Je Landscapes Project makes the Brazilian News!

Posted on April 10, 2016 by tprg

The third year of our Je Landscapes project has just started and the team has been full on. This year the project started with a successful field trip in Southern Brazil, and with attendance to international conferences at the European Conference of Tropical Ecology and the Society for American Archaeology in Orlando where oral presentations from the team were made.

Considering also that the archaeological research started back in 2013, it is no surprise then that the project has had good attention from newspapers and media in Brazil lately. Here are links to some of the news and posts we definitely like:

Newspapers:

Historia Revelada by Diario Catarinense Includes a video with the reconstruction of the findings

Escavações revelam hábitos de índios que viveram há mil anos no Sul do país Povos Jê by Folha de S. Paulo

Je Landscape in the cover of Diario Catarinense

Youtube:

Expedição Arqueológica em Urubici by EXPERIÊNCIA VMA

VMA

And more to come.

By Macarena

Brain’s pick: European Conference of Tropical Ecology

Posted on March 3, 2016 by tprg

Here I want to share what my brain grabbed and maintained the most from the conference I attended last week in Germany.

First to mention is that I had a great time at the European Conference of Tropical Ecology. There was a great selection of fantastic talks, really good quality research, and outstanding projects.

At the Opening Ceremony, Gottingen University, and plenary talk with Professor Richard Corlett

There was a full-day session in paleoecology which I thought was well rounded covering topics such as ‘Ecological baselines for the high Andes’ with William Gosling, ‘Long-term dynamics of Amazonian rainforest and wetland ecosystems and the role of climate, sea-level, fire and human impact’ with Prof Hermann Behling, ‘Phytolith signatures along a gradient of ancient human disturbance in western Amazonia’ with Crystal MicMichael, and ‘History of geographical parthenogenesis of Neotropical Ostracoda using fossil and molecular data – a consequence of climate fluctuations?’ with Sergio Cohuo.

My contribution in this conference was talking about the preliminary findings of the Je Project in an oral presentation entitled ‘Araucaria forest, human land use, and climate change linkages in southern Brazil during the late Holocene’, which was well received and commented.

Other talks that stand out for me were:

Yadvinder Mahi(University of Oxford), gave a plenary talk on ‘New insights into the metabolism and carbon cycle of tropical forests from a global network of intensive ‘, where he showed some surprising outcomes from their project with GEM (Global Ecosystem Monitoring Network ). GEM is massive network that measures productivity and gas flux within forest of the Amazon, Africa and Asia. I totally recommend to look at their webpage to look at what they are doing (for example: outstanding results come from Chiquitania in Bolivia)

Professor Susan Page (University of Leicester)gave a plenary talk on ‘Swamped! The trials and tribulations of tropical peatland science’: where she shared controversial information regarding management of peats from Indonesia, and the raw reality. A fantastic example of how we can use research for a common good.

Minnattallah Boutros a former researcher in conservation, now a business owner, brought another, feared topic to the conference, ‘Bridging the gap – Biodiversity conservation in the frameworks of research and development cooperation’, where she shared her knowledge in how to bring money to do research in ecology and conservation. She seemed to know very well what she was talking about, a great eye opener.

Kyle Dexter (University of Edinburg) gave a great presentation on ‘Patterns of dominance in tree communities vary across the major biomes’ and he highlighted how there are hyperdominant taxa, this time also including the Matta Atlantica (finally someone is talking about other biomes other than the Amazon!)

Other thoughts

Trends. It was very interesting to see stronger trends of research in ecology. A strong current seem to be appearing about Ecuadorian Amazon and Andean vegetation. There was a large session entitled “Developing sustainable land use and functional monitoring systems for the Ecuadorian Andes to cope with environmental change effects” where interesting research was shown. Other strong focus was towards wetlands and their role in carbon cycling, a whole session was on “Tropical wetland ecology”.

Staying connected. If there is something that always stands out of the conferences is that I take the most at seeing and talking to people from my field that I wouldn’t normally. Here is the most fun. Talking about projects and getting to know future plans are equally important (specially so you don’t step out in each other’s toes!).

Food. Not a minor topic for me (apparently I am a foodie). A delightful surprise from the organisation was to find out fantastic buffet at the Conference reception in the first night, accompanied with a live band that played from jazz, to modern rock. The snacks at coffee breaks were also delightful with selection of food even for vegan-gluten free people, finally!

Snacks at coffee break… fresh fruit and nuts. Why nobody thought about this before?!

Well done to the organisation committee, and everyone attending.

The band at the reception with a very keen academic

Looking forward to other conferences!

