environmental change

The Environmental Change group in Lehigh University's Earth and Environmental Science Department is interested in understanding the patterns and processes of natural and human-induced environmental changes at timescales from years to millennia. We use multi-disciplinary approaches to derive biological, geochemical and geological proxy records from natural archives preserved in the deposits of lakes, peatlands, glaciers, corals and caves. We also combine modern-process studies using instrumental and monitoring data to understand ecological and biogeochemical responses. We have excellent field, laboratory and computational facilities to conduct research in ecology and paleoecology, geochemistry and environmental magnetism, climate and ecosystem modeling and GIS and remote sensing analysis. Faculty work with students on research projects in many locations, including Alaska, the Yukon, the Tibetan Plateau and northwest China, the Peruvian Andes, the Great Lakes region, and northeastern North America.

Our current research interests include temporal and spatial patterns of past hydroclimate variability, ecological responses to climate change, Earth system modeling, long-term peat carbon changes and climate connections, glacier change and climate connection, geochemical and magnetic records of environmental changes, modeling feedbacks between the carbon cycle and the climate. We encourage students who are interested in one or more aspects of these research topics to contact us.

Application for Graduate Study and Further Information

We strongly encourage interested students to contact individual faculty members for more information about specific research opportunities. This web site provides further information about our graduate program and admission procedures. If you can't find an answer to your question or you need help, contact us at:

• Dr. Zicheng Yu (Graduate Coordinator)
• Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
• 31 William's Drive
• Lehigh University
• Bethlehem, PA 18015-3188
• email: ziy2@lehigh.edu
• phone: 610/758-6751 fax: 610/758-3677

Thank you for your interest!

Some Recent Publications by Group Members

Booth, R. K. 2007. Testate amoebae as proxies of mean annual water-table depth in Sphagnum peatlands of North America. Journal of Quaternary Science, 23, 43-57

Booth, R. K., M. Notaro, S. T. Jackson, & J. E. Kutzbach. 2006. Widespread drought episodes in the western Great Lakes region during the past 2000 years: geographic extent and potential mechanisms. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 242: 415-427.

Felzer, B. S., Cronin, T. W., Melillo, J. M., Kicklighter, D. W., Schlosser, C. A. 2009. Importance of carbon-nitrogen interactions and ozone on ecosystem hydrology during the 21st century. Journal of Geophysical Research, 114, doi:10.1029/2008JG000826.

Frappier, A., D. Sahagian, S. Carpenter, L. Gonzalez and B. Frappier. 2007. Stalagmite stable isotope record of recent tropical cyclone events. Geology, 35, 111-114.

Jones, M.C., D.M. Peteet, D. Kurdyla and T. Guilderson. 2009. Climate and vegetation history from a 14,000-year peatland record, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. Quaternary Research, 72, 207-217.

Li, L., Yu, Z., Moeller, R. E., Bebout, G. E., 2008, Complex trajectories of aquatic and terrestrial shifts caused by multiple human-induced environmental stress. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 72, 4338-4351.

Li, Y.-X., Z. Yu, and K.P. Kodama, 2007. Sensitive moisture response to Holocene millennial-scale climate variations in the Mid-Atlantic region, USA. The Holocene, 17, 3-8.

Li, Y.-X., Z. Yu, K.P. Kodama, and R.E. Moeller, 2006. A 14,000-year environmental change history revealed by mineral magnetic data from White Lake, New Jersey, USA. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 24, 27-40.

Ramage, J.M., McKenney, R.A., Thorson, B., Maltais, P., Kopczynski, S.E., 2006, Relationship between passive microwave-derived snowmelt and surface-measured discharge, Wheaton River, Yukon Territory, Canada. Hydrological Processes, Vol. 20, pp. 689-704.

Ramage, J.M., Smith J.A., Rodbell, D.T., Seltzer, G.O., 2005. Comparing reconstructed Pleistocene equilibrium-line altitudes in the tropical Andes of central Peru, Journal of Quaternary Science, 20, 777-788.

