MY RESEARCH
My research interests lie broadly in the evolution, ecology, and biogeography of fossil floras in Mesozoic and Cenozoic Era deposits. To date, my research has focused on plants and their ecological associations with insect herbivores from the Cretaceous (145–66 Ma) Period and Paleocene (66–56 Ma) Epoch of western North America. This time interval captures not only the rise and radiation of flowering plants (angiosperms), but also the last mass extinction in Earth's history. The Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary records one of the largest and most recent mass extinction events in which approximately 75% of all species went extinct, which was followed by subsequent radiations of many terrestrial clades of organisms, notably angiosperms (flowering plants), crown birds, and placental mammals in the Paleocene.
My ongoing research quantifies and describes the extinction and recovery of floras and their ecological associations with animals across the K–Pg boundary in the Denver Basin, Colorado, USA. The ecosystems preserved after the mass extinction set the stage for modern biodiversity and provides clue to the origins of ecosystems, such as modern rainforests.
My ongoing research quantifies and describes the extinction and recovery of floras and their ecological associations with animals across the K–Pg boundary in the Denver Basin, Colorado, USA. The ecosystems preserved after the mass extinction set the stage for modern biodiversity and provides clue to the origins of ecosystems, such as modern rainforests.