By Macarena

Origins of a culture in Santa Catarina

Posted on February 19, 2016 by tprg

As it is being discovered, Je Landscapes project has published in DC newspaper of Santa Catarina, Brazil, the story of the early starts and development of the Je culture. Click here to access.

Check out the great info-graphics and video in this report. (available in Portuguese).

PhD opportunity with us

Posted on December 9, 2015 by tprg

NERC ‘Scenario’ DTP PhD project at University of Reading:

Assessing the resilience of Brazil’s iconic Araucaria forest

to past and future climate change

Lead Supervisor: Francis E. Mayle, Dept. Geography & Environ. Science, Univ. Reading.

Email: f.mayle@reading.ac.uk

Staff profile

Broader context of the project

Co-supervisors: Richard Walters, School of Biological Sciences, Univ. Reading; Joy Singarayer, Dept. Meteorology, Univ. Reading; Macarena Cárdenas, Dept. Geography & Environ. Science, Univ. Reading.

Collaborator: Jose Iriarte, Dept. Archaeology, Univ. Exeter.

Background:

The Parana pine (Araucaria angustifolia) of southern Brazil is an iconic ‘living fossil’, dating back to the Mesozoic, when it was likely grazed upon by Sauropod dinosaurs. This evergreen conifer once dominated highland areas of Brazil’s southern Atlantic Forest (a global biodiversity hotspot) until the colonial period, but is now critically endangered and is a key conservation priority. To gain a robust understanding of the likely response of Parana pine to future climate change, a better understanding of the underlying reasons for its current biogeographic distribution is first needed, which can only be gained via knowledge of the long-term dynamics of this species over the past several millennia, in relation to both past climate change and pre-Columbian (pre-1492) human land use. The overall aim is to determine the relationship between Araucaria forest, climate change, and human land use over the past ~ 6,000 years in southern Brazil, and thereby improve understanding of the likely response of this species to future climate change and the implications for conservation policy. This PhD project complements an ongoing AHRC(UK)-FAPESP(Brazil)-funded project which provides the archaeological context.

Approach and Methods:

The student will use a novel, multi-disciplinary approach, which combines palaeoecological and archaeological data with ecological and climate models. Fossil pollen will be analysed from bog sediments and fed into land-cover models (REVEALS, LOVE) to reconstruct the history of Araucaria forest over the last ~ 6,000 years. These data will be integrated with ongoing archaeological studies and previously published palaeoclimate records to determine the respective roles of people versus climate change in driving late Holocene Araucaria expansion. Climate models and ecological niche models (e.g. MAXENT) will be tested against these palaeo data and used to map the environmental niche of Araucaria through time, in response to past and future climate change.

Training opportunities:

Training will be given in field- (bog coring) and laboratory-based (pollen microscopy) palaeoecological skills (Mayle & Cárdenas), climate (Singarayer) and ecological (Walters) modelling, and integration with archaeological data (Iriarte). Sediment cores have already been collected, but there will be scope to visit the field area and collect further material if necessary and any relevant ecological data.

Student profile:

Applicants should hold a minimum of a UK honours degree at 2.1 level, or equivalent, in a relevant subject such as biology, geography or environmental science. A strong background in numerical/statistical techniques is essential and knowledge of ecology, microscopy and coding/modelling would be advantageous.

How to apply:

Full details of how to apply, as well as a podcast of this advert, can be found at:

http://www.met.reading.ac.uk/nercdtp/home/available/

The deadline for applications is 25^th January 2016, although later applications may be considered. For further details about the project, please contact the lead supervisor, Francis Mayle.

Where Palaeoecology leads us 2: A&E

Posted on October 30, 2015 by tprg

Royal_Berkshire_Hospital,_Reading_-_geograph.org.uk_-_830153

Figure 1. The Hospital, for most people, a dreaded place. For us, a place of revelation

This is the sequel to the post about “Guns” where we talk a little bit about where palaeoecology leads us when we follow our quest for investigating the past using lake/bog sediments.

An unusual patient

If you are worried about the consequences of working in palaeoecology, I can assure you that my recent visit to A&E was not because of an accident (and was not an accident either). This was a very well planned visit to the hospital to become more familiar with my beloved Brazilian patients, my bog cores.

Having taken over 110 Russian cores from numerous bogs across southern Brazil, between Frank Mayle and I (check out the Je Landscapes Project website to know more), I needed a quick non-destructive technique to visualize the internal structures of the cores so I could select the best ones for the project. I therefore decided to take x-rays of these half-metre cores. This relatively low-cost technique allows us to identify any key lithological changes through the core which are not apparent to the naked eye. The differences in density are seen in the resulting images as shades of light and dark. The lighter the colour of the image, the denser the sediment is. That is why features such as clastic material and tephra layers appear light, in comparison with organic peats which are usually dark.

