- Email: [email protected]
Prof. Dr. William A. Watts (1930–2010)
Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 162 (2010) 119–121
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / r ev p a l b o
Obituary
Prof. Dr. William A. Watts (1930–2010) Professor Bill Watts died suddenly on 26th April 2010 depriving Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Ireland and the international palaeoecological community of a skilled and cultured scientist with an intelligent breadth of interest, knowledge and experience that is remarkable. Bill was born on 26th May 1930 near Dublin docks but grew up in Athy a small country town south-west of Dublin. His father was an engineer with no secondary education but his mother, who did attend secondary school, helped with homework and encouraged Bill
in his early studies. He attended the local Protestant national school and his talents attracted the attention of a new teacher who coached him for a scholarship to St. Andrews, a Presbyterian school in Dublin. There was no money for the school fees, but Bill came top in the examination and was awarded seven years of free secondary schooling. This exam was probably the most important academic test of his life and laid the foundations of his subsequent career. He was interested in natural history but studied languages and literature
Plate 1. W.A. Watts, President of the Royal Irish Academy 1980–1982 (by permission of the Royal Irish Academy© RIA).
doi:10.1016/j.revpalbo.2010.06.011
120
Review of Paleobotany and Palynology 162 (2010) 119–121
and won the top scholarship to TCD for students from low-income families. He initially studied French and German at university winning a further scholarship that yielded college rooms and free meals. His chosen degree did not occupy him fully so he applied to study concurrently a second degree in Natural Sciences. During lectures in Botany and Geology he encountered David Webb, the distinguished taxonomist, and Frank Mitchell the Quaternary scientist and these two, particularly Frank, launched Bill into his subsequent academic career. Important legacies from these early mentors include Bill's enthusiasm for fieldwork and his excellent botanical knowledge. By 1953 Bill had graduated with two first class degrees (Modern Languages and Natural Sciences) and a preference for Quaternary palaeoecology. He was one of three candidates for a lectureship in Botany at University College Hull and worked there for two years, but on becoming liable for British military service, resigned his position and became research assistant to Frank Mitchell back at TCD. A Botany lecturer at TCD was awarded the vacant position at Hull and Bill became a Junior Lecturer in Botany eventually succeeding David Webb as Professor and Head of Department in 1965. One of Bill's first projects with Frank Mitchell involved study of the interglacial deposits at Kilbeg, County Waterford, which were rich in plant macrofossils and excited Bill's interest, drawing on his botanical expertise (Watts, 1957). Bill made the obligatory visit to the Danish Geological Survey in Copenhagen to brush up his palynology and subsequently studied a series of Irish Quaternary deposits combining macrofossil and pollen studies (Watts, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1967). Bill became intrigued by the rapid vegetational changes associated with the Late Glacial period, which was recorded in detail in Irish sediments, and achieved international recognition as a Late Glacial specialist (Watts, 1977). A major academic development came in 1961 with an invitation from Herb Wright to work in the Limnological Research Center of the University of Minnesota and deliver a graduate course on biogeography. A lifelong collaboration began between two remarkable characters who loved the rigours of fieldwork and had the appropriate body shape and mental attitude to form the heart of any soft sediment coring expedition (Wright and Watts, 1969). Bill subsequently visited the USA every year and about half of Bill's life list of over 70 publications is based on North American sites, often in collaboration with Eric Grimm and Barbara Hansen (Grimm et al., 1993; Watts and Hansen, 1986; Watts et al., 1992). He began working in the mid-west and published the classical macrofossil analysis of Kirchner Marsh with its clear indication of the movements of the prairie-forest boundary (Watts and Winter, 1966). His work developed from traditional plant geographical issues on to the question of the development of forest communities as they began their northward migration following the last glaciation (Watts, 1979, 1980a, b, 1983). Later, work in Florida brought a contemporary focus on climate change and the relationship of changes on land to changes in the North Atlantic circulation (Grimm et al., 1993). He was a visiting Professor at the University of Washington in 1978 and in 