Studies of Quaternary environments, those of roughly the last two million years of Earth history, are increasingly important as we struggle to understand the scale and rapidity of climatic and environmental changes in the modern world. At left are pollen grains of bog laurel, a common Sphagnum bog plant in central Maine. The plant grows in abundance in the Colby Marston Bog in Belgrade, about a half-hour drive west of the Colby campus, where Senior Teaching Associate Bruce Rueger and student Kaatje van der Hoeven '95 are shown taking a sediment core in the photo below. Other organic remains are frequently found in sediments that can also be very useful in interpreting past environments.
Insect remains can also be helpful.
Plants like willows and the bog laurel mentioned above, like all plants with showy flowers, are mostly or entirely insect-pollinated, and as a result the plants produce very little pollen. This frequently results in their being under-represented in the pollen floras recovered from sediments, and they may not show up in the plant macrofossil record either. Use of beetle remains such as those shown here can help to provide such additional details on vegetation, as well as many other aspects of past environments, that help geologists to achieve accurate reconstructions. Students must show excellent academic records, be supported by a faculty mentor, and petition for admission to the program. Normally, students enroll for 6 semester hours of Senior Scholar credit in each semester and will take only two additional courses.