So I arrived at the hospital with two oversized suitcases (Figure 2), completely filled with sediment cores (I am glad to say that I didn’t have to rush there). Carrying the cores this way allowed me to navigate easily through the labyrinthine hospital and get to the subterranean x-ray room.

Figure 2. Just arrived at the Hospital

The X-ray manager was very helpful, and we worked together as a great team, with me unwrapping the cores and placing them on the plate, taking notes and hiding behind the x-ray shield; while he was pressing the button and inputting the information into the computer (Figure 3). It was a relief to be on the other side of that shield.

Figure 3a. Our view to the patient. Behind the shield

Figure 3b. Not sick looking, one of the bog cores being analyised

The cores just about fitted on the x-ray plate (in diagonal) (Figure 4). I am glad I checked that beforehand! If you are considering taking x-rays of your cores, its important to call the hospital beforehand to make sure they have the plate size you need. It seems that most of the x-ray facilities only have the 23cm length plate, which is no where near large enough for a half-metre Russian core.

Figure 4. X-ray of one of the bog cores

I am pleased with the results. The images allow me to distinguish internal structures and therefore enable me to select the best cores (some cores look fine from the outside, but with the x-rays I can see some small gaps in the sediment). On the other hand, the lithological changes revealed by the x-rays enable me to cross-correlate overlapping and duplicate cores. A particularly useful further step is to undertake grey scale analysis of the x-ray image, which can reveal even greater detail (Figure 5), especially when correlating with XRF and magnetic susceptibility results.

Figure 5. Grey scale analysis performed with ImageJ in one of the cores

This was my first experience of undertaking x-ray analysis of bog cores, and I must say that I am very pleased with how useful this technique has proven to be.

By Macarena Cárdenas

Where Palaeoecology leads us 1: Guns

Posted on October 5, 2015 by tprg

Our quest for understanding the past, using sediments pushes us to find ways to extract the information in what is sometimes quite an exotic manner, as well as making us visit unexpected and fun places (soon to come, a blog post about the places we have visited lately in our field trips). Here is an example of the fun things we get to do.

No blood involved

One fun activity we have been doing is: holding a gun. Not any gun, but a galactic-looking laser-shooting one. I am talking about the portable x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyser (Thermo), a fantastic piece of technology that allows us to analyse a wide range of elements from the Periodic Table (Figure 1). The gun is very easy to use, with touch-screen and flexibility to customise it, depending of the nature of your sediments. Beware that, because of the nature of this piece of kit, you will need to undertake training in radiation. And: make sure that if you are using it in hand-held format for long periods, that you have strong biceps!

Figure 1. The portable x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyser (Thermo) in action. Russian core being measured.

Results from this technique have several applications that go from cross-correlating cores within a site to understanding the past environmental characteristics and deposits of the sediments. The fast processing time and resolution available with this method (1cm) enable results to be obtained very quickly, and allow one to understand the nature of the sediments in a non-destructible way (which is very much appreciated when you have only small volumes of sediments at your disposal with Russian cores!). The results can be imported into the computer and easily opened in an excel spread sheet (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Excel spreadsheet with XRF results from a bog core

Next steps will be correlating the XRF results with other analyses, such as magnetic susceptibility and pollen analysis. I am really looking forward to seeing what these multi-proxy analyses reveal.

By Macarena Cárdenas

Fascinating kids

Posted on June 4, 2015 by tprg

Je Landscapes project and kids

Click the photo to see about how kids got fascinated with what we had

to say about the Monkey Puzzle and our Je Landscape fossil material

by Macarena Cárdenas

Fieldtrip SE Brazil

Posted on May 30, 2015 by tprg

TPR to the South East of Brazil: Je Landscape Palaeo fieldtrip

Pedra Furada, Sao Joaquim National Park (1890masl), Urubici area

It is not long since I came back from the Jê landscapes Project field trip in the South east of Brazil.

The experience was truly fantastic. I had the pleasure to meet and know incredible landscapes and generous people. As a result we found fantastic sites and collected what we believe are the best representative materials for our project.

Focusing in the vegetational, environmental and climate reconstruction during the existence of the Proto- Jê culture, the aim of the field trip was to collect sediments from bogs at the main three geographical areas where the project is studying the Jê culture: Urubici (Highlands), Rio Fortuna (were the Atlantic forest is) and Campo Belo do Sul (Highlands). Armed with dutch gauge and Russian corer, me and my fantastic assistant Álvaro Costa toured over 200 kilometres within Santa Catarina region looking for deep bañados.

