Profile

Career

2009-ongoing	PhD Student	Environment Department, University of York
2005-2007	MSc Botany	Department of Botany, Chulalongkorn University (Thailand)
2001-2004	BSc (Hons) Biology	Department of Biology, Prince of Songkla University (Thailand)

Research

Overview

Description of PhD

Title: Holocene mangrove dynamics and sea level change: records from the East African coast.

Supervisor(s): Dr Rob Marchant, Dr Katherine Selby

TAC: Dr Colin McClean

Funding: The Royal Thai Government Scholarship

Description of Thesis 

Sea levels have fluctuated throughout geological time resulting in invading and retreating of sea water across coastal plains. Mangrove communities can be used as the indicators of coastal changes because most plants of mangrove community are perfectly adapted to sea water and respond to fluctuations in tidal regime. Mangrove also shows a strong plant zonation and environmental gradients that can be related to changes through time (vertically) in cores of sediment that will be collected from the field site. 

My research interest is focused on the study of past environments by means of pollen analysis. My current PhD project is the study on mangrove dynamics and sea level changes particularly in coastal areas of Tanzania (Zanzibar Island and Rufiji delta) and Kenya (Mida Creek). One of the study areas is Rufiji Delta which is the largest mangrove area in East Africa and we work in collaboration with WWF- Tanzania. This research is aimed to elucidate how mangrove responds to Late Quaternary environmental changes including sea level changes. Pollen and diatoms analysis is used to interpret the past environment and to reconstruct sea level during late Holocene. In addition to understanding the impacts of past climate changes, the result will provide the possible connections to the settlement and ensuing cultural use along the East African coastal areas.

Publications

Full publications list

Punwong, P. 2008. Pollen deposit in Bangkok clay from Ong Kharak district, Nakhon Nayok province, and their implication on paleophytogeography. Unpublished MSc thesis. Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.

Songtham, W., Punwong, P. and Seelanan, T. 2007. Middle Holocene peat and mollusk shells from Ongkharak area, Nakhon Nayok, Central Thailand: evidence of in situ deposits during a marine transgression period. GEOTHAI 2007 International Conference on Geology of Thailand: Towards Sustainable Development and Sufficiency Economy. Department of Mineral Resources, Bangkok.