2008 was the first non-American based scientist ever presented with a prestigious Distinguished Career Award by AMQUA in recognition of the major influence he had on the development of palaeoecology in North America. In 1973 Bill contributed an important but neglected paper to Iversen's festschrift (Watts, 1973). He argued that pollen data could be used for quantitative analysis of plant invasions and population dynamics and that traditional palynological interpretation tended to focus more on stability rather than change. This thoughtful paper was ahead of its time and has been the acknowledged inspiration for important subsequent work on quantitative population dynamics of past tree populations (e.g. Bennett, 1983). As Bill had no maths qualification from school and was a reluctant computer user, the quantitative insights are all the more remarkable. Bill also maintained extensive European field activities and his quest for floristic
challenges and adventure led him to the Mediterranean. In collaboration with Brian Huntley, who held a post-doc with Bill, and subsequently Brian's colleague Judy Allen, Bill participated in a number of projects and coring expeditions to Spain, France and Italy (Allen et al., 1996, 2000, 2002; Huntley et al., 1999). The volcanic Lake Monticchio site has generated a valuable, long palaeoecological record, although the 102.3 m core was beyond the limits of Bill's own coring techniques and German expertise from Jürg Negendank's team was needed (Allen et al., 1999; Watts et al., 1996). Bill trained relatively few doctoral students but influenced the thinking of his peers and took a lively interest in the academic development of younger colleagues on both sides of the Atlantic. Seventy delegates attended a symposium in his honour at the Royal Irish Academy in 2001 and those palaeoecologists who acknowledge most direct influence in their careers include Brian Huntley, Eric Grimm, John Birks, Cathy Whitlock, Richard Bradshaw, Pete Coxon, Fraser Mitchell, Henry Lamb and George Jacobson. Gina Hannon was his research assistant during the 1980s. She was personally taught macrofossil analytical skills by Bill, which she subsequently used in her Scandinavian doctoral thesis, teaching and research. She is passing on his botanically grounded approach to macrofossil palaeoecology to a new generation of researchers. Bill had enormous intellectual energy, and just as he took degrees in the humanities and the sciences simultaneously, so later on he was not content with a normal international research and teaching career. Outreach came naturally to him and he had real impact on nature conservation policy in Ireland, acting as secretary and then chairman of An Taisce between 1966 and 69, when he was instrumental in protection of habitats in Killarney and his beloved Burren. Alan Craig, one of his doctoral students, led the major expansion of Irish National Parks from the Office of Public Works and part of the scientific background for Glenveagh National Park was researched by Michael Telford, another of Bill's students. His most significant achievements arguably date from between 1981 and 91 when he was the elected Provost of TCD and was concurrently President of the Royal Irish Academy (1982–85) (Plate 1). The Provost of TCD is a position with real power and importance within Ireland and he met several heads of state and was active in health politics. He sat on several Hospital Boards and chaired the Health Research Board, where he used his skills honed from argumentative University committees to reach some important decisions about Irish hospitals and medical research. His activities as Provost are well documented in his memoirs, which were the first to be written by a Provost of TCD (Watts, 2008). I am personally grateful for Bill's elevation to the top job at TCD as it opened a teaching position in Botany, which was my first university post. During my interview for tenure the committee was entertained by a lively private discussion on climate change and plant migration between Bill and myself which was more taxing than my earlier doctoral thesis defence, which Bill had also examined. Bill was the first scientist ever to lead TCD and he oversaw significant modernisation that has led to long-term benefits for research and teaching. He saw to it that palaeoecology was not neglected and TCD has remained as an important international centre. Part of the extensive wine cellars in the elegant Georgian Provost's house served as a core store and the kitchens became a sampling laboratory, where his assistant laboured, with support from the Provosts's butler, while Bill counted pollen in his study in between his political engagements. Bill's term as Provost ended when he was only 61. He increased his research efforts and retained interest in public life, most notably as Chairman of the Fota Trust which had responsibility for the conservation of the historic Fota House and Gardens in Co. Cork. His own festschrift provided an overview of his contributions to palaeoecology (Mitchell, 2001) and his memoirs document his life in an absorbing manner. His contributions to palaeoecology are many and visionary, including the classical palaeoecology of interglacials
