Of mice and mammoths

Contemporary ecosystems across the globe are on the threshold of state shifts characterized by widespread extinctions and environmental degradation. Existing research points to utilizing paleoecosystem functionality as a means to understanding the modern impacts of climate change and human population expansion. Central to these inferences are the late Pleistocene (~129 – 11.5 Ka [thousand years ago]) extinctions in North America that resulted in the disappearance of over seventy percent of megamammal species. This talk will focus on our team’s ongoing interdisciplinary work in coastal Georgia that contributes to these ongoing conversations.

Dr. Patterson is interested in the relationship between ecosystem change and mammalian evolution. He uses a variety of methods including traditional paleontological analyses, stable isotope geochemistry, and ecometrics. He has active field and laboratory projects focusing on North American and African mammals ranging from the early Pleistocene to the modern.

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