Diatoms of North America
Karen Neil
Taxon Contributor
Ph.D. Student, Department of Geography University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
There is adventure in finding compelling stories and exploring complex issues in challenging environments, but there is also a responsibility to tell those stories accurately and objectively. K. Lee.
As a Ph.D. student at the University of Ottawa, my research focuses on high-resolution paleoecological reconstructions of Holocene environments through the use of multiple biological proxy records from lake sediments. I have worked on the identification and analysis of fossil pollen and micro-charcoal records from sites in Eastern North America (coastal Nova Scotia, and currently the Gatineau Hills, QC), in order to begin to understand long-term climate variability and anthropogenic impacts on forest ecosystems. Diatoms contribute to how the history of a particular region is told, and my hope is to use what I have learned from Iowa Lakeside Laboratory to present the most accurate and comprehensive story possible for my chosen region of interest.