Review of Paleobotany and Palynology 162 (2010) 119–121
and the Late Glacial period, the floristic palaeoecology of southeastern USA, insights into dynamic processes in vegetation, terrestrial-marine climatic teleconnections and the application of palaeoecology to conservation. His keen botanical eye and plant macrofossil identification skills underlie all his work. His colleagues will remember his modest and pragmatic good sense, his love of field and flora, his interest and support for junior colleagues and his silken, soothing lecturing voice. The breadth of achievement of this modest man in so many arenas is remarkable. References Allen, J.R.M., Brandt, U., Brauer, A., Hubberten, H.W., Huntley, B., Keller, J., Kraml, M., Mackensen, A., Mingram, J., Negendank, J.F.W., Nowaczyk, N.R., Oberhansli, H., Watts, W.A., Wulf, S., Zolitschka, B., 1999. Rapid environmental changes in southern Europe during the last glacial period. Nature 400, 740–743. Allen, J.R.M., Huntley, B., Watts, W.A., 1996. The vegetation and climate of northwest Iberia over the last 14000 yr. J. Quatern. Sci. 11, 125–147. Allen, J.R.M., Watts, W.A., Huntley, B., 2000. Weichselian palynostratigraphy, palaeovegetation and palaeoenvironment; the record from Lago Grande di Monticchio, southern Italy. Quatern. Int. 73–4, 91–110. Allen, J.R.M., Watts, W.A., McGee, E., Huntley, B., 2002. Holocene environmental variability — the record from Lago Grande di Monticchio, Italy. Quatern. Int. 88, 69–80. Bennett, K.D., 1983. Postglacial population expansion of forest trees in Norfolk, UK. Nature 303, 164–167. Grimm, E.C., Jacobson, G.L., Watts, W.A., Hansen, B.C.S., Maasch, K.A., 1993. A 50,000year record of climate oscillations from Florida and its temporal correlation with the Heinrich events. Science 261, 198–200. Huntley, B., Watts, W.A., Allen, J.R.M., Zolitschka, B., 1999. Palaeoclimate, chronology and vegetation history of the Weichselian Lateglacial: comparative analysis of data from three cores at Lago Grande di Monticchio, southern Italy. Quatern. Sci. Rev. 18, 945–960. Mitchell, F.J.G. (Ed.), 2001. From Palaeoecology to Conservation: An Interdisciplinary Vision. Watts, W.A., 1957. Interglacial deposits at Kilbeg and Newtown, Co. Waterford. Proc. R. Irish Acad. Sect. B 60, 79–134. Watts, W.A., 1961. Post-Atlantic forests in Ireland. Proc. Linn. Soc. 172, 33–38. Watts, W.A., 1962. Early Tertiary pollen deposits in Ireland. Nature 193, 600. Watts, W.A., 1963. Late-glacial pollen zones in western Ireland. Irish Geogr. 4, 367–376.
121
Watts, W.A., 1967. Interglacial deposits in Kildromin Townland near Herbertstown Co. Limerick. Proc. R. Irish Acad. Sect. B-Biol. Geol. Chem. Sci. 65, 339. Watts, W.A., 1973. Rates of change and stability in vegetation in the perspective of long periods of time. In: Birks, H.J.B., West, R.G. (Eds.), Quaternary Plant Ecology. Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 195–206. Watts, W.A., 1977. Late Devensian vegetation of Ireland. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. 280, 273. Watts, W.A., 1979. Late Quaternary vegetation of Central Appalachia and the New Jersey coastal plain. Ecol. Monogr. 49, 427–469. Watts, W.A., 1980a. Late-Quaternary vegetation history at White Pond on the inner coastal plani of South Carolina. Quatern. Res. 13, 187–199. Watts, W.A., 1980b. The Late Quaternary vegetation history of the southeastern United States. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 11, 387–409. Watts, W.A., 1983. Vegetational history of the eastern United States 25,000 to 10,000 years ago. In: Porter, S.C. (Ed.), Late-Quaternary Environments of the United States. Vol. 1 The Late Pleistocene Minneapolis. University of Minnesota Press, pp. 294–310. Watts, W.A., 2008. William Watts: A Memoir. The Lilliput Press, Dublin. Watts, W.A., Allen, J.R.M., Huntley, B., 1996. Vegetation history and palaeoclimate of the last glacial period at Lago Grande di Monticchio, southern Italy. Quatern. Sci. Rev. 15, 133–153. Watts, W.A., Hansen, B.C.S., 1986. Holocene climate and vegetation of Bermuda. Pollen Spores 28, 355–364. Watts, W.A., Hansen, B.C.S., Grimm, E.C., 1992. Camel Lake — a 40000-yr record of vegetational and forest history from northwest Florida. Ecology 73, 1056–1066. Watts, W.A., Winter, T.C., 1966. Plant macrofossils from Kirchner Marsh Minnesota — a paleoecological study. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 77, 1339. Wright Jr., H.E., Watts, W.A., 1969. Glacial and vegetational history of northeastern Minnesota. Minnesota Geol. Surv., Spec. Publ. Series SP-11, 1–59.