In the Atlantic forest, fundamental piece of the field trip Álvaro Costa next to myself

Our experience in Urubici started very challenging. The very first bog we tried coring was what I would say the most difficult of the whole trip. We simply couldn’t extrude it. It was a clay and silt grey sediments with a large proportion of silica that would stick to the inside of the Russian corer like leeches, and not even using spatulas to do toggle we could extrude them. Long story short, we managed to find a way to extrude without disturbing the sediments and from that moment onward nobody stopped us. We cored 13 sites within the area, all with overlapping and duplicate drives.

Human impact is evident in this Araucaria forest, Urubici area (800masl)

Santa Bárbara peat bog, at 1800masl in the Araucaria forest-Campos (grasslands) boundary

Like black butter. Sediments from Santa Barbara peat bog

Our experience in Rio Fortuna, towards the littoral side of Santa Catarina, was indeed a very different but not an easier landscape to core. To find a bog that didn’t suffer the consequences of agriculture or cattle, or that wasn’t converted in a fish tank to grow trout was the first but not only barrier; being able to cut across with the Russian corer the dry and sandy sediments was another one. We would not give up, and using as much of our patience as well as our weight to push we recovered sediments from four sites very close (~100m) to archaeological finds.

Arrow point found as we were walking by one of the study sites in Rio Fortuna area

Sediments from one of the Rio Fortuna sites (600masl)

Campo Belo do Sul gave us a little truce. Thanks to Frank Mayle, who already went to the area in April 2014 and cored eight fantastic sites, we weren’t in much need to core much more. I personally enjoyed this part of the field by joining to the archaeological team that was in the site excavating Abreu e Garcia (funerary) and Baggio (oversized pit-house) sites. An army of students, plus researchers Dr Mark Robinson, Dr Rafael Corteletti, PI Professor Jose Iriarte, PhD students Jonas Gregorio and Priscila Ulguim and of course, loads of yerba mate there were many hours of tireless digging.

Students working at Abreu e Garcia funerary site, Campo Belo do sul

Another fruitful stop was in Gateados farm, a timber company committed to preserve and protect native vegetation. With the crucial help of Professor Lauri Schorn and his student Alyne Rugiero from University of Blumenau, we collected moss pollsters from the most pristine Araucaria forests available in the area. We will use the pollen rain contained in these natural traps to understand how modern Araucaria forest vegetation expresses in the pollen record.

It was almost two very intense months of travelling, coring and falling, but I would definitely do it again. Now the next step is face the many hours of work in the field translated in sediments to unveil what the past of vegetation and climate was like when Jê culture inhabited these areas.

Almost forgot… I also found mosquitos…

One mosquito bite in my arm, above my wrist… unfortunately not the only one I had

Post by Macarena

@DrMacarenaLC

Fascinating Plants

Posted on May 28, 2015 by tprg

Fascinating result: Fascination of Plants Day

A total success was the outcome of the fascinating international day event co-organised by our laboratory (School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science (SAGES)) and the School of Biological Sciences (SBS) the on 18^th May.

It was a very windy and rainy day, but nothing stopped the team.

The unstoppable Fascination of Plant event team on the day

University staff, undergraduate students, schools with around 130 kids and University of Reading Vice-Chancellor visited the event getting fascinated by the fantastic world of plants.

This was the first time where these two schools worked together to create an event that came alive after Dr Macarena Cárdenas (SAGES)and Dr Jonathan Mitchley (SBS) shared their passion for plants. The result of combining knowledge about the past of plants trough the fossil record and the present modern plants happened to be an enlightening experience for who visited the event.

FoDP_Macarena Cardenas

Dr Macarena Cárdenas fascinating students with microscopic samples of fossil pollen

Dr Jonathan Mitchley un-puzzling students with modern plant material

Keep your senses awake and your eyes on the green as there are plans for more events like this!

For more details and information contact:

Dr Macarena Cárdenas m.l.cardenas@reading.ac.uk

Fun and field work

Posted on February 1, 2015 by tprg

If you wonder how the life of a Palaeoecologist is in the filed, look below for graphic scenes.

How about this for a tree? Prof Mayle at the Rainforest in Acre, Brazil. Courtesy of Prof F. Mayle

Best transport system for coring equipment, 4×4. In Bolivia. Courtesy of Prof F. Mayle

Proteins are not scarce in the field. Piranha for lunch. John can’t wait to sink his teeth!. Bolivia. Courtesy of Prof F. Mayle

As it was 2,000 years ago, eating Pinhao (Araucaria tree seed) in the field at Santa Catarina State, Brazil. Courtesy of Prof. Mayle

Tropical Palaeoecology Research Group

The blog of the Tropical Palaeoecology Research Group at the University of Reading

Category Archives: Je Landscapes