Preparing photographic plates of palynomorphs in the digital age

ABSTRACT

It is essential that palynologists adequately and effectively illustrate the specimens they study. The best way to do this for formal publication is to prepare ‘plates’ (montages) of photomicrographs. This now somewhat arcane term originated as a reference to the use of copper/steel and then glass plates in pre-film photography. In order to maximise visual impact and information, plates of palynomorphs should be prepared with utmost care. If assembled so that, for example, the images are arranged neatly with consistent orientations, and depict the best preserved and most representative specimens available with minimum extraneous palynodebris, the plate will have enhanced aesthetic appeal and, crucially, the scientific significance of the association being illustrated will be greatly enhanced. Specifically, the material will be effective as an identification guide, and facilitate further interpretations. Plates today are assembled digitally; accordingly, the user must have access to suitable software, and be able to use it effectively.

KEYWORDS:

• Imaging
• microscopy
• photographic plates
• photography
• presentation of images
• production guide

Acknowledgments

Robert A. Fensome (Geological Survey of Canada, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia), Clinton B. Foster (Geoscience Australia, Canberra, ACT, Australia), Jan A.I. Hennissen (British Geological Survey, Nottingham, UK) and Geoffrey Playford (University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) are all warmly thanked for their incisive and perceptive comments on early drafts of this article. James B. Riding publishes with the approval of the Executive Director, British Geological Survey (NERC). Martin J. Head acknowledges support from a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

James B. Riding

JAMES B. RIDING is a palynologist with the British Geological Survey (BGS), based in Nottingham, England, UK. His start in the subject was the famous MSc course in palynology at the University of Sheffield directed by Roger Neves. After Sheffield, Jim left for BGS, where his research interests include the Mesozoic–Cenozoic palynology of the world, palaeoenvironmental palynology, palynomorph floral provinces, forensic palynology, preparation techniques, the history of palynology, and the morphology, systematics and taxonomy of dinoflagellate cysts. He is currently the President of The Micropalaeontological Society.

Martin J. Head

MARTIN J. HEAD is a professor of earth sciences at Brock University in Canada, a position he has held since 2005. He was previously at the University of Cambridge, and before that the University of Toronto where he maintains an affiliation. Martin was introduced to academic geology in high school in the late 1960s, when continental drift was no more than an ‘interesting hypothesis’. He fell under the spell of palynology as an undergraduate at Aston University in Birmingham. Palaeontology at Aston was taught at the undergraduate level by Mavis Butterworth, who required students to identify Carboniferous miospores and assign each assemblage to its particular biostratigraphical zone – a captivating exercise. After doctoral research at the University of Aberdeen under the supervision of David Batten, Martin moved to Toronto in 1985 where he spent 14 years working with Geoff Norris. Martin's interests include late Cenozoic stratigraphy, palaeoceanography and marine palynology; and particularly the late Cenozoic record of dinoflagellate cysts and acritarchs. He initiated AASP's website in 1995 and was President in 2004–2005, seeing the journal Palynology become listed in the Science Citation Index and its move to an online presence.