Final Report for DOE Early Career Research Program Award: DE-SC0014232

The Last Glacial–Interglacial Transition (LGIT) is a period of climatic complexity where millennial-scale climatic reorganization led to changes in ecosystems. Alongside millennial-scale changes, centennial-scale climatic events have been observed within records from Greenland and continental Europe. The effects of these abrupt events on landscapes and environments are difficult to discern at present. This, in part, relates to low temporal resolutions attained by many studies and the sensitivity of palaeoenvironmental proxies to abrupt change. We present a high-resolution palynological and charcoal study of Quoyloo Meadow, Orkney and use the Principal Curve statistical method to assist in revealing biostratigraphic change. The LGIT vegetation succession on Orkney is presented as open grassland and Empetrum heath during the Windermere Interstadial and early Holocene, and open grassland with Artemisia during the Loch Lomond Stadial. However, a further three phases of ecological change, characterized by expansions of open ground flora, are dated to 14.05–13.63, 10.94–10.8 and 10.2 cal ka BP. The timing of these changes is constrained by cryptotephra of known age. The paper concludes by comparing Quoyloo Meadow with Crudale Meadow, Orkney, and suggests that both Windermere Interstadial records are incomplete and that fire is an important landscape control during the early Holocene.Supplementary material: All raw data associated with this publication: raw pollen counts, charcoal data, Principal Curve and Rate of Change outputs and the age-model output are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4725269Thematic collection: This article is part of the ‘Early Career Research’ available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research

Download Full-text

First and most northern occurrence of a thalattosuchian crocodylomorph from the Jurassic of the Isle of Skye, Scotland

Scottish Journal of Geology ◽

10.1144/sjg2020-013 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 57 (1) ◽

pp. sjg2020-013

Author(s):

Kim J. Kean ◽

Davide Foffa ◽

Michela M. Johnson ◽

Mark T. Young ◽

Gert Greitens ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Middle Jurassic ◽

Dorsal Surface ◽

Early Career ◽

Content Type ◽

Marine Deposits ◽

Link Type ◽

Research Collection ◽

Career Research ◽

Isle Of Skye

The Jurassic was a key interval for the evolution of dinosaurs, crocodylomorphs and many other vertebrate groups. In recent years, new vertebrate fossils have emerged from the Early–Middle Jurassic of the Isle of Skye, Scotland; however, much more is known about Skye's dinosaur fauna than its crocodylomorphs. Here we report new crocodylomorph material collected from Jurassic marine deposits at Prince Charlie's Cave on the NE coast of Skye. The specimen is a small cobble containing postcranial elements from an individual that is considerably larger in size than previous crocodylomorphs described from Skye. Based on features of the vertebrae and osteoderms, the specimen is assigned to Thalattosuchia, an extinct clade of semi-aquatic/pelagic crocodylomorphs. Specifically, the sub-circular and bean-shaped pit ornamentation on the dorsal surface of the osteoderms in alternating rows suggests affinities with the semi-aquatic lineage Teleosauroidea. Although the ornamentation pattern on the osteoderms is most similar to Macrospondylus (‘Steneosaurus’) bollensis, we conservatively assign the specimen to Teleosauroidea indeterminate. Regardless of its precise affinities and fragmentary nature, the specimen is the first thalattosuchian discovered in Scotland and is the most northerly reported Jurassic thalattosuchian globally, adding to our understanding of the palaeobiogeography and evolution of this group.Thematic collection: This article is part of the Early Career Research collection available at: https://www.lyellcollection.org/cc/SJG-early-career-research

Download Full-text

Challenge-led interdisciplinary research in practice: Program design, early career research, and a dialogic approach to building unlikely collaborations

Research Evaluation ◽

10.1093/reseval/rvy039 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 28 (1) ◽

pp. 51-62 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Chris Gibson ◽

Tamantha Stutchbury ◽

Victoria Ikutegbe ◽

Nicole Michielin

Keyword(s):

Interdisciplinary Research ◽

Program Design ◽

Early Career ◽

Dialogic Approach ◽

Career Research

Download Full-text