Career
Vaupell did macrofossil analysis of peat deposits and showed that in the Holocene development of temperate forest communities in Denmark, Betula was the chief early pioneer, followed by Pinus and Quercus and finally Fagus, which dominates today. These investigations pioneered the study of ecological succession. Besides studies of Holocene vegetation change and plant successions, Vaupell did pioneering investigations of palaeoecology as well as microscopy of plant anatomy and vegetative reproduction.