I am a vertebrate paleoecologist and paleobiologist. My research focuses on the connections between changes in climate and habitats through Earth history and changes in the species composition and ecological structure of organismal communities. Most of my projects focus on Cenozoic ecosystems over the last 65 million years and modern ecosystems with an emphasis on mammalian communities. My research is expressly interdisciplinary and relies on data, methods, and theory from geochemistry, sedimentary geology, traditional paleontology, ecology, evolutionary biology, comparative anatomy, and biogeography. The primary tools I use to examine the connections between environmental and organismal change are the elemental and stable isotope geochemistry of various materials (sedimentary minerals and organic matter; teeth, bones, and other tissues of fossil and modern organisms), the biogeography of modern and fossil mammals, and quantitative analyses of the three dimensional morphology of the teeth, jaws, and skulls of modern and fossil and modern mammals.

The degree to which environmental change or biotic interactions control the evolution of ecosystems on long timescales remains a central focus in paleobiology. One set of theories holds that community change is driven by species adapting or responding individually to unpredictable changes in non-biological conditions, whether climatic or tectonic (e.g., Vrba’s turnover pulse and Barnosky’s Court Jester hypotheses). The alternative view is that ecological interactions within communities are the primary factors that drive community evolution (e.g., Van Valen’s Red Queen hypothesis). Which type of model will fit for given ecosystems through time is an empirical question that requires detailed study of disparate systems, although given the contingent nature of history, it is unlikely that only one model will apply to all ecosystems. An understanding of both climatic and habitat change in past ecosystems is necessary to examine the relative influences of physical environmental change and ecological change in driving ecosystem dynamics. Thus, my research focuses on case studies in which independent environmental records of climate and/or habitat change can be developed and compared to records of community response in terms of ecological organization and morphological evolution. As we await the full extent of anthropogenic climate change over the next few human generations, understanding past connections between environmental change and biotic response gains currency as a means of understanding the potential impact of impending changes on today’s biota.

Current courses

ESCI 4103W - Fossil Record and Evolution of Mammals (Fall, even years)
ESCI 4102W - Vertebrate Paleontology (Fall, odd years)
ESCI 3911 - Introductory Field Geology (Summer)
ESCI 2202 - Earth History (Spring)
ESCI 1007 - From Microbes to Mammoths (Fall)

Past courses

GEO 8990 - Stable Isotopes in Terrestrial Paleoecology
GEO 8990 - Structure and Stratigraphy of North America
GEO 8980 - Matters of Time
GEO 3890 - Field Methods Workshop
GEO 1901 - Ice Age Extinctions

Course designators changed from GEO to ESCI in 2010 when the department name changed.

I am an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church and in this capacity I have officiated the weddings of several friends and colleagues over the years.

Stephen and Rene Schellenberg
Gabriel and Brenda Beitler Bowen
Peter and Nikki Rose
Rory McFadden and Caroline Lee
Seth Kruckenberg and Nancy Ramer