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We take a long-term view on ecological questions. Using paleorecords (especially from lake-sediment archives) we reconstruct the environments of the late Pleistocene and Holocene to address the links between biodiversity, climate, and disturbance processes (especially wildfire).

*** Prospective graduate students for fall 2024, please contact Prof Gavin by email ***
People in the lab  [Lab alumni]
New in the lab (2023)
  • Katya Podkovyroff Lewis. Biology/Institute of Ecology and Evolution Phd Student.
  • Wesley Rancher. Geography MS student.
Recently graduated (2023)!
  • Jamila Baig - Ph.D. Environmental Studies, Science, and Policy (Geography focal department). Dissertation: Paleotemperature, Vegetation Change, Fire History, and Lake Productivity for the Last 14,500 Years at Gold Lake, Pacific Northwest, USA
  • Monika Ruwaimana - Ph.D. Biology (Institute of Ecology and Evolution). Dissertation: Tropical Peatlands in West Kalimantan: formation, carbon and Late Pleistocene-Holocene history. Fulbright Scholar. Now Biology Professor at Atma Jaya University.
  • Chantel Saban - Ph.D. Geography. Dissertation: Holocene Vegetation, Drought, and Fire Variability in the Northern Great Basin, Oregon.
Recent publications  [News archive]
Late Glacial through Early Holocene environments inferred using pollen from coprolites and sediments recovered from Paisley Caves, Oregon. Study by Chantel Saban et al. in Quaternary Research.
Impact of a thick tephra deposition on forests and the fire regime of the Oregon Cascade Range. Article in Quaternary Science Reviews by PhD candidate Jamila Baig.
Direct measurements of tropical peat carbon loss assessed by repeat coring. Peat mapping by ICESat-2: Paper in Catena from a collaboration with Dr. Gusti Anshari at University of Tanjungpura.
Monika Ruwaimana's paper on the upper Kapuas peats: The oldest extant tropical peatland in the world: a major carbon reservoir for at least 47,000 years.
Geomorphology and vegetation history of the Upper Fraser, British Columbia: Deglacial landforms and Holocene vegetation trajectories in the northern interior cedar-hemlock forests of British Columbia.
Current and recent funding from:
Other stuff
Late Pleistocene and Holocene Environmental Change on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington by D.G. Gavin and L.B. Brubaker.

Climate Refugia workshop (Two reports published from the August 2012 workshop).

Revealing Nature's Past: High-school curriculum for teaching climate-change concepts and an introduction to paleoecology.

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