Post-Doc, Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies
Thesis Title: Structures and disturbances in Holocene forests of southern Sweden, interpreted from insects and charcoal studies
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G. Lemdahl
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About
'The use of modern beetle data to understand and interpret
palaeoenvironments and human impact'
The focus of this project is to study the indicator value of insects, especially beetles (Coleoptera), when using them for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions and in archaeological contexts. This will be done at mainly Swedish sites orientated along a transect from south to north in order to incorporate the climatic variation. Some interesting topics are:
• How is no/intermediate/intensive grazing indicated by dung beetles?
• How is dead wood reflected in the insect assemblage, especially concerning age structure, level of decomposition and tree species composition? Could we find these beetles in open landscapes, near solitary trees, hedges et cetera and if so, how could we distinguish these features from dead wood in the woodland?
• Is it possible to use the minimal number of individuals (MNI) of certain taxa to quantify environmental structures; e.g. dead wood, openness (closed forest – semi open – open), canopy cover, disturbance intensity (e.g. grazing, fire, agriculture)?
• Are some groups of insects more prone to end up in the sediment? This will answer the question if certain taxa could be overrepresented with the possibility of misinterpret the palaeoenvironment.
• How strong indicator value does one species/individual have of a certain environment or disturbance?
• How well does the results from the database BugsCEP compare with the conventional palaeoentomological interpretation method and with the modern environment.
