The concentration of carbon dioxide in earth’s atmosphere is the highest it has been in the last 3 million years. By 2050, it will likely be higher than at any point in the last 35 million years. As stable isotope and organic molecular biogeochemists, our work is focused on understanding how the links and feedbacks between carbon dioxide, climate, tectonics, and ecosystems. Team members work on many aspects of climate research including:

• Global temperature and hydrologic change during past high CO2 events

• Understanding the links between climate and humans over thousands to tens of thousands of years

• Examining the links between carbon dioxide, climate, ecosystems, and fire in the earth system

• Quantifying feedbacks between atmospheric CO2, hydrology and river dynamics (flooding/sediment discharge)

• Climate change, carbon dioxide, and global extinction events