A5074091475- Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
- Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
- Isotope Analysis in Ecology
- Evolution and Paleontology Studies
- Genetic diversity and population structure
- Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies
- Indigenous Studies and Ecology
- Bat Biology and Ecology Studies
- Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies
- Ecology and biodiversity studies
- Geological and Geophysical Studies Worldwide
- Marine animal studies overview
- Yersinia bacterium, plague, ectoparasites research
- Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond
- Animal and Plant Science Education
- Identification and Quantification in Food
- Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Climate Change Communication and Perception
- Chromosomal and Genetic Variations
- Aeolian processes and effects
- Wildlife-Road Interactions and Conservation
- Archaeological and Geological Studies
- Gut microbiota and health
Middlebury College
2021-2025
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
2019-2024
University of Oklahoma
2020-2023
National Museum of Natural History
2023
Smithsonian Institution
2023
Stanford University
2014-2022
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
2017-2021
Hokkaido University
2019-2020
Hudson Institute
2019
John Wiley & Sons (United States)
2019
The extensive postglacial mammal losses in the West Indies provide an opportunity to evaluate extinction dynamics, but limited data have hindered our ability test hypotheses. Here, we analyze tempo and dynamics of using a novel set faunal last-appearance dates human first-appearance dates, demonstrating widespread overlap between humans now-extinct native mammals. Humans arrived four waves (Lithic, Archaic, Ceramic, European), each associated with increased environmental impact. Large-bodied...
Conservation paleobiology has coalesced over the last two decades since its formal coining, united by goal of applying geohistorical records to inform conservation, management, and restoration biodiversity ecosystem services. Yet, field is still attempting form an identity distinct from academic roots. Here, we ask a deceptively simple question: What conservation paleobiology? To track development as field, synthesize complementary perspectives survey scientific community that familiar with...
Understanding extinction drivers in a human-dominated world is necessary to preserve biodiversity. We provide an overview of Quaternary extinctions and compare mammalian events on continents islands after human arrival system-specific prehistoric historic contexts. highlight the role body size life-history traits these extinctions. find significant size-bias except for small times. Using phylogenetic regression classification trees, we that while are poor predictors extinctions, those...
Abstract SNAPSHOT USA is a multicontributor, long‐term camera trap survey designed to mammals across the United States. Participants are recruited through community networks and directly website application ( https://www.snapshot-usa.org/ ). The growing Snapshot dataset useful, for example, tracking wildlife population responses land use, cover, climate changes spatial temporal scales. Here we present 2021 dataset, third national US. Data were collected 109 arrays included 1711 sites. total...
Venom systems are key adaptations that have evolved throughout the tree of life and typically facilitate predation or defense. Despite venoms being model for studying a variety evolutionary physiological processes, many taxonomic groups remain understudied, including venomous mammals. Within order Eulipotyphla, multiple shrew species solenodons oral venom systems. morphological variation their delivery systems, it remains unclear whether represents ancestral state in this group is result...
Scientists recognize the Caribbean archipelago as a biodiversity hotspot and employ it for their research natural laboratory. Yet they do not always appreciate that these ecosystems are in fact palimpsests shaped by multiple human cultures over millennia. Although post-European anthropogenic impacts well documented, influx into region began about 5,000 years prior. Thus, inferences of ecological evolutionary processes within may represent artifacts an unrecognized legacy linked to issues...
ABSTRACT Specimens stored within museum collections are increasingly leveraged to reconstruct historical baselines both decipher the legacies of past anthropogenic impacts and anticipate consequences future climate change on species distributions. However, research significance such can be severely constrained based their curation histories, resulting in data being forgotten, if not lost entirely. In this Nature Note, we report unexpected presence a mislabeled Black‐capped Petrel (...
The human-mediated movement of species across biogeographic boundaries—whether intentional or accidental—is dramatically reshaping the modern world. Yet humans have been ecosystems and translocating for millennia, acknowledging deeper roots these phenomena is important contextualizing present-day biodiversity loss, ecosystem functioning management needs. Here, we present first database terrestrial vertebrate introductions spanning entire anthropogenic history a system: Caribbean. We employ...
Large carnivores (order Carnivora) are among the world's most threatened mammals due to a confluence of ecological and social forces that have unfolded over centuries. Combining specimens from natural history collections with documents archival records, we reconstructed factors surrounding extinction California grizzly bear ( Ursus arctos californicus ), once-abundant brown subspecies last seen in 1924. Historical portrayed grizzlies as massive hypercarnivores endangered public safety. Yet,...
Abstract Ancient biomolecule analyses are proving increasingly useful in the study of evolutionary patterns, including extinct organisms. Proteomic sequencing techniques complement genomic approaches, having potential to examine lineages further back time than achievable using ancient DNA, given less stringent preservation requirements. In this study, we demonstrate ability use collagen sequence via proteomics assist species delimitation as a foundation for informing patterns. We uncover...
Cities are among the most extreme forms of anthropogenic ecosystem modification, and urbanization processes exert profound effects on animal populations through multiple ecological pathways. Increased access to human-associated food items may alter species' foraging behavior diet, in turn modifying normal microbial community gastrointestinal tract (GIT), ultimately impacting their health. It is crucial we understand role dietary niche breadth resulting shift gut microbiota as urban animals...
The places in which people live and spend time are steeped history, memory, meaning from the intersection of daily life, environmental interactions, cultural practices, ritual. Geologic features, plants, animals, ecosystems merge with these histories, forming critical parts landscape areas “high salience,” or “cultural keystone places” (CKPs). We identify Kumqaq’ (Point Conception) surrounding area California as a Chumash CKP. Ethnohistoric accounts contemporary community members have long...
The Jamaican primate, Xenothrix mcgregori, regarded variously as either a pitheciid or stem platyrrhine, was the terminal branch of clade that likely entered West Indies at least early Early Miocene, although its lineage is represented by fossils Quaternary age only. We present new direct radiocarbon-based date 1,477 ± 34 calibrated years before (cal BP) for last documented appearance this species in fossil record. employed Gaussian-resampled, inverse-weighted McInerny et al. (GRIWM) method...
Environmental challenges of the Anthropocene are synergistic and interdisciplinary, complicating ability scientists to effectively communicate public. This complexity illuminates limitations traditional Science, Technology, Engineering Math (STEM) education, as students frequently have difficulty applying their coursework towards contextualizing novel problems that accompany global change. We view these educational opportunities prepare STEM for adaptive learning necessary in Anthropocene....
Abstract Island species are difficult to conserve because they face the synergy of climate change, invasive species, deforestation, and increasing human population densities in areas where land mass is shrinking. The Caribbean island Hispaniola presents particular challenges geopolitical complexities that span 2 countries hinder coordinated management across island. We employed distribution modeling evaluate impacts climatic change anthropogenic activities on an endemic mammal conservation...
Drivers of Late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions are relevant to modern conservation policy in a world growing human population density, climate change, and faunal decline. Traditional debates tend toward global solutions, blaming either dramatic change or dispersals Homo sapiens new regions. Inherent limitations archaeological paleontological data sets often require reliance on scant, poorly resolved lines evidence. However, recent developments scientific technologies allow for more local,...