Richard H.W. Bradshaw School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Roxby Building, Liverpool L69 7ZT, United Kingdom E-mail address: [email protected]. 21 June 2010
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / r ev p a l b o
Obituary
Prof. Dr. William A. Watts (1930–2010) Professor Bill Watts died suddenly on 26th April 2010 depriving Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Ireland and the international palaeoecological community of a skilled and cultured scientist with an intelligent breadth of interest, knowledge and experience that is remarkable. Bill was born on 26th May 1930 near Dublin docks but grew up in Athy a small country town south-west of Dublin. His father was an engineer with no secondary education but his mother, who did attend secondary school, helped with homework and encouraged Bill
in his early studies. He attended the local Protestant national school and his talents attracted the attention of a new teacher who coached him for a scholarship to St. Andrews, a Presbyterian school in Dublin. There was no money for the school fees, but Bill came top in the examination and was awarded seven years of free secondary schooling. This exam was probably the most important academic test of his life and laid the foundations of his subsequent career. He was interested in natural history but studied languages and literature
Plate 1. W.A. Watts, President of the Royal Irish Academy 1980–1982 (by permission of the Royal Irish Academy© RIA).
doi:10.1016/j.revpalbo.2010.06.011
120
Review of Paleobotany and Palynology 162 (2010) 119–121
and won the top scholarship to TCD for students from low-income families. He initially studied French and German at university winning a further scholarship that yielded college rooms and free meals. His chosen degree did not occupy him fully so he applied to study concurrently a second degree in Natural Sciences. During lectures in Botany and Geology he encountered David Webb, the distinguished taxonomist, and Frank Mitchell the Quaternary scientist and these two, particularly Frank, launched Bill into his subsequent academic career. Important legacies from these early mentors include Bill's enthusiasm for fieldwork and his excellent botanical knowledge. By 1953 Bill had graduated with two first class degrees (Modern Languages and Natural Sciences) and a preference for Quaternary palaeoecology. He was one of three candidates for a lectureship in Botany at University College Hull and worked there for two years, but on becoming liable for British military service, resigned his position and became research assistant to Frank Mitchell back at TCD. A Botany lecturer at TCD was awarded the vacant position at Hull and Bill became a Junior Lecturer in Botany eventually succeeding David Webb as Professor and Head of Department in 1965. One of Bill's first projects with Frank Mitchell involved study of the interglacial deposits at Kilbeg, County Waterford, which were rich in plant macrofossils and excited Bill's interest, drawing on his botanical expertise (Watts, 1957). Bill made the obligatory visit to the Danish Geological Survey in Copenhagen to brush up his palynology and subsequently studied a series of Irish Quaternary deposits combining macrofossil and pollen studies (Watts, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1967). Bill became intrigued by the rapid vegetational changes associated with the Late Glacial period, which was recorded in detail in Irish sediments, and achieved international recognition as a Late Glacial specialist (Watts, 1977). A major academic development came in 1961 with an invitation from Herb Wright to work in the Limnological Research Center of the University of Minnesota and deliver a graduate course on biogeography. A lifelong collaboration began between two remarkable characters who loved the rigours of fieldwork and had the appropriate body shape and mental attitude to form the heart of any soft sediment coring expedition (Wright and Watts, 1969). Bill subsequently visited the USA every year and about half of Bill's life list of over 70 publications is based on North American sites, often in collaboration with Eric Grimm and Barbara Hansen (Grimm et al., 1993; Watts and Hansen, 1986; Watts et al., 1992). He began working in the mid-west and published the classical macrofossil analysis of Kirchner Marsh with its clear indication of the movements of the prairie-forest boundary (Watts and Winter, 1966). His work developed from traditional plant geographical issues on to the question of the development of forest communities as they began their northward migration following the last glaciation (Watts, 1979, 1980a, b, 1983). Later, work in Florida brought a contemporary focus on climate change and the relationship of changes on land to changes in the North Atlantic circulation (Grimm et al., 1993). He was a visiting Professor at the University of Washington in 1978 and in 2008 was the first non-American