Quaternary paleoecology and paleoclimatology Lake sediments accumulate annually and record a history of watershed and climate conditions. However, interpreting these signals is not always straightforward. I use various computer models of lake, groundwater, and watershed hydrology to help us understand how lakes, groundwater, watershed conditions, and climate are linked, so that we can go back in time and infer past conditions from the signals left behind in the sediments.
Wetlands lie at the interface between land and water.
Many of the plants depend on specific hydrologic conditions, including water level, fluctuation, and chemistry. Groundwater is an important component, as it directly contacts virtually all of the plants in the wetland. I use various tools, often miniature wells pounded into the wetland, to demonstrate how groundwater influences the wetland and to infer the source of that groundwater. Human impacts on watershed hydrology Humans change the watershed surface tremendously by building cities, farming, and logging. These landscape-scale changes alter the way water moves from the watershed into receiving waters such as streams, rivers, lakes, and wetlands, which can become degraded from increased loads of silt, nutrients, or toxic materials.