MODELING CLIMATE AND VEGETATIONAL CHANGE SINCE THE LAST GLACIAL MAXIMUM USING STABLE ISOTOPES AND DI

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MODELING CLIMATE AND VEGETATIONAL CHANGE SINCE