Alison J. Smith
Paleolimnology is the study of past terrestrial aquatic records. Here in the Geology Department at Kent State, the focus is on late Cenozoic records, especially those of Pleistocene and Holocene age. Paleolimnology is a subject area with many specialties. My research areas include:
- Ground water surface water interaction zones
- Lakes as indicators of climate change
- Environmental & paleohydrologic records of wetlands
Ostracodes (microscopic crustaceans) serve as a fundamental tool in all these areas of research. Nonmarine ostracodes live in most aquatic environments and produce bivalved calcite shells. The shells are easily fossilized, with the result that nonmarine ostracodes are the primary calcite microfossil in continental records. In order to better understand the ecological, climatic, and geochemical signature of ostracodes in the late Cenozoic fossil record, modern species must be studied for their environmental tolerances and biogeography. A modern database of ostracode biogeography and environmental ranges (NANODe) is underway here, in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Illinois Geological Survey.
My research program is centered on the development of the modern and fossil non-marine ostracode record as a tool in determining changes in water quality and climate through Holocene time. I focus on the role of ground water-surface water interactions in mediating the terrestrial climate record, and in identifying paleohydrologic changes using the ostracode ecology and ostracode shell geochemistry. This program involves independent research as well as collaborative efforts with researchers at other institutions. The general areas of this research program include:
- Paleohydrology and Drought History on the Great Plains: Holocene climate records from lacustrine ostracodesHolocene Lake Level and Paleolimnology of the Great Lakes
- Calibration of ostracode shell geochemistry (stable isotopes, trace elements) against hydrogeochemistry
- Construction of a modern environmental dataset of limnologic/climate/ostracode distribution records in the continental U.S., designed for public access
- Hydrology of springs and seeps using ostracodes as bioindicators.
Publications
- Grigg, L.D., Engle, K.J., Smith, A.J., et. al., A multi-proxy reconstruction of climate during the late-Pleistocene to early Holocene transition in the northeastern, USA, Quaternary Research (2021) 1-17
- Grimm, E.C., et al, 2018, Constituent databases and data stewards in the Neotomo Paleoecology Database: history, growth, and new directions, Past Global Changes Magazine, 26 (2), 64-65
- Williams, J.W., Grimm, E.C., Blois, J., Charles, D., Davis, E., Goring, S., Graham, R., Smith, A.J., et al., 2018. The Neotoma Paleoecology Database: A multi-proxy, international community-curated data resource, Quaternary Research, 89:1, 156-177
- Smith, A.J. and others, 2017. The contribution of Richard M. Forester to the knowledge of the paleohydrologic... An introduction to the Richard M. Forester memorial issue, Hydrobiologia, published online Sept. 6, 2016
- Forester, R.M., Carter, C., Quade, J., Smith, A.J., 2017. Aquifer and surface-water ostracodes in Quaternary paleowetland deposits of southern Nevada, USA, Hydrobiologia, published online Sept 9, 2016
- Rowell, C., Enache, M., Quinlan, R., Smith, A.J., Bloomfield, J., Charles, D., Effler, S., 2016, Quantitative paleolimnological inference models applied to a high resolution biostratigraphic study of lake degradation and recovery, Onondaga Lake, New York
- Rowell, C., Enache, M., Quinlan, R., Smith, A.J., and others, 2016, Quantitative paleolimnological inference models applied to a high resolution…recovery, Onondaga Lake, New York (USA), Journal of Paleolimnology, 55, 241-258
- Smith, A.J. and Horne, D.J., 2016. Ostracoda of the Nearctic, In: Thorp, J., Rogers, D.C. (Eds.), Ecology and General Biology: Thorp and Covich’s Freshwater Invertebrates, Volume 2, Chapter 16, Academic Press, p 477-514
- Smith, Alison J., Horne, David J., Martens, K., and Shon,I. 2015. Ostracoda, IN (Thorp, J. and Rogers, D.C. (eds.) Ecology and General Biology: Thorp and Covich's Freshwater Invertebrates, Volume 1, Academic Press, Chapter 30, pp. 757–780
- Viehberg, Finn, Matzke-Karasz, Renate, Park Boush, Lisa., and Smith, Alison (editors), 2014. The Recent and Fossil meet Kempf Database Ostracoda: Festschrift Eugen Karl Kempf, Crustaceana, 87
Affiliations
- American Geophysical Union
- American Quaternary Association
- Geological Society of America
- International Quaternary Association