The fifth International Symposium on Palaeolimnology was held at Ambleside in the English Lake District from August 31 to September 6, 1989. During the 65 papers were presented at seven sessions and 52 posters symposium displayed. Three late afternoon/evening special lectures were given, one of which was a memorial to the late Ed. Deevey, to whom this volume is dedicated. Associated with the symposium were five excursions to various parts of the UK and Ireland, and a visit to the laboratories of the Freshwater Biological Association and Institute of Freshwater Ecology. Conference participants were also invited to a buffet party and visit to the Lake District National Park Centre at Brockhole as the guests of the Park Authority. The local organising committee for the symposium also formed the editorial panel for this volume. They included: Peter Appleby, Rick Battarbee, John Dearing, Roger Flower, Elizabeth Haworth, Frank Oldfield, Paddy O'Sullivan and John Smith. Support for the conference is gratefully acknowledged from the following organisations; The Royal Society Department of the Environment US Army European Research Office Barclays Bank Central Electricity Generating Board Lake District Special Planning Board South Lakeland District Council Charlotte Mason College Molspin Limited The conference is also indebted to the many individuals who provided such effective help in the preparation and smooth running of the programme. J. P. SMITH May 1991 Hydrobiologia 214: 1-7, 1991.

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Obituary: Edward Smith Deevey (1914-1988).- Palaeolimnology in the English Lakes - some questions and answers over fifty years.- Accuracy and precision in sediment chronology.- 241Am dating of lake sediments.- Accuracies in Po-210 determination for lead-210 dating.- How long was the Younger Dryas? Preliminary evidence from annually laminated sediments of Soppensee (Switzerland).- Absolute dating of late Quaternary Lacustrine sediments by high resolution varve chronology.- The record of deposition of radionuclides in the sediments of Ponsonby Tarn, Cumbria.- Deposition and transport of radionuclides within an upland drainage basin in mid-Wales.- Progress in understanding the chemical stratigraphy of metals in lake sediments in relation to acidic precipitation.- Spheroidal carbonaceous particles as a marker for recent sediment distribution.- Magnetic spherules in recent lake sediments.- Lake sediment records of erosional processes.- A multidisciplinary study of the lake Bjäresjösjön (S Sweden): land-use history, soil erosion, lake trophy and lake-level fluctuations during the last 3000 years.- Paleolimnology of Slapton Ley, Devon, UK.- Sequential inorganic chemical analysis of a core from Slapton Ley, Devon, UK.- Sediment characteristics in relation to cultivation history in two varved lake sediments from East Finland.- The influence of land use on the sedimentation of the river delta in the Kyrönjoki drainage basin.- Heavy metals (Cu and Zn) in recent sediments of Llangorse Lake, Wales: non-ferrous smelting, Napoleon and the price of wheat - a palaeoecological study.- A comparative study of heavy metal contamination and pollution in four Reservoirs in the English Midlands, UK.- Sedimentary diatom concentrations and accumulation rates as predictors of lake trophic state.- The sediment column as a record of trophic status: examples from Bosherston Lakes, SW Wales.- Recent changes to upland tarns in the English Lake District.- Palaeolimnological study of an environmental monitoring area, or, Are there pristine lakes in Finland?.- The eutrophication history of Lake Särkinen, Finland and the effects of lake aeration.- Are we building enough bridges between paleolimnology and aquatic ecology?.- Weichselian chironomid and cladoceran assemblages from maar lakes.- Stratigraphy of the fossil Chironomidae (Diptera) from Lake Grasmere, South Island, New Zealand, during the last 6000 years.- Modern assemblages of arctic and alpine Chironomidae as analogues for late-glacial communities.- Paleolimnology of Neusiedlersee, Austria: the succession of ostracods.- Palaeolimnology of Neusiedlersee - II: the distribution of nutrients and trace metals.- Paleolimnological investigation of three manipulated lakes from Sudbury, Canada.- Dominant diatoms in the interglacial lake sediments of the Middle Pleistocene in Central and Eastern Poland.- Fossil diatom inferred reconstruction of the pH history of two acidic, clear water lakes from insular Newfoundland, Canada.- Taphonomy and diagenesis in diatom assemblages; a Late Pleistocene palaeoecological study from Lake Magadi, Kenya.- Palaeolimnological aspects of a Late-Glacial shallow lake in Sandy Flanders, Belgium.- Palaeolimnological studies of laminated sediments from the Shropshire-Cheshire meres.- Paleolimnological studies using sequential lipid extraction from recent lacustrine sediment: recognition of source organisms from biomarkers.- Vegetation change and pollen recruitment in a lowland lake catchment: Groby Pool, Leics (England).- Seasonal changes in sedimenting material collected by high aspect ratio sediment traps operated in a holomictic eutrophic lake.- Paleolimnology of a Polar Oasis, Truelove Lowland, Devon Island, N.W.T., Canada.- An environmental history of two freshwater lakes in the Larsemann Hills, Antarctica.- Paleolimnology of Qilu Hu, Yunnan Province, China.- Sedimentary features and the evolution of lake Honghu, central China.- Palaeolakes of the south central Sahara - problems of palaeoclimatological interpretation.- Holocene environments in the central Sahara.- Chronology of the major palaeohydrological events in NW Africa during the late Quaternary: PALHYDAF results.- Paleolimnology, William Morris and The Magic Flute.