Applied micropaleobotany 1300-WMPBSW
Morphology of modern pollen grains and spores - structure and sculpture of exines; pollen rain and the problem of pollen transfer agents; pollen accumulation and preservation of pollen exines in sediments; sampling methods, laboratory procedures, pollen counting and identification, identification keys, pollen reference slides, construction of pollen diagram, pollen analysis as statistical and climatostratigraphical method, interpretation of results; spores of early land plants, spores/macrospores and pollen of Devonian/Carbonaceous and Mesozoic strata and Tertiary/Quaternary interglacial deposits. Palynology of the Late Glacial/Holocene sequences - analysis of human impact. Practical applications of pollen analysis - melissopalynology, analysis of modern pollen rain. Phytoliths. Silicoflagellata, Dinoflagellata and Bacillarophyta: skeletal morphology, stratigraphical significance.
Type of course
Learning outcomes
Students should be able to identify the basic groups of botanical microfossils (and show elements of their skeletal structure/sculpture) such as diatoms, coccoliths, dinocyst and phytolits and to know their potency as stratigraphical tools and application in palaeoenvironmental reconstruction as well as to perform pollen analysis of peat/lacustrine sediments - starting from laboratory procedures, through counting and identifying pollen and finally making and interpreting pollen diagram.
Assessment criteria
About 60% of correct responses are required for passing.
Practical placement
none
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: