Palynology is the scientific study of pollen, spores, and other acid-resistant organic-walled microfossils (palynomorphs), encompassing both living and fossil material. It integrates microscopy, organic geochemistry, and statistical analysis to characterize assemblages of pollen, spores, dinoflagellate cysts, acritarchs, and related particulate matter typically sized between ~5–500 µm. In the natural sciences, palynology is used for reconstructing past vegetation and climate, correlating and dating sedimentary sequences, investigating depositional environments and biostratigraphy, and assessing organic matter sources and thermal maturity in petroleum systems, as well as for tracking dispersal and transport processes of particulate biological material in modern ecosystems.
A study led by a Montana State University research professor reveals how climate and hydrothermal activity have shaped the vegetation, wildfire and aquatic ecosystem histories of the Yellowstone Plateau over the past 15,000 ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 18, 2026
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Seen from the air, Channel Country resembles a vibrant, vast tapestry, with a network of waterways crisscrossing the land. Spread across more than 280,000 square kilometers (108,000 square miles) in outback Australia, it ...
Ecology
Jul 17, 2026
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Paleontologists in China have discovered the oldest chemically verified amber ever found, dating to 385 million years ago. That's approximately 140 million years before dinosaurs roamed Earth. The previous record holder was ...
For millennia, farming in Switzerland did not reduce plant diversity but helped increase it, University of Basel researchers have shown in a detailed reconstruction covering the past 7,000 years. Only recent decades paint ...
Ecology
Jun 30, 2026
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The body size, morphology and associated behavioral traits of flower-visiting insects strongly influence the quantity of pollen they transport. Thus, pollinators with similar appearances are often assumed to exert similar ...
Evolution
Jun 16, 2026
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10
The wooly mammoth from Taimering (Bavaria, Germany), discovered in 2020, was buried in a former Ice Age pond after its death. Pollen findings and radiocarbon dating confirm that the mammoth lived and died during the harsh ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jun 3, 2026
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In 2024, the Western Australian Museum received a donation. It was a koala skull collected from Moondyne Cave in Margaret River by Lindsay Hatcher, an avid caver. There was something a bit odd about this skull, and we were ...
Paleontology & Fossils
May 6, 2026
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12
Approximately 145 million: That's the number of specimens—including plants, animals, minerals, and human artifacts—curators estimate are held in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. However, these estimates ...
Biotechnology
May 5, 2026
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13
Many large herbivores that once roamed modern-day Panama have declined or died out—including the 6-meter-long giant ground sloth and elephant-related creatures called Cuvieronius. New research suggests that introducing large ...
Ecology
Mar 3, 2026
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232
For over 20 million years, the landscape of Europe has been a tree-rich mosaic of grasslands, scrubs and more or less open woodlands with an abundance of wildflowers. This is the conclusion of a new and comprehensive study ...
Ecology
Mar 2, 2026
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