TITLE:

Personal connections: Forensic botany and plant fossils of Vancouver and SFU

TIME OF TALK:  

11:30 – 12:30 PM

DATE OF TALK:

September 20, 2016

VENUE:

SFU Burnaby Campus, Halpern Centre, Rm 114

SPEAKER:

Rolf Mathewes, Department of Biology, Simon Fraser University

ABSTRACT:

As a charter student in Biological Sciences (1965-1969), every day I witnessed new excavations and construction at the Burnaby campus.  Before the Mackenzie Cafeteria was built, a large excavation at the east side of the quadrangle exposed a cliff of sandstone and a thick deposit of grey shale with fossil impressions of leaves and other plant parts.  Prof. Robert (Bob) Brooke brought these fossils to my attention, since I was working part time in his ecophysiology laboratory.  We made collections of these fossils whenever we could after construction ceased, and before the exposure was covered over.  SFU sits at the top of what was known as the Kitsilano Formation of late Eocene age, which sits on top of the older Eocene Burrard Formation that underlies much of Vancouver.   These two formations are now united into one, called the Huntingdon Formation, spanning the Eocene (~ 55-34 million years ago).  The collections we made in the late 1960’s are finally being studied, and reveal an interesting story of a very different forest and climate from today, using both macrofossils and microscopic pollen and spores.

This experience began a long fascination and ultimate professional interest in plant fossils, often fragmented and poorly preserved, but still identifiable.  After coming back to SFU as an assistant professor in 1975, my research on vegetation history and climate was focused more on postglacial rather than Eocene history.  Working with fragmentary and microscopic plant bits apparently pre-adapted me to working with fragmentary and microscopic plant bits in forensic investigations, including murder.  A chance encounter with entomologist Prof. John Borden in 1986 involved me in my first forensic botany investigation.  Since that time, I continue to be involved in forensic investigations with the RCMP, VPD, and other agencies, and have testified in a landmark case, the murder of Heather Thomas in 2000, where botany was a key element in convicting her murderer.  Without my previous experience in paleobotany, I doubt that forensic botany would be on my cv. 

BIO:

Rolf Mathewes is a Professor in Paleoecology & Palynology at Simon Fraser University. His research combines approaches from biology, the earth sciences, and archaeology, and focuses on reconstructing past environmental changes in western Canada. Some of his current projects include the postglacial forest and climate history of coastal British Columbia, particularly the Queen Charlotte Islands, continental shelf and at the subalpine/alpine transition in the mountains. Fossil evidence on the "Canadian Galapagos" is being analyzed to try and resolve the controversy of whether or not a  refuge for plants and animals existed there during the last glaciation, and also how and why peatlands have replaced postglacial forests in many lowland areas. For more details check link at: https://www.sfu.ca/biology/people/profiles/mathewes.html