based scientist ever presented with a prestigious Distinguished Career Award by AMQUA in recognition of the major influence he had on the development of palaeoecology in North America. In 1973 Bill contributed an important but neglected paper to Iversen's festschrift (Watts, 1973). He argued that pollen data could be used for quantitative analysis of plant invasions and population dynamics and that traditional palynological interpretation tended to focus more on stability rather than change. This thoughtful paper was ahead of its time and has been the acknowledged inspiration for important subsequent work on quantitative population dynamics of past tree populations (e.g. Bennett, 1983). As Bill had no maths qualification from school and was a reluctant computer user, the quantitative insights are all the more remarkable. Bill also maintained extensive European field activities and his quest for floristic
challenges and adventure led him to the Mediterranean. In collaboration with Brian Huntley, who held a post-doc with Bill, and subsequently Brian's colleague Judy Allen, Bill participated in a number of projects and coring expeditions to Spain, France and Italy (Allen et al., 1996, 2000, 2002; Huntley et al., 1999). The volcanic Lake Monticchio site has generated a valuable, long palaeoecological record, although the 102.3 m core was beyond the limits of Bill's own coring techniques and German expertise from Jürg Negendank's team was needed (Allen et al., 1999; Watts et al., 1996). Bill trained relatively few doctoral students but influenced the thinking of his peers and took a lively interest in the academic development of younger colleagues on both sides of the Atlantic. Seventy delegates attended a symposium in his honour at the Royal Irish Academy in 2001 and those palaeoecologists who acknowledge most direct influence in their careers include Brian Huntley, Eric Grimm, John Birks, Cathy Whitlock, Richard Bradshaw, Pete Coxon, Fraser Mitchell, Henry Lamb and George Jacobson. Gina Hannon was his research assistant during the 1980s. She was personally taught macrofossil analytical skills by Bill, which she subsequently used in her Scandinavian doctoral thesis, teaching and research. She is passing on his botanically grounded approach to macrofossil palaeoecology to a new generation of researchers. Bill had enormous intellectual energy, and just as he took degrees in the humanities and the sciences simultaneously, so later on he was not content with a normal international research and teaching career. Outreach came naturally to him and he had real impact on nature conservation policy in Ireland, acting as secretary and then chairman of An Taisce between 1966 and 69, when he was instrumental in protection of habitats in Killarney and his beloved Burren. Alan Craig, one of his doctoral students, led the major expansion of Irish National Parks from the Office of Public Works and part of the scientific background for Glenveagh National Park was researched by Michael Telford, another of Bill's students. His most significant achievements arguably date from between 1981 and 91 when he was the elected Provost of TCD and was concurrently President of the Royal Irish Academy (1982–85) (Plate 1). The Provost of TCD is a position with real power and importance within Ireland and he met several heads of state and was active in health politics. He sat on several Hospital Boards and chaired the Health Research Board, where he used his skills honed from argumentative University committees to reach some important decisions about Irish hospitals and medical research. His activities as Provost are well documented in his memoirs, which were the first to be written by a Provost of TCD (Watts, 2008). I am personally grateful for Bill's elevation to the top job at TCD as it opened a teaching position in Botany, which was my first university post. During my interview for tenure the committee was entertained by a lively private discussion on climate change and plant migration between Bill and myself which was more taxing than my earlier doctoral thesis defence, which Bill had also examined. Bill was the first scientist ever to lead TCD and he oversaw significant modernisation that has led to long-term benefits for research and teaching. He saw to it that palaeoecology was not neglected and TCD has remained as an important international centre. Part of the extensive wine cellars in the elegant Georgian Provost's house served as a core store and the kitchens became a sampling laboratory, where his assistant laboured, with support from the Provosts's butler, while Bill counted pollen in his study in between his political engagements. Bill's term as Provost ended when he was only 61. He increased his research efforts and retained interest in public life, most notably as Chairman of the Fota Trust which had responsibility for the conservation of the historic Fota House and Gardens in Co. Cork. His own festschrift provided an overview of his contributions to palaeoecology (Mitchell, 2001) and his memoirs document his life in an absorbing manner. His contributions to palaeoecology are many and visionary, including the classical palaeoecology of interglacials
Review of Paleobotany and Palynology 162 (2010) 119–121
and the Late Glacial period, the floristic palaeoecology of southeastern USA, insights into dynamic processes in vegetation, terrestrial-marine climatic teleconnections and the application of palaeoecology to conservation. His keen botanical eye and plant macrofossil identification skills underlie all his work. His colleagues will remember his modest and pragmatic good sense, his love of field and flora, his interest and support for junior colleagues and his silken, soothing lecturing voice. The breadth of achievement of this modest man in so many arenas is remarkable. References Allen, J.R.M., Brandt, U., Brauer, A., Hubberten, H.W., Huntley, B., Keller, J., Kraml, M., Mackensen, A., Mingram, J., Negendank, J.F.W., Nowaczyk, N.R., Oberhansli, H., Watts, W.A., Wulf, S., Zolitschka, B., 1999. Rapid environmental changes in southern Europe during the last glacial period. Nature 400, 740–743. Allen, J.R.M., Huntley, B., Watts, W.A., 1996. The vegetation and climate of northwest Iberia over the last 14000 yr. J. Quatern. Sci. 11, 125–147. Allen, J.R.M., Watts, W.A., Huntley, B., 2000. Weichselian palynostratigraphy, palaeovegetation and palaeoenvironment; the record from Lago Grande di Monticchio, southern Italy. Quatern. Int. 73–4, 91–110. Allen, J.R.M., Watts, W.A., McGee, E., Huntley, B., 2002. Holocene environmental variability — the record from Lago Grande di Monticchio, Italy. Quatern. Int. 88, 69–80. Bennett, K.D., 1983. Postglacial population expansion of forest trees in Norfolk, UK. Nature 303, 164–167. Grimm, E.C., Jacobson, G.L., Watts, W.A., Hansen, B.C.S., Maasch, K.A., 1993. A 50,000year record of climate oscillations from Florida and its temporal correlation with the Heinrich events. Science 261, 198–200. Huntley, B., Watts, W.A., Allen, J.R.M., Zolitschka, B., 1999. Palaeoclimate, chronology and vegetation history of the Weichselian Lateglacial: comparative analysis of data from three cores at Lago Grande di Monticchio, southern Italy. Quatern. Sci. Rev. 18, 945–960. Mitchell, F.J.G. (Ed.), 2001. From Palaeoecology to Conservation: An Interdisciplinary Vision. Watts, W.A., 1957. Interglacial deposits at Kilbeg and Newtown, Co. Waterford. Proc. R. Irish Acad. Sect. B 60, 79–134. Watts, W.A., 1961. Post-Atlantic forests in Ireland. Proc. Linn. Soc. 172, 33–38. Watts, W.A., 1962. Early Tertiary pollen deposits in Ireland. Nature 193, 600. Watts, W.A., 1963. Late-glacial pollen zones in western Ireland. Irish Geogr. 4, 367–376.
121
Watts, W.A., 1967. Interglacial deposits in Kildromin Townland near Herbertstown Co. Limerick. Proc. R. Irish Acad. Sect. B-Biol. Geol. Chem. Sci. 65, 339. Watts, W.A., 1973. Rates of change and stability in vegetation in the perspective of long periods of time. In: Birks, H.J.B., West, R.G. (Eds.), Quaternary Plant Ecology. Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 195–206. Watts, W.A., 1977. Late Devensian vegetation of Ireland. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. 280, 273. Watts, W.A., 1979. Late Quaternary vegetation of Central Appalachia and the New Jersey coastal plain. Ecol. Monogr. 49, 427–469. Watts, W.A., 1980a. Late-Quaternary vegetation history at White Pond on the inner coastal plani of South Carolina. Quatern. Res. 13, 187–199. Watts, W.A., 1980b. The Late Quaternary vegetation history of the southeastern United States. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 11, 387–409. Watts, W.A., 1983. Vegetational history of the eastern United States 25,000 to 10,000 years ago. In: Porter, S.C. (Ed.), Late-Quaternary Environments of the United States. Vol. 1 The Late Pleistocene Minneapolis. University of Minnesota Press, pp. 294–310. Watts, W.A., 2008. William Watts: A Memoir. The Lilliput Press, Dublin. Watts, W.A., Allen, J.R.M., Huntley, B., 1996. Vegetation history and palaeoclimate of the last glacial period at Lago Grande di Monticchio, southern Italy. Quatern. Sci. Rev. 15, 133–153. Watts, W.A., Hansen, B.C.S., 1986. Holocene climate and vegetation of Bermuda. Pollen Spores 28, 355–364. Watts, W.A., Hansen, B.C.S., Grimm, E.C., 1992. Camel Lake — a 40000-yr record of vegetational and forest history from northwest Florida. Ecology 73, 1056–1066. Watts, W.A., Winter, T.C., 1966. Plant macrofossils from Kirchner Marsh Minnesota — a paleoecological study. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 77, 1339. Wright Jr., H.E., Watts, W.A., 1969. Glacial and vegetational history of northeastern Minnesota. Minnesota Geol. Surv., Spec. Publ. Series SP-11, 1–59.
Richard H.W. Bradshaw School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Roxby Building, Liverpool L69 7ZT, United Kingdom E-mail address: [email protected]. 21 June 2010