Palynologist Interview Questions And Answers

Palynology is the "study of dust" or "particles that are strewn". A classic palynologist analyses particulate samples collected from the air, from water, or from deposits including sediments of any age.

A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, usually by a single author.

In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavorable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, fungi and protozoa. Bacterial spores are not part of a sexual cycle but are resistant structures used for survival under unfavourable conditions. Myxozoan spores release amoebulae into their hosts for parasitic infection, but also reproduce within the hosts through the pairing of two nuclei within the plasmodium, which develops from the amoebula.

Chitinozoa are a taxon of flask-shaped, organic walled marine microfossils produced by an as yet unknown animal. Common from the Ordovician to Devonian periods, the millimetre-scale organisms are abundant in almost all types of marine sediment across the globe. This wide distribution, and their rapid pace of evolution, makes them valuable biostratigraphic markers.

Kerogen is a mixture of organic chemical compounds that make up a portion of the organic matter in sedimentary rocks. It is insoluble in normal organic solvents because of the high molecular weight (upwards of 1,000 daltons or 1000 Da; 1Da= 1 atomic mass unit) of its component compounds. The soluble portion is known as bitumen. When heated to the right temperatures in the Earth's crust, some types of kerogen release crude oil or natural gas, collectively known as hydrocarbons (fossil fuels). When such kerogens are present in high concentration in rocks such as shale, they form possible source rocks. Shales rich in kerogens that have not been heated to a warmer temperature to release their hydrocarbons may form oil shale deposits.

The stamen is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium.

The Pinophyta, also known as Coniferophyta or Coniferae, or commonly as conifers, are a division of vascular land plants containing a single class, Pinopsida. They are gymnosperms, cone-bearing seed plants. All extant conifers are perennial woody plants with secondary growth. The great majority are trees, though a few are shrubs. Examples include cedars, Douglas firs, cypresses, firs, junipers, kauri, larches, pines, hemlocks, redwoods, spruces, and yews. As of 1998, the division Pinophyta was estimated to contain eight families, 68 genera, and 629 living species.

Palypaleonology includes the fields of stratigraphic palynology, archaeological palynology, and environmental palynology. Palynomorphs studied are specifically fossil remains of non-extant life forms.

Environmental palynology is the study of palynomorphs (identification, distribution, and abundance) concerned with determining past changes in the biota, climate, or geology (specifically surface geology). Subdivisions include quaternary palynology and archaeological palynology.

Pollination ecology studies the distribution of pollen (wind-born or transported by animals) and the efficiency of pollen fertilisation.

Foraminifera are members of a phylum or class of amoeboid protists characterized by streaming granular ectoplasm that among other things is used for catching food, and commonly by an external shell or "test" made of various materials and constructed in diverse forms. All but perhaps a very few are aquatic and most are marine, the majority of which live on or within the seafloor sediment while a smaller variety are floaters in the water column at various depths. A few are known from freshwater or brackish conditions and some soil species have been identified through molecular analysis of small subunit ribosomal DNA.

The Ordovician is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.2 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period 485.4 million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period 443.8 Mya. The Ordovician, named after the Celtic tribe of the Ordovices, was defined by Charles Lapworth in 1879 to resolve a dispute between followers of Adam Sedgwick and Roderick Murchison, who were placing the same rock beds in northern Wales into the Cambrian and Silurian periods, respectively. Lapworth, recognized that the fossil fauna in the disputed strata were different from those of either the Cambrian or the Silurian periods, and placed them in a period of their own. It received international sanction in 1960, when it was adopted as an official period of the Paleozoic Era by the International Geological Congress.

Palynomorphs are broadly defined as organic-walled microfossils between 5 and 500 micrometres in size. They are extracted from sedimentary rocks and sediment cores both physically, by ultrasonic treatment and wet sieving, and chemically, by chemical digestion to remove the non-organic fraction. Palynomorphs may be composed of organic material such as chitin, pseudochitin and sporopollenin. Palynomorphs that have a taxonomy description are sometimes referred to as palynotaxa.

Hypericum is a genus of flowering plants in the family Hypericaceae (formerly often considered a subfamily of Clusiaceae). Hypericum is unusual for a genus of its size because a worldwide taxonomic monograph was produced for it.

Palynologist Or Palynology is the study of plant pollen, spores and certain microscopic plankton organisms (collectively termed palynomorphs) in both living and fossil form.

