School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology

Kathleen Crossen

Kathleen Crossen

Qualifications

BSc (Hons): Archaeology-Palaeoecology, QUB.
MSc: Archaeology and Environment, QUB.

Postgraduate

Email: kcrossen01@qub.ac.uk

Address

School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology (GAP)
Queen’s University Belfast
Belfast, BT7 1NN
Northern Ireland, UK

Telephone

+44 (0)28 9097 3828

Current Research: Environmental Change (EC)

A study of the Holocene spread, genetic diversity and evolution of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) in Britain and Ireland

The presence of native Scots Pine on the British Isles during the Holocene is a widely studied topic, due to unclear origin of the spread of the species at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum and the decline of the species at c. 5000 BP (and subsequent extinction in Ireland).

This research will examine the genetic diversity of Scots Pine through time by extracting ancient DNA from fossil pollen grains from Holocene lake and peat sediments in Ireland and Scotland, and sequencing the DNA from chloroplast genomes within the pollen grain. The genetic make-up of modern extant populations of Scots pine from Scotland will also be examined, and compared with the ancient populations, to evaluate the evolution of the species through time and to determine the origin of the Holocene spread of the species into Britain and Ireland. Previous palaeoecological research combined with genetic analyses on extant populations of Caledonian and European Scots pine suggests that it may have spread from south-east Europe into southern England at least 10,000 years ago, and eventually reached north-west Ireland and Scotland by 7,700 years ago. The presence of a unique haplotype in the north-west populations of Scotland from the genetic research also suggests that there may be a refugial population present in the region. The presence of this haplotype in the ancient DNA should clarify if indeed a refugial population exists in the north-west of Scotland.

Supervisors

Professor Keith Bennett, QUB
Dr Jim Provan, QUB (School of Biological Sciences)

Academic Society Membership

Quaternary Research Association

Conferences Attended

Ecological Genetics Group Annual Meeting: 2nd- 4th April 2013, Queen’s University Belfast (presented a poster about my research)