Dr. Andrea Brunelle

Northern Rocky Mountains, USA 

The Northern Rocky Mountains, USA contain a vast landscape of forested wilderness, managed primarily by the federal government. They include the highest elevations and some of the most iconic endangered and threatened species in the contiguous United States. The influence of human impacts and climate change are evident on the landscape today, with larger and more frequent fires impacting vegetation composition and recovery. This project uses paleoecological data to synthesize the millennial-scale changes in vegetation and fire patterns across this region, over the Holocene.

Funded by: REDD Center Faculty Grant and Office of Undergraduate Research

Baja California, Mexico

This project seeks to establish a transect of sites along the mountain ranges of the Baja peninsula to study the long-term fluctuations of winter/summer precipitation in this region and the impacts on societal livelihoods and decisions. This research uses paleoecological records (sediment cores) from ciénegas—unique wetland systems—to reconstruct environmental change. Ciénegas act as an archive of past environments and climate conditions as they are repositories for charcoal, pollen, and macrofossils from thousands of years ago. Continuous records of environmental change reveal how local environments and communities have historically responded to perturbation, and provide insight into the trajectory and rate of change that these environments may experience in the future.

Funded by: Global Change and Sustainability Center Seed funding, The Center for Latin American Studies, and the Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy

Range Creek Canyon, Utah

Range Creek Canyon (RCC), located in east-central Utah, is a prime site for investigating past environmental and climatic conditions. This project is an interdisciplinary effort involving the RED Lab, the Department of Anthropology, and the Natural History Museum of Utah. Dr. Shannon Boomgarden and Prof. Larry Coats have been working in RCC since the early 2000s, with Dr. Boomgarden reconstructing the canyon's climate for agricultural insights and Prof. Coats studying paleoclimatology to understand vegetation dynamics of arid regions. For the paleoclimate reconstruction, Prof. Coats has led efforts in collecting and studying packrat middens, as well as teaching Paleo Field Methods at the field station and conducting student-led research through the Undergraduate Research Program (UROP).