Chairperson, Department of Biological Sciences, College of Arts & Sciences
My areas of specialization include: Aquatic ecology, wetland ecology, and paleolimnology of lakes in Florida, The Galapagos Islands, and mainland Ecuador. I use fossil algal pigments and diatoms recovered from lake sediments to examine historical changes in algal communities that result from environmental or climatic events, or anthropogenic activities. Currently, I am using cyanobacterial and other algal pigments to monitor changes in algal productivity and community composition in eutrophic and hypereutrophic lakes in north and central Florida, to determine the timing of cyanobacterial proliferation in these systems and to document historical water quality. I also am reconstructing Holocene El Niño periodicities from hypersaline lake sediment records in the Galapagos Islands, using laminations and changes in fossil diatoms, mineralogy, and geochemistry to track changes in El Niño frequency and intensity.