DEPARTMENT OF EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCES

I am using paleolimnological tools to reconstruct climate during the last glacial-interglacial transition in Northern Illinois to understand regional linkages between temperature and hydroclimate during abrupt climate change. Specifically, I am using chironomid species assemblages to reconstruct temperature and oxygen isotopes on lacustrine carbonates to reconstruct variations in precipitation/evaporation balance. I am also using chironomids to reconstruct temperature changes in New England during the glacial-interglacial transition to understand synoptic responses to abrupt climate change across North America; this work will also assist in understanding human-climate interactions in New England at the end of the last glacial period.