Quaternary Plant Ecology Laboratory
(QPEL)
The Quaternary Plant Ecology Laboratory at the University of Wyoming is
a facility for investigating dynamics of plant populations and communities at
timescales of decades to millennia during the last million years of earth
history. Understanding these dynamics is fundamental to ecology, biogeography,
paleoclimatology, earth system history, and land management. We use evidence
from pollen, plant macrofossils, and charcoal preserved in sediments of lakes,
wetlands, and packrat middens to study vegetational and climatic changes at
timescales of centuries to millennia. Analysis of tree-rings, historical
photographs, and age-structure of existing plant populations are used to study
changes at finer timescales (decades to centuries). Research in the laboratory
is currently funded by the National Science Foundation (Ecology and Paleoclimate
Programs), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Climate and
Global Change Program), and the United States Geological Survey (Biological
Resources Division).
Ongoing projects in the laboratory include:
The QPEL is the home of the North
American Plant Macrofossil Database, an international data cooperative aimed
at compiling and distributing Quaternary plant macrofossil data for use in
paleoclimatic, biogeographic, and other studies. The laboratory has a long
history of pollen-vegetation calibration studies. FAGERLND,
a program for pollen-vegetation calibration using the Extended R-value Models,
and sample data sets are distributed by the laboratory. We are currently
compiling a Pollen-Vegetation
Calibration Database for distribution.
FACULTY / STAFF
Stephen
T. Jackson, Associate Professor of Botany
- Research Interests
My research is aimed at understanding how plant species and communities
respond to environmental changes at time scales of decades to millennia. These
responses range from local population dynamics to continental-scale species
migrations, and are studied using paleoecological approaches (pollen,
plant-macrofossil, and charcoal analysis of lake and wetland sediments).
- Academic
Background and Selected Publications
Jane
M. Beiswenger, Adjunct Professor of Botany
Sharon Stewart, MS
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Mark Lyford, Ph.D
Jodi Norris, MS
Steve Gray, MS
- Research Interests
My research centers on how land-use and the physical environment influence
vegetation cover. In particular, I’m interested in how climate
interacts with factors such as grazing and fire to control the distribution of
cover-types at landscape to regional scales. The grassland-shrubland
ecotone (in both the local and regional sense) provides an ideal setting to
study land-cover change. Changes at the grass-shrub ecotone, especially
the invasion of grasslands by woody plants, often occur within a tractable
time frame (10-100 years), and are easily identified using methods such as
tree-ring dating and aerial photography. In addition, dramatic ecosystem
consequences often accompany the transition from grassland to full-canopied
woodland. Studying the invasion of grasslands by woody species allows me
to address questions including:
- How does dispersal mode affect patterns (spatial and temporal) of plant
invasions?
- How do plant invasions affect landscape structure?
- What are the ecosystem-level effects of cover change?
- What factors control regional distributions of woody plants?
- How do plant migrations proceed at various spatial and temporal scales?
- To address these and other questions, I employ a variety of remote
sensing, geographic information systems (GIS), computer modeling, and
dendro-ecological techniques.
Robert Booth, MS
- Research Interests
- My research interests are within the fields of ecology, paleoecology,
and paleoclimatology. The
primary objective of my research is to gain a better understanding of
ecological and hydrological responses to environmental variability at
timescales ranging from years to millennia. The
western Great Lakes region is the focus of most of my current research.
I have also worked on the southeastern Coastal Plain and recently I
initiated studies in the Rocky Mountains.
I am currently pursuing three inter-related areas of study:
- Understanding
past patterns and rates of wetland and terrestrial vegetation
response to both natural and human-caused environmental variability.
- The
reconstruction of past climatic variability using the paleoclimate
archive preserved in peatland sediments.
- The
distribution and modern ecology of wetland-inhabiting testate
amoebae and their applications in wetland management, restoration,
and paleoecology.
- Academic Background and
Selected Publications
PICTURES
OF THE QUATERNARY PLANT
ECOLOGY
LAB AT WORK AND PLAY
The Dearly Departed ... gone but not forgotten
Chengyu Weng, Ph.D.
Chengyu is currently a post-doctoral research associate at the Florida
Institute of Technology, where he is working on Quaternary paleoecology and
paleoclimatology of the Neotropics.
- Quaternary Paleoecology and paleoclimatology
- Anatomical study of spruce needles
- Biogeography of spruce and its response to climate changes
- Reconstruction of the interaction between vegetation and fire events
using charcoal records
Christopher L. Fastie, Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Chris is in the Biology Department at Middlebury College. He
continues his association with the QPEL by collaborating on tree-ring studies in
Wyoming and Montana.
Timothy W. Chumley, MS
Tim is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in plant systematics and evolution at
the University of Texas.
Darren K. Singer, MS
Darren is currently teaching high school chemistry and biology in northern
Massachusetts and working as an independent environmental consultant.
Jennifer B. Kearsley, MS
Jennifer Kearsley is currently employed as a wetland and forest ecologist
by the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program in
Westborough, MA. In Fall 1999 she began medical school at the University
of Connecticut.
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Questions? Comments?
Contact Steve Jackson at jackson@uwyo.edu
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