Karin A.F. Zonneveld,^1,* Vera Pospelova<sup>2,**

1</sup>aMARUM Center of Marine Environmental Sciences, FB 5-Geowissenschaften, University of Bremen, Postfa
²bSchool of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, PO Box 1700, STN CSC Victoria, BC, Cana

^* Karin Zonneveld is a senior scientist at the Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen, Germany, where she leads the Marine Palynology Division in the Department of Marine Micropalaeontology. She received her PhD from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, and her Habilitation from the University of Bremen. Karin's research is multidisciplinary, and combines marine palynology with biological and geological palaeoceanography, environmental science and organic geochemistry. The focus of her research is on the application and development of marine palynomorphs, notably dinoflagellate cysts, as tools to establish palaeoenvironmental and palaeoceanographic reconstructions. In particular, Karin is interested in the effects of variable environmental conditions on the geographical distribution, preservation and production of palynomorphs. The work on preservation levels includes the study of the effects of early diagenetic processes on the organic geochemical characteristics of the palynomorphs.
^** Vera Pospelova is an Associate Professor at the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. She received her BSc in geology from Novosibirsk University in Russia, and her PhD from McGill University, Quebec, Canada. Vera's research is multidisciplinary, and encompasses biological and geological oceanography, environmental science and sedimentary geology. She applies her palynological skills in palaeoenvironmental studies on a variety of domestic and international research projects. These include the taxonomy of late Quaternary dinoflagellate cysts, the seasonal dynamics of dinoflagellates and their cysts in the coastal eastern North Pacific, the use of dinoflagellate cysts as indicators of water quality (with emphasis on eutrophication and pollution in North American estuaries) and palaeoceanographical reconstructions using dinoflagellate cysts.