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:
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Vegetation and climate of eastern North America since the Last Glacial Maximum
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Vegetation-sensing properties of pollen and plant macrofossil data
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Holocene vegetation and climate history of the Colorado Plateau
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, Professor
of Botany
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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).
Jane M. Beiswenger, Adjunct Professor of Botany
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Steve Gray, MS
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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.
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Research Interests
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Research Interests
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Research Interests
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Multiple Successional Pathways
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Successional Chronosequences
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Tree Invasion and Migration
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Forest Disturbance and Recovery
Robert Booth, MS
My research interests
currently lie within the fields of ecology and paleoecology. I am
interested in the long-term dynamics of wetland plant communities,
particularly the responses of these plant communities to environmental
perturbation (e.g. climate change, anthropogenic disturbance).
Presently, I am investigating the development
and dynamics of Lake Superior coastal wetlands using the
applications of macrofossil, pollen, testate amoeba, and charcoal
analysis. By comparing the paleoecological records preserved in
wetlands of different ages and different hydrologic regimes, the factors
controlling past wetland plant community composition are being
examined. The paleoecological records of these wetlands are also being
compared with lake pollen records in the Lake Superior region. These
comparisons allow the differentiation of autogenic (succesional) and
allogenic (e.g., climate) factors governing wetland development, and
facilitate the evaluation of past wetland sensitivity to climate
change. Long-term ecological perspectives of this kind have direct
implications for wetlands management and restoration as well as for the
prediction of wetland responses under models of future climate change.
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.
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Quaternary Paleoecology and paleoclimatology |
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Anatomical study of spruce needles |
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Biogeography of spruce and its response to climate changes |
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Reconstruction of the interaction between vegetation and fire events using charcoal records |
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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 Massachussets and working as 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.
[Data
Contribution][NAPMD
Home Page]
Contact Steve Jackson at jackson@uwyo.edu