People

I am interested in ecological, evolutionary, and geohistorical processes that influence the diversity of mammals in ecosystems and lineages. My research focuses on species richness and ecological structure of mammalian faunas from the scale of individual localities and fossil assemblages to major ecological regions and continents. A major research focus is evaluating the influences of landscape history (tectonics and climate) on regional diversification of mammals over the last 25 million years. A related goal is to assess causes of diversity gradients for modern mammals across regions and continents. A third research theme focuses on comparing the influences of different modern systems of food and agriculture on biodiversity.

I work on a variety of topics, including mammals from the Miocene (24 million years ago) to the Pleistocene (10 thousand years ago). My Miocene work focuses on how changes in faunal assemblages are related to geologic events, such as mountain uplift or climate change. The Basin and Range holds a fossil record with abundant evidence of regional changes in mammal diversity, and informs us about the biogeography of western North America. My background is in traditional geology, and I obtained Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Geoscience at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

My research program sits at the intersection of paleontology, geology, and evolutionary biology and aims to elucidate the causes and consequences of major transitions in early mammalian evolution, such as the Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution and the Cretaceous-Paleogene Mass Extinction. Using a combination of paleontological and geological fieldwork, systematic study of fossil collections, and analyses of the functional morphology, ecology, histology, and isotope geochemistry of modern and extinct mammals, my work scales from species-level studies of ecology, behavior, and life history, to ecosystem-level studies of biodiversity, tectonic and fluvial history, and climate. For more information, visit my website.
Lucas' CV

Biology major, Archaeology minor
Project description: Paleontological research concerning the species identification of a mammalian specimen found in the Denver River Basin, dated to the Paleocene era (with L. Weaver)

I research the ecology and biogeography of ungulate mammals in both modern and paleo ecosystems, with a focus on the middle Miocene of North America. I use a combination of stable isotopes, geometric morphometrics, and other methods to reconstruct the dietary ecology, water use, and body size of ungulates from two topographically distinct regions, the Mojave region in California and the central Great Plains, through the middle Miocene episode of global warming. In doing so, I investigate how landscape history affects mammalian biogeography and biodiversity. Aside from mammalian paleoecology, I'm also broadly interested in mammalian functional morphology, geochemistry, and geology.

I am interested in mammalian evolutionary ecology, biogeography, landscape processes, and stable isotope biogeochemistry. My research investigates diversity dynamics and paleoecology of Miocene mammals in relation to tectonic and climate history in western North America. I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolution at Stony Brook University. For more information, visit my website.
Tara's CV

Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences graduate 2020

Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Earth and Environmental Sciences graduate 2017

My research interests lie in animal ecology, specifically, the fields of animal behavior, biogeography, and conservation biology. While pursuing my master's degree, I researched the behavior of gelada monkeys and their interactions with humans in the Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia, through direct observation and analysis of their behavioral responses, resource availability, and movement ecology. I am currently a Ph.D. student in the Duhaime Lab, UM Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Kimberly's project: Dietary habits of fossil antelope from Pakistan (with Dr. Badgley)
Dacotah's project: Dietary habits of living and fossil desert rodents (with Dr. Badgley and T. Smiley)