Dr. Regan E Dunn has been developing proxies to reconstruct vegetation structure, quantified as Leaf Area Index (LAI), in the fossil record using the morphology of leaf epidermal cells from phytoliths and leaf cuticles. She uses these methods to dissect past ecosystem change in new ways to examine how forest canopies have changed through major events in Earth's history including: 1) Climatic events (e.g. Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, Eocene-Oligocene Transition), 2) Biotic crises (e.g. K-Pg), 3) Major tectonic episodes (e.g. Andean and Laramide orogenies), and 4) Significant periods in mammal evolution (e.g. evolution of hypsodonty in South America, hominid evolution in East Africa).
2018 Conference
Dunn, Regan E
- Full Name: Regan E Dunn
- Position: Negaunee Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Fellow, Integrative Resource Center
- School: Field Museum of Natural History Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Website: https://regandunn.org/