Core Ideas - The Paleolimnology Podcast

Today we’re exploring something quite simple - lake names. Anyone who has spent much time on the water will have recognized there are a lot of ‘Clear Lakes’ out there, so we decided to do take a look at some common and unhelpful naming tropes that have been used to catalog many waterways (along with some less common).

In between arcs, we got a little self-reflective and decided to make a list of things that would have been useful to be aware of at the start of respective academic journeys.

‘Odd Couplets’ concludes by revisiting a previously discussed topic with some new information. The International Union on Geological Sciences' Submission on Quaternary Stratigraphy has decided to NOT establish a new epoch, and the ‘Anthropocene’ remains undefined. This decision intersects paleolimnology, philosophy, policy and a lot of other things.

The next ‘Odd Couplet’ focuses on the intersection of lake sediments and radioactivity. Radioisotopes in lake sediments are used extensively to establish chronologies, but are there other applications that examine these isotopes directly?

We continue our examination of the linkage of some less explored "Odd Couplets" associated with paleolimnology with one that is constantly in the news...AI!

Our second ‘Odd Couplet’ looks arc continues with an examination of the records storms can leave behind in lake sediments.

We begin a new arc on unconventional applications/connections/linkages in paleolimnology, called "Odd Couplets." In the first episode we explore the connections between paleolimnology and archaeology.

The ‘Money, Money, Money’ arc wraps up with a look at the research funding invaluable to paleolimnology, but not funded by the university-industrial complex. Or is it?

Our ‘Money, Money, Money’ arc continues with another examination of research finances, this time from the university’s point of view.

Our ‘Money, Money, Money’ arc continues with an examination of research finances from the professor’s perspective. Where do the funds necessary to buy all the cool stuff used to conduct research actually come from?

Our ‘Money, Money, Money’ arc begins in earnest with a look at research finances (and the lack thereof) from the graduate student perspective.

We begin a new arc that is a little bit different, exploring the somewhat hidden world of the money behind science (paleolimnology included). In episode 51 we preview the arc's major topics related to graduate student funding, research funding for faculty / lab groups, and several bigger picture topics.

We wrap up the core reading lists arc with a few papers that set John Smol (and colleagues and students) on his way to being awarded a lifetime achievement award by the International Paleolimnology Symposium at their meeting last year.

In our penultimate Core Reading List, we explore the methods for reconstructing oxygen from lake sediments. We include papers that consider the "who cares" of oxygen reconstructions, and focus in on the use of chironomids as indicators.

We are back, continuing our Core Reading Lists arc, with a discussion tracing the topic of calcium decline, and where you might start learning about this in the literature.

We're back with our second Core Reading List. We discuss Josh's two favourite topics; permafrost and paleolimnology!

We're back, and starting a new arc. We're building reading lists of (our selection) of important papers on topics of interest to paleolimnologists. We start with a list to help you read up on dating.

We're back for a short recap of year two (or so). We also preview the next arc, on key reading lists.

How much data is too much data? When are you finished counting, and how many cores are enough? In the last episode of the conceptual rabbit holes arc, we consider data in paleolimnology.

As we continue our conceptual rabbit holes arc we are going to explore a question we have had for quite a long time on the show: Why do we know so little about oceanography? The discussion inevitably turns to one around the different silos in science, and whether they are real, and if they really matter.

In this episode, continuing the Conceptual Rabbit Holes arc, we consider the amazing range of scales present in nature, focusing on size, concentration and density, and time, and how paleolimnology is a powerful science for bridging these differences.

In episode 41, as we continue our conceptual rabbit hole, we explore invasive species (introduced, exotic, etc.) and the impact they can have on novel environments. We consider the role paleolimnology can play in studying the impact of these invaders.

We continue our conceptual rabbit holes by exploring a range of other (non lake!) paleoenvironmental archives.

We're starting a new arc, journeying down some conceptual rabbit holes. We start by considering how to (if you can) match the paleo and contemporary limnological records.

Took us a little while to get this released (though we recorded it some time ago). but in the last episode of the small picture arc we explore stable isotopes in paleolimnology.