Sept. 2010: We've published a new paper! Please check it out (here).

I am interested in pollen-based climate models and ways of accurately quantifying error using these models. Using modern pollen samples from across British Columbia we have examined model error using a number of models including MAT, PLS, WAPLS, randomForest and NMDS/GAM. Our latest submission examines the effect of pooling samples from multiple depositional environments can affect climate reconstructions.

The dominance of gymnosperms in British Columbia makes meaningful analysis of pollen databases difficult because of the low degree of taxonomic resolution (based on pollen morphology) and the long range pollen transport for most gymnosperm species. My first thesis chapter has been published as a paper in the Journal of Biogeography. It presents the BCMPD and a new method of climate reconstruction based on non-metric multidimensional scaling and generalized additive models.

Collaborations include Terri Lacourse, Ian Walker, Arne Mooers, Odile Peyron