Ostracod Evolution
I am currently “picking” (extracting ostracod fossils) from 51 million year old soil samples from the Chesapeake Bay region of Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware. This area has a beautifully complete record of rapid climate change, which turned the region into an enormous river delta. I am studying how the ostracods reacted to changes in water temperature, salinity and pH.
I am looking for volunteers to help process sediment samples!
Cretaceous Decapod Life Habit
I am wrapping up a project comparing extinction rates in decapods of different life habits across the late Cretaceous. I use the Paleobiology Database to compile previously published records of fossils, and analyze them to find rates of extinction for different related groups. In this study, I am comparing different ecological groups that live in different situations like on the seafloor or in burrows, to see which of these strategies might have been most successful for these animals.