Pollen is a fine to coarse powdery substance comprising pollen grains which are male microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophytes during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants or from the male cone to the female cone of coniferous plants. If pollen lands on a compatible pistil or female cone, it germinates, producing a pollen tube that transfers the sperm to the ovule containing the female gametophyte. Individual pollen grains are small enough to require magnification to see detail. The study of pollen is called palynology and is highly useful in paleoecology, paleontology, archaeology, and forensics.

The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic, spanning 60 million years from the end of the Silurian, 419.2 million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, 358.9 Mya. It is named after Devon, England, where rocks from this period were first studied. The first significant adaptive radiation of life on dry land occurred during the Devonian. Free-sporing vascular plants began to spread across dry land, forming extensive forests which covered the continents. By the middle of the Devonian, several groups of plants had evolved leaves and true roots, and by the end of the period the first seed-bearing plants appeared. Various terrestrial arthropods also became well-established. Fish reached substantial diversity during this time, leading the Devonian to often be dubbed the "Age of Fish". The first ray-finned and lobe-finned bony fish appeared, while the placodermi began dominating almost every known aquatic environment.

Diatoms are a major group of algae, and are among the most common types of phytoplankton. Diatoms are unicellular, although they can form colonies in the shape of filaments or ribbons (e.g. Fragilaria), fans (e.g. Meridion), zigzags (e.g. Tabellaria), or stars (e.g. Asterionella). The first diatom formally described in scientific literature, the colonial Bacillaria paradoxa, was found in 1783 by Danish naturalist Otto Friedrich Müller. Diatoms are producers within the food chain. A unique feature of diatom cells is that they are enclosed within a cell wall made of silica (hydrated silicon dioxide) called a frustule. These frustules show a wide diversity in form, but are usually almost bilaterally symmetrical, hence the group name. The symmetry is not perfect since one of the valves is slightly larger than the other, allowing one valve to fit inside the edge of the other. Fossil evidence suggests that they originated during, or before, the early Jurassic period. Only male gametes of centric diatoms are capable of movement by means of flagella. Diatom communities are a popular tool for monitoring environmental conditions, past and present, and are commonly used in studies of water quality.

The spermatophytes, also known as phanerogams or phenogamae, comprise those plants that produce seeds, hence the alternative name seed plants. They are a subset of the embryophytes or land plants. The term phanerogams or phanerogamae is derived from the Greek, phanerós meaning "visible", in contrast to the cryptogamae from Greek kryptós = "hidden" together with the suffix, gameein, "to marry". These terms distinguished those plants with hidden sexual organs (cryptogamae) from those with visible sexual organs (phanerogamae).

Forensic palynology, the science of legal evidence derived from the study of pollen and spores.

Mellisopalynology is the study of pollen in honey and other materials derived from bees.

☛ Do you know anyone who works with our company?
☛ Do you work well under pressure?
☛ What is more important to you: the money or the work?
☛ Example when you went above and beyond the call of duty.
☛ Do you prefer to work independently or on a team?

Note down your answers. These may be useful later if the interviewers wish to confirm any answer with you as they forget or wish to discuss more. Provide truthful answers to Palynologist interview questions and exude confidence when speaking.
Talk about specific work related experience for the position you're interviewing for.

☛ What three character traits would your friends use to describe you?
☛ What support training would you require to be able to do this job?
☛ What type of work environment do you prefer?
☛ What do you think this position involves.
☛ Who has impacted you most in your career and how?

Try to include improvement activities that relate to the job. Give an example that relates to the type of position applied for. Answer Palynologist interview questions with confidence and maintain proper eye contact with the interviewer.

☛ Tell me about how you worked effectively under pressure.
☛ Has anything ever irritated you about people you've worked with?
☛ What kinds of situations do you find most stressful?
☛ What kind of personality do you work best with and why?☛ Give examples of ideas you've had or implemented.
If you can come up with an example that relates to the position you're applying for that would be even better. Have some good ones handy to mention.
Discuss any attributes that may set you apart from other job candidates.

☛ Tell me about a difficult experience you had in working.
☛ What was the most complex assignment you have had?
☛ When given an important assignment, how do you approach it?
☛ What were your annual goals at your most current employer?
☛ Did you feel you progressed satisfactorily in your last job?