Cover Page

Ecosystem Dynamics

From the Past to the Future

Richard H.W. Bradshaw

University of Liverpool

 

Martin T. Sykes

Lund University

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wiley Logo

Acknowledgements

This book has developed from the academic journeys that we have both enjoyed from the 1970s until today. Between us we have held various posts in academia in Denmark (R.B.), Ireland (R.B.), Sweden (R.B., M.T.S.), New Zealand (M.T.S.), the United Kingdom (R.B., M.T.S.) and the USA (R.B.), and both colleagues and experiences from all these countries have influenced the content of the book. R.B. proffers special thanks to John Birks, Colin Prentice and the other occupants of Room 28, Tom Webb III and Herb Wright, who all helped awaken my interest in palaeoecology. Many friends from the Faculty of Forest Sciences, SLU, Sweden combined to teach me both Swedish and Forest Science. Tack Olle Zackrisson och Pelle Gemmel for creating this opportunity. I also thanks special friends at the short-lived but exciting Department of Environmental History and Climate Change, GEUS, Denmark, where Bent Odgaard, the two Peters (Rasmussen, Friis Møller) and Anne Birgitte Nielsen, among others, showed me how Denmark was a true cradle of paleoecology and worthy of respect, despite being a small, flat country with little natural vegetation! In Sweden and Denmark, I led or participated in seven EU-funded projects, which generated important parts of the material covered here. A special thanks to Thomas Giesecke and other European Pollen Database colleagues for many of the good ideas in Chapter 4 and for introducing Teutonic rigour to my thinking.

M.T.S. would like to especially thank three people who provided significant opportunities: Bastow Wilson from Otago, New Zealand, who gave an anxious mature student the opportunity to do a PhD; Eddy van der Maarel from Uppsala, who provided the first postdoctoral position in 1989, albeit initially for 5 months, which provided a vital stepping stone to more than 24 years in Sweden; and Colin Prentice, then in Uppsala, who provided the opportunity to integrate my earlier computing background and ecology training into forest gap modelling and much more. I would also like to acknowledge the valuable discussions and informal contributions made by many colleagues, particularly those involved in various European-scale projects over a number of years, including ALARM, ATEAM, CLIMIT, CLIMSAVE, DECVEG, ECOCHANGE, EPIDEMIE, FIREMAN, MACIS, RUBICODE and others. I also thank various Lund scientists, including Almut Arneth, Dörte Lehsten, Veiko Lehsten, Paul Miller, Honor Prentice, Jonathan Seaquist, Ben Smith and others from the Departments of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science and Ecology, as well as past PhD students, especially Thomas Hickler and Marie Vandewalle, who all gave support in myriad ways.

R.B. also acknowledges support from M.T.S.'s Lund colleagues while writing the book and thanks his old Lundian friends on the other side of the door in Kvartärgeologi, who were always ready for coffee and conversation. A special thanks to the DYNAMITE team for providing distraction from the book and good field discussions, plus some exceptional food and drink.

We both acknowledge the significant contribution Margaret P. Sykes made as a facilitator in a number of meetings between the authors, where much of the structure of the book was developed. She also read all chapters, more than once, and provided valuable editing, comments and corrections.

We both thank Sandra Mather for her cheery temperament and skilled help with figure production, even when all of the figures arrived at the last minute. Thanks also to readers Anne Birgitte Nielsen, Tom Webb III, Gina Hannon, Abigail G. Sykes and Julian M. Sykes-Persson for many useful comments and to Louise Bradshaw for help with the references. Krister Larsson, Thomas Giesecke, Gina Hannon, Peter Rasmussen and Jennifer Clear all provided photos or figures. A special thanks to Jean Clottes for the wonderful lions from the Chauvet Cave.

M.T.S. thanks the staff at the Geolibrary in the Geocentrum, Lund, in particular Rolf Hall and Robin Gullstrand, who responded with enthusiasm to his requests for books and articles.

We acknowledge with thanks financial support from:

Finally, both authors would like to acknowledge the love and support of their families, without whom it would have been a whole lot tougher.

About the companion website

This book is accompanied by a companion website:

  1. www.wiley.com/go/bradshaw/sykes/ecosystem

The website includes: