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The article discusses the findings of a study conducted at Loch Dee Peninsula Bog II in the Galloway Hills of Scotland. The study focuses on the sediment and pollen analysis of the bog, providing information about the geological composition, vegetation, and climate of the area. The research reveals the presence of various plant species, including oak, birch, hazel, and conifers, as well as the impact of human activity on the landscape. The study also presents radiocarbon dating results to establish the age of the deposits. [Extracted from the article]

The Galloway Hills in southwest Scotland are characterized by glacial drift, lakes, and extensive areas of blanket and basin mire. The climate is oceanic, with an average rainfall of 2300 mm per year and a mean temperature range of 2.0-13.4 °C. The original woodland of the area has been largely replaced by conifer plantations. Loch Doon IV is a deep mire located west of Loch Doon, with sediment dating back to the early Holocene. The pollen record from the site shows changes in vegetation and land use over time, including the spread of arboreal taxa and evidence of burning related to hunter-gatherer activity. The uppermost deposits contain cereal-type pollen. The research was funded by the Leverhulme Trust. [Extracted from the article]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents two high-resolution pollen records dating to ∼AD 1000–1400 that reveal the impacts of Norse colonists on vegetation and landscape around a remote farmstead in the Western Settlement of Greenland. The study is centred upon a 'centralised farm' (ruin group V53d) in Austmannadalen, near the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet (64°13′N, 49°49′W). The climate is low arctic and considered marginal in terms of its suitability for the type of pastoral agriculture that the Norse settlers introduced. The data reveal that at a short distance (∼500 m) from the farm buildings, the palynological 'footprint' for settlement becomes extremely indistinct, the only clear palaeoenvironmental evidence for a human presence being elevated levels of microscopic charcoal. This contrasts with the Eastern Settlement, where a strong palynological signature for Norse landnám is evident, from the local (individual farm) through to the regional (landscape) scale. The palynological data from Austmannadalen, and the Western Settlement more generally, imply that farming occurred at very low intensity. This aligns with ideas that promote the importance of hunting, and trade in valuable Arctic commodities (e.g. walrus ivory), ahead of a search for new pasture as the dominant motivation driving the Norse settlement of this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Palynology is a relatively young science in China. It is accepted conventionally that the earliest papers are those by Jen Hsü, regarded as 'the pioneer of palynology in China', from 1950 onwards. This is clearly not so – geographer Su Ting (1913–2000) published an earlier paper on Chinese pollen grains in 1949, having included pollen-analytical research in a largely geomorphological doctoral thesis in 1937 – the first PhD by a Chinese citizen at the University of Glasgow. Caught-up in the civil war between Communist and Nationalist forces, Ting had left China for the then British colony of Hong Kong in 1949 and arrived in Los Angeles in 1957 where he termed himself William Su Ting. In Los Angeles he conducted palynological and other research, initially with Daniel Axelrod, eventually retiring as Professor of Geography from California State University in 1979. Ting maintained a long correspondence with Gunnar Erdtman which informs this account along with additional archival and family material. Although Ting was the first Chinese palynologist to work in mainland China, an added element is represented by the Japanese workers Misaburo Shimakura and Genkei Masamune, who performed pollen-analytical investigations in Mainland China and Taiwan respectively in the early 1940s, when this territory was under Japanese control. Ting's unpublished research on sites in Orkney and the Isle of Bute mark him as one of the UK's pioneer workers in palynology. His North American publications reflect a willingness to grapple with issues as diverse as Quaternary and pre-Quaternary palaeoecology, pollen morphology, microscopy and statistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Palaeoecological research in the Department of Geography and Environment at the University of Aberdeen can be traced back to pollen-analytical (palynological) and geomorphological collaborations in the early 1970s. The research has generally been nested within Quaternary science and it features strong interdisciplinary links with archaeology, chronostratigraphy, climate change and ecology more generally. The pollen-based emphasis has been augmented by multi-proxy approaches including plant macro- and microfossils, geochemistry and pedology. There has always been techniques- and methodologically-orientated output and the chronological focus has spanned especially the period from the Lateglacial through to the present. With an emphasis upon research since the year 2000, the account is structured around such themes as environmental change in Scotland and the rest of the British Isles, human-environment interactions in the North Atlantic region, Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, atmospheric pollution and metals in prehistory, and carbon sequestration and chronologies. A final section looks briefly and selectively at future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior to the amalgamation of Aberdeen's two medieval universities in 1860, Geography had been taught to undergraduate students at both King's and Marischal Colleges since at least the late 16th Century. First mooted in the early 1900s, it was not until 1919 that a lectureship in Geography at Aberdeen was created and a 'Department of Geography' came into being. In this contribution we chronicle how, over a century, the Geography department has evolved, highlighting developments in the curriculum and research-related activities. The early decades of the Department were shaped by John McFarlane, the first and only full-time appointee in Geography until his retirement in 1945. The post-World War II period, led by Andrew O'Dell, saw Geography develop into a large and influential Department. During the 1960s and 1970s, the Department (and University) experienced unprecedented levels of growth. Student numbers, research output and income accelerated apace. In the recent past national assessments of research and teaching quality and institutional restructuring have prompted further change. As the Department enters a second century it remains committed to delivering a high quality education to undergraduate and postgraduate students and to the pursuit of excellent geographical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Faroe Islands are characterized by high rates of Holocene geomorphological activity and demonstrable vegetation change, including substantial peat formation. Pedogenesis, especially in the late Holocene, is less well known. Numerous ferruginous rhizoconcretions consisting predominantly of Fe-oxyhydroxides were identified in loam and silty sands in Søltuvík on the island of Sandoy, dated prior to AD 1000. Their formation is related to intensive podzolization and they take the form of the source woody vegetation. The sub-fossil material represents the first evidence for ferruginous rhizoconcretions in the Faroese archipelago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From its ‘modern’ pollen-analytical beginnings, the science of what we now term palynology wrestled with terminology and sought an acceptable name for the discipline. Starting in 1943, the mimeographedPollen Analysis Circular, edited from Ohio by Paul Sears, led to discussion of the content, organisation and naming of a developing discipline. This came to a head in 1944 with Ernst Antev's plea for ‘The Right Word’ and the suggestion of the word ‘palynology’ from the Cardiff duo of Harold Hyde and David Williams. In the search for a suitable term, Hyde consulted Cardiff-based Irish classicist Leopold Richardson who advised against the word palynology and suggested six alternatives. Hyde, however, was wedded to the term palynology and, in the interests of euphony and ‘hankering after my own offspring’, was seemingly able to overcome Richardson's scholarly objections by argument. Hyde and Williams defined palynology as ‘the study of pollen and other spores and their dispersal, and applications thereof’. This was considered an advance because alternative terms such as pollen analysis, pollen statistics and pollen science did not include the application or interpretation of pollen evidence. The term palynology quickly found acceptability within the pages of thePollen Analysis Circularand subsequently received an airing inNature. Once palynology was adopted by the influential Swede Gunnar Erdtman, it was rapidly accepted by the palaeoecological community. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This Special Issue marks the Centenary of the establishment of a Department of Geography at the University of Aberdeen. Although session 1919-20 is taken as the formal establishment of a Geography Department at the University of Aberdeen the subject had long been taught to undergraduate students in both of Aberdeen's medieval Universities. Transport geography at Aberdeen is the focus of Beecroft, Cottrill, Farrington, Nelson and Niewiadomski's paper. [Extracted from the article]

Written sources indicate that the farm of Reykholt in Borgarfjörður, Iceland was built on the land of the original settlement farm, and that it had acquired the primary status in the valley by the early 12th century. Archaeological evidence suggests that the farm together with a church may have been established as early as ca. 1000 AD, which is when Christianity was adopted in Iceland. The site became one of the country's major ecclesiastical centres, growing in wealth and stature, not least during the occupancy of the writer and chieftain Snorri Sturluson in the first half of the 13th century. Long-term excavations included a palaeoenvironmental sampling programme aimed at the investigation of the economy and environment of the farm. This paper focuses upon the results of the palaeoecological analysis and places them into the historical context of the farm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract. Although social support has been studied extensively in terms of its role in the relationship between stress and health, less attention has been devoted to the impact of negative social interactions. In this investigation, the authors examined the unique contributions of positive social support and negative social exchange in the relationship between stress and health symptoms, using data from 206 undergraduates at a large state university. Negative social exchange accounted for more variance in physical health symptoms than did life-event stress, daily hassles, or social support. The relationship between negative social interaction and physical symptoms was not the result of variance shared with psychological well-being. The importance of attending to negative aspects of social interaction among university students in terms of their health and well-being is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The colonization of the Hebridean Islands of Western Scotland: evidence from the palynological and archaeological records The earliest known settlement in Scotland is Kinloch, on the Inner Hebridean island of Rhum where deposits date to c. 8500 BP. This presents an anomaly for northern Europe, for in other regions, such as Scandinavia, settlement at a similar latitude is known from a much earlier date. While Mesolithic settlement is likely to have been established across the whole of Scotland by the eighth millennium, attempts to locate earlier settlement are most profitably directed towards the Hebridean Islands due to factors of topography, raw material availability and modern land use. We describe two types of data from the Isle of Islay which suggest that people may have arrived in the Hebrides prior to 9000 BP: possible evidence for disturbance to vegetation at c. 10,000BP and the discovery of a tanged point, of a type found in Ahrensburgian assemblages from northern Europe, which date between 11,000-10,000 BP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]