The Paleoecology Laboratory is located in Room 6 of Walker Building . Palynology is the major research focus in the lab. Palynologists analyze fossil pollen grains and other microfossils recovered from sediments to reconstruct vegetational landscape changes over thousands of years. Geomorphology is a second aspect of lab research. Changes in the texture and chemistry of the sediment itself, changes in drainage pattern, and changes in sea level all yield insights into changes in land use, land cover, slope stability, and hydrology.
Archival research is a third component of lab research.
Archival documents and maps provide data on changes in land use, environment, and settlement pattern related to the interactions between humans and environments. Holocene cultural ecology, Allegheny National Forest, Penna. Livestock and native depopulation, Veracruz, Mexico. Holocene environmental change, Veracruz, Mexico. This was a semester research project for the Human-Environment Seminar , Spring 1996, when CMR and KBA were doctoral students at Penn State.