Achievement

IGERT Trainee Laci Gerhart received an NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement grant for her proposal, The El Nino Southern Oscillation and Glacial Juniperus Physiology. This study will analyze the width and chemical signature of rings from juniper trees preserved in the La Brea tar pits to determine the strength and frequency of El Niño years throughout the last 50,000 years. Additionally, growth patterns of glacial-aged and modern trees in El Niño and non-El Niño years will be analyzed to assess how these climatic patterns affected tree growth.