People | Andy
Cohen
Paleorecords of Watershed Deforestation and
Recent Climate Change Impacts in African Lakes
My lab has investigated the timing and impacts of watershed erosion
resulting from deforestation around the margins of Lake Tanganyika.
Much of our work has focused on the conservation biology of modern
littoral ecosystems impacted by increased sediment loading (Cohen
et al., 1993; Kaufman
and Cohen, 1993; Cohen,
1994; Cohen
et al., 1996; Alin
et al., 1999; Cohen,
2000; McIntyre
et al., 2005) Our work has shown that the complex history
of forest cover and its effects on littoral ecosystems can be understood
in the context of 18th-20th Century human demography in the region
(Alin
et al., 2002; Cohen
et al., 2005a; Cohen
et al., 2005b; McKee
et al., 2005; Palacios-Fest
et al., 2005a; Palacios-Fest
et al., 2005b;
O’Reilly
et al., 2005; Dettman
et al., 2005).
We have also examined how 20th Century climate
warming may be affecting lacustrine ecosystems
and productivity in Lake Tanganyika, through
enhanced lake stratification and weaker mixing of
nutrients through the water column (O'Reilly
et al., 2003; and O'Reilly
et al., 2004)
A. Collecting multicores
during the Lake Tanganyika Biodiversity
Project
investigation of watershed deforestation.”
B. “The
boundary between the forested watersheds of Gombe National Park,
along the shore of Lake Tanganyika and
the deforested region immediately
north
of the part. These areas formed part of our study
of paleorecords
of deforestation
history.
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