Paleoecology explores the relationships between fossil organisms and their environments over recent geologic timescales, and how long-term perspectives can inform modern ecology and conservation. This course involves a combination of lectures, primary literature discussion, and a hands-on collaborative research project. Students will learn transferable skills in project management, laboratory and data analysis, and how to improve their writing for both scientific and public audiences.

This course focuses on the Quaternary (the last 2.5 million years), with an emphasis on the last 21,000 years of terrestrial environments in North America (from the Last Glacial Maximum to the recent historic record). Topics include past environmental change and the responses of species, populations, communities, and ecosystem processes; common methods and proxies in paleoecological analyses; ecological principles as tested by fossil organisms; and the role of paleoecology in conservation.