Earth & Environmental Science Department

Lehigh University

Office: 114 Williams
Phone: 610-758-6580

 

 

Robert K. Booth

I am an ecologist interested in patterns, rates, and mechanisms of climate variability and its influence on the structure and function of ecosystems. Much of my research is designed to address current issues in global change, with recent projects focusing on ecological dynamics associated with widespread drought and pluvial events of the past, the reconstruction of past environmental variability from peatland archives, the ecology, biogeography, and paleoenvironmental applications of testate amoebae, and the climatology of severe drought. The source of data that I use to address these issues are the environmental archives preserved in the sediments of peatlands and lakes, although when possible I couple these paleoecological studies with studies of contemporary ecology and climatology.

Profile

Recent and ongoing research themes and projects

Ecological responses to decadal-to-multidecadal scale hydroclimate variability

We have been exploring how forest vegetation and peatlands respond to multidecadal to millennial-scale climate variability, particularly wet and dry extremes, using the sediment archive contained in lakes and peatlands. Some recent and ongoing studies include:

  • Climate variability and episodic plant invasions in the western Great Lakes region: the Holocene expansion of hemlock, beech, and yellow birch. Collaborators: S.T. Jackson (Univ of Wyoming), E. Pendall (Univ of Wyoming), Y. Huang (Brown University).

  • Peatlands as Carbon and Water Sinks under Warm Climates in the Susitna Basin, South-Central Alaska. Collaborators: Z. Yu (Lehigh University), J. Ramage (Lehigh University), and B. Mark (Ohio State University).

  • Reevaluating the classic model of floating peatland initiation and expansion in kettlehole peatlands: the potential role multidecadal climate varaibility. (Alex Ireland, ongoing PhD research)

 

 

Titus Peatland, northwestern PA

Nebela ansata, a rare species of testate amoebae in the NJ Pine Barrens

Ecology, biogeography, and paleoenvironmental applications of testate amoebae.

Several ongoing studies are focused on improving our understanding of the ecology and biogeography of testate amoebae, a group of protozoa that produce decay-resistant and morphologically distinct shells. A few recent and ongoing projects include:

  • Ecology of testate amoebae in the New Jersey Pine Barrens (Maura Sullivan, ongoing PhD research), Alaska (Erin Markel, MS research), and Pocosin peatlands of North Carolina (Booth et al., 2008)

  • The response of testate amoeba communities to seasonal moisture variability (Maura Sullivan, ongoing PhD research).

 

Multiproxy archives of late Holocene climate variability from peatlands in North America

We are conducting multiproxy paleoclimate studies on peatlands, particularly ombrotrophic peatlands, in North America. These studies are being coupled with modeling efforts and analyses of historical climate variability, to assess the dynamics and causes are past episodes of widespread drought. Some ongoing projects include:

  • Multiproxy archives of late Holocene climate variability from peatlands in eastern North America. Collaborators: S.T. Jackson (Univ of Wyoming), E. Pendall (Univ of Wyoming), Y. Huang (Brown University).(pdf of paper describing project)

  • Spatiotemporal patterns of climate, hydrological, and wetland vegetation change in the western Great Lakes region. Collaborators: D.A. Wilcox (SUNY at Brockport), S.J. Baedke (James Madison University), T.A. Thompson (Indiana Geological Survey), and others.

 

 

Coring an ombrotrophic peatland in northern New York

Selected publications (2001-)