The majority of scientists agree that we are drastically changing our climate due to the burning of fossil fuels and the subsequent emission of greenhouse gases. However, the question of how future climate changes will augment our environment is still unanswered. One specific region of immense interest is the Amazon Rainforest. The Amazon Basin is the world’s largest river basin and its tropical forest is the largest in the world, home to one in ten known species on Earth. Thus, an important question in regards to future climate change is its potential effects on the Amazon rainforest. Temperatures in this region are expected to rise by ~3ºC in the next century alone, with a possible reduction in precipitation. How vegetation will respond to these changes is still unknown. Some large-scale numerical models predict substantial carbon loss from tropical ecosystems and conversion of the Amazon forest to savanna resulting from drought. However, there are still large uncertainties in model predictions and we are still unclear on the effects of climate change in this region. In order to improve our understanding of future climate change effects on the Amazon Basin, it is necessary to first determine the effects of temperature and precipitation changes on vegetation in the past. Paleoclimate records from this region can provide valuable insights into past vegetation responses.

My research focuses on the western edge of the Amazon Basin in Northern Peru. I am using lake sediment records from Lake Limón at the base of the Andes Mountains to reconstruct the past ~2000 years of climate variability in this region. Together with pollen and charcoal records from colleagues at the Florida Institute of Technology, we can determine vegetation changes associated with past climate changes. Equipped with this information, we can predict future climate and vegetation changes in this region in order to ameliorate their effects.