Dan Peppe

Understanding the terrestrial ecosystem and its response to global climate change is critical for assessing the impacts of current and future climate change. However, we still know relatively little about the way terrestrial ecosystems actually respond to climate change. My research is focused on understanding how environmental change drives evolutionary processes in plants and animals. Specifically, my lab’s research is focused on reconstructing ancient climates and ecosystems through time in North America and eastern Africa, and on developing better and more accurate paleoclimate and paleoecological proxies. To do this we integrate methods in paleobotany, ecology, paleoclimatology, sedimentology, stratigraphy, and paleomagnetism. Results from this research address a broad spectrum of questions aimed at understanding the underlying dynamics of environmental, biotic, and climatic change through time.