Yu, Z.C., K.N. Walker, E.B. Evenson, and I. Hajdas., 2008. Late glacial and early Holocene climate oscillations in the Matanuska Valley, south-central Alaska. Quaternary Science Reviews, 27, 148-161.

Yu, Z.C., D.W. Beilman and M.C. Jones. 2009. Sensitivity of northern peatlands to Holocene climate change. In Baird, A.J., Belyea, L.R., Comas, X., Reeve, A., and Slater, L. (eds). Carbon Cycling in Northern Peatlands, Geophysical Monograph Series, American Geophysical Union, Washington D.C., USA. DOI: 10. 029/2008GM000822

Zhao, Y., Z.C. Yu, X.J. Liu, C. Zhao , F.H. Chen, and K. Zhang. 2009. Late Holocene vegetation and climate oscillations in the Qaidam Basin of the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Quaternary Research doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2008.11.007 (in press).

Courses for Graduate Students Relevant to Environmental Change

EES is a broad department focused on several aspects of the Earth system, giving you abundant opportunities to work across disciplines. The following courses available for graduate credit are some of those most directly related to issues in environmental change:

• EES 306: Geologic Records of Environmental Change
• EES 316. Hydrogeology (4) (Peters)
• EES 325. Remote Sensing of Terrestrial and Aquatic Environments (4) (Ramage)
• EES 357. Paleoecology and Landscape History (4) (Yu)
• EES 386. Wetland Science (4) (Booth)
• EES 402. Scientific Foundations of Environmental Policy Design (3) (Sahagian)
• EES 403. Earth System Modeling (3) (Felzer)
• EES 405 Paleo- and Environmental Magnetism
• EES 412. Advanced Fluvial and Tectonic Geomorphology (3) (Pazzaglia)
• EES 414. Glacial and Quaternary Geology (3) (Evenson)
• EES 415. Paleoclimatology (3) (Yu)
• EES 459. Reconstructing Environmental Change (3) (Yu)
• EES 471. Stable Isotope Chemistry - Theory, Techniques, and Applications in the Earth and Environmental Sciences (3) (Bebout)
• EES 473. Aqueous Geochemistry (3) (Peters)
• EES 484. Aquaic Ecosystems (3) (Hargreaves)

Recent Graduate Theses in Environmental Change

Andrew Gonyo (M.S.) 2009. An 800-year multiple-proxy record of atmospheric circulation, climate change, and aquatic productivity from Kepler Lake, south-central Alaska. (advisors: Bebout, Yu)

Erin Markel (M.S.) 2009.A comparative study of testate amoebae and del-13C of Sphagnum as surface-moisture proxies in Alaskan peatlands. (advisors: Booth, Ramage)

Cheng Zhao (Ph.D.) 2009.Holocene climate change and climate variability in the northeastern United States and northwestern China. (advisor: Yu)

Shanshan Cai (M.S.) 2008.Peatland responses to Holocene climate change in a temperate poor fen, northeastern Pennsylvania. (advisor: Yu)

Valerie Sousa (M.S.) 2008. Drought, lake-effect snow, and the Late Holocene beech decline: a paleoecological study at Pinhook Peatland in northwestern Indiana. (advisor: Booth).

Paula Zelanko (M.S.) 2008 Multi-proxy Evidence for Late Glacial and Early Holocene Climate Oscillations at Silver Lake, New Jersey. (advisor: Yu).

Jeremy Apgar (M.S.) 2007. Understanding the Timing and Variation of Snowmelt in Subarctic Heterogeneous Terrain Using Passive Microwave AMSR-E Observations. (advisor: Ramage).

Long Li (Ph.D.) 2006. Estimates of carbon and nitrogen input fluxes in subduction zones and investigation of natural and human-induced environmental changes from lake sediments using carbon and nitrogen concentrations and isotope compositions. (advisor: Bebout).

Karina Walker (M.S.) 2005. Post-glacial Vegetation and Climate History of the Matanuska Valley, Alaska: A Multi Proxy Approach. (advisor: Yu, Evenson).

Yen Tang (M.S.) 2004. Multidisciplinary approach to studying lake-level change, northern New Jersey. (advisor: Meltzer).

 

---