method to serve palaeodata-model comparisons and projections about the future of biomes in Colombia. A new method in which pollen-based palaeo-reconstructions are spatially analysed with digital elevation models improved our understanding of spatial and elevational shifts of ecotones, for example the upper forest line, in the northern Andes. In the Supplementary Information we highlight the strengths and weaknesses in current Quaternary palaeoecological research and provide suggestions for future research.

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Section: Discussion Conclusion and Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chapter 2

Hooghiemstra¹,

Flantua²

2019

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“…A storage box 6 in the museum contains a folder marked ‘Dammsugning [= vacuuming] Västerås 1937’, which further contains a labelled notebook. This is covered in black ink or paint lines, squiggles, and thick brush strokes (Figure 8) which are often found in Erdtman’s documents, though usually with more delicacy and are sometimes multi-coloured (Edlund and Winthrop 2014; Edwards and Pardoe 2018). The label is headed by his characteristic signature (including the ‘mouse-ear’ initial letter G [for Gunnar]) and describes its contents.…”

Section: Vacuum Devices Ii: Archival Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As such, this is also seen as a further contribution to the history of palynology and more widely to the historiography of the field, ocean and aerobiological sciences (cf. Manten 1966; Sarjeant 2002; Birks 2005; Edlund and Winthrop 2014; Riding and Dettmann 2014; Edwards et al 2017; Birks and Berglund 2018; De Klerk 2018; Edwards 2018, 2021; Edwards and Pardoe 2018; Gaillard et al 2018; Troels-Smith et al 2018; Edwards and Mao 2021; Charenko 2022; Hooghiemstra and Richards 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘The man who vacuum cleaned the Atlantic’ − the aerosol collector and Gunnar Erdtman’s attempts to measure pollen rain

Edwards,

Östensson

2023

Palynology

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In 1937, the Swedish palynologist Gunnar Erdtman (1897–1973) mounted two adapted vacuum cleaners atop an ocean-going liner and set out to obtain air samples as he crossed the Atlantic Ocean. The devices were able to capture samples of airborne pollen which were related to air volume and distance from land. The results of this investigation are still cited in the scientific literature, but a study of publications demonstrates that the ocean study had land-based antecedents. Furthermore, archival investigation reveals the background to such studies, including the technical plans for Erdtman's ‘aerosol collector’, records of raw data from the voyage, draft portions of the key publication, photographs and the precise location of the land-based equipment. A storage loft in the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm has been found to house a surviving aerosol collector.

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Palynology

Grant

2018

The Encyclopedia of Archaeological Sciences

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Palynology is an informal term used to describe the study of a large range of both extinct and extant organic‐walled microfossils, known collectively as palynomorphs. This includes pollen and spores as well as non‐pollen palynomorphs (NPP) and dinoflagellates, and those restricted to pre‐Quaternary deposits that can be useful in provenance studies. Palynomorphs are preserved in a wide range of sedimentary environments, leading to their widescale adoption as a key technique for paleoenvironmental and geoarchaeological studies, permitting detailed insights into human activity across all populated continents along with the study of past climates. This entry provides a broad perspective on the use of palynomorphs in archaeological studies.

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How palynology could have been paepalology: the naming of a discipline

Cited by 10 publications

References 28 publications

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

‘The man who vacuum cleaned the Atlantic’ − the aerosol collector and Gunnar Erdtman’s attempts to measure pollen rain

Palynology

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