Plant remains from the Kreftenheye Formation (Eemian) at Raalte, The Netherlands

Abstract

The Kreftenheye Formation is a fluviatile deposit occurring in the central part of the Netherlands. The present study deals with the plant remains found in suctiondredged bulk samples from its largely Eemian Zutphen Member, a clayey sediment formerly known as the claypeat bed or the Salvinia bed. It reports the discovery of a large number of galls induced by the asexual generation of the currently southeast European oak gall wasp Andricus hungaricus. The associated plant remains include seeds, fruits, conifer cones, wood, spines, leaf fragments, buds, bud scales, stem fragments, bryophytes, sporangia, oospores, palynomorphs, galls, jet and amber. The palynomorph samples indicate the Late Eemian pollen zone E5b of the Carpinus phase as the origin of the galls, but the other macrofossils may have a wider stratigraphic range, including possibly also material from (a part) of the zones E3-E5a. Several elements, such as Celtis, Chamaecyparis, Juglans, Magnolia and Pterocarya, date almost certainly from earlier interglacials. The list of plant remains is dominated by fresh water plants, riparian elements and ancient woodland taxa, which reflects the ecological range of the IJssel valley and adjacent ice-pushed ridges very well. Thermophilous elements include Brasenia schreberi, Buxus sempervirens, Cornus mas, Najas minor, Salvinia natans, Trapa natans and possibly also Andricus hungaricus. Quercus cerris, the probable host of the sexual generation of A. hungaricus was not found.

Quantifying the Pleistocene History of the Oak Gall Parasitoid Cecidostiba Fungosa Using Twenty Intron Loci

“…It is noteworthy that the estimates for τ E/C/W coincide with the last (Eemian) interglacial, 0.130–0.115 mya, which suggests that divergence between refugial populations is as recent as it possibly can be (given the definition of glacial refugia). We know from the fossil record that both oaks (Velichko et al 2005) and associated gall wasp species (Stone et al 2008; van der Ham et al 2008) known to be attacked by Cecidostiba expanded their range in Central and Northern Europe during this period. It is thus plausible for population divergences associated with westward range expansions of C. fungosa to have occurred over a similar timescale.…”

Fossil oak galls preserve ancient multitrophic interactions

“…The most recent common ancestor of this host-alternating clade long predates the Pleistocene (Cook et al 2002), implying that the Eemian causer of gall type 1 was also a host alternator. This allows a novel palaeobotanical inference, because while the presence of section Quercus oaks at the Raalte site is confirmed by pollen and macrofossils (van der Ham et al 2008), there is no direct evidence for section Cerris oaks. The type 1 fossils imply that during the relatively short (ca 15 000 years) Eemian interglacial, both oak sections and their associated insects escaped their southern European glacial refugia (Petit et al 2002) to colonize northern Europe.…”

“…They were preserved in Late Eemian (ca 125 000 BP) sediments of the Kreftenheye Formation (de Mulder et al 2003) laid down by the ancient Rhine in the valley of the present river IJssel (van der Ham et al 2008). Eemian vegetation at the site comprised temperate woodland including wetland trees (e.g.…”

“…The fossil galls (figures 1 and 2) were discovered in a gravel pit near Raalte, Overijssel Province, The Netherlands (see van der Ham et al (2008) for a description of the site and associated biological material). They were preserved in Late Eemian (ca 125 000 BP) sediments of the Kreftenheye Formation (de Mulder et al 2003) laid down by the ancient Rhine in the valley of the present river IJssel (van der Ham et al 2008).…”

Moss caulking of boats in upper French Rhône and Saône (Eastern France) from the 3rd to the 20th century and the use of Neckera crispa Hedwig

“…After the 16th century the Netherlands probably even imported moss material for caulking from Belgium (Glime 2007;De Zuttere 2003). Today N. crispa is still a very rare bryophyte in the Netherlands (Kuijper 2000;Van der Ham et al 2008). In contrast to most of western Europe, in our area N. crispa remained common throughout historical times (Hillier 1954;Touton 1962Touton 1966, probably because of local topography and limestone predominance.…”