Our Team is Growing!
We are happy to announce that Dr. Carlos Jaramillo, and Dr. Jaime Escobar will be joining us on the field in Colombia!
Carlos Jaramillo is a staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. His work focuses on reconstructing the deep-time history of tropical ecosystems in order to better understand the drivers of biodiversity, and predict future response to climate change. Carlos uses multiple research tools, among which palynology, the study of fossil pollen.
Jaime Escobar is a an Assistant Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development at Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla, in Colombia. His works focuses on the relationship between climate and environment in the tropics and subtropics over different time scales. Among various research tools, Jaime employs stable isotope analysis.
FOSSIL POLLEN ANALYSIS
Like phytoliths, pollen is produced by plants and preserved in old sediments and soils. The shape of pollen grains is characteristic of the plant type that produce them Therefore, fossil pollen can be used to reconstruct past vegetation (Davis 1963).
STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS
Different types of plants have different “carbon isotopic signatures” (called ∂13C ) meaning that they contain different proportions of light and heavy versions (12C, and 13C) of the isotope of carbon within the organic compounds that form their tissues. The ∂13C of a plant depends on environmental and ecological factors. Therefore different plant types have distinctive carbon isotopic signatures. These signatures are preserved in ancient sediments and soils (where plant material accumulates over time) and can be used by paleoecologist to reconstruct past vegetation (Cerling et al. 1989).
COMBINING PHYTOLITHS, POLLEN, AND CARBON ISOTOPE ANALYSIS
In addition to phytoliths, we will also study the pollen and carbon isotope content of our soil samples.By comparing results from pollen, phytoliths, and carbon isotope analysis we can test whether they are equally good at reconstructing the standing vegetation.
This will help us figure out how we can combine these three tools together to improve the way we reconstruct past vegetation and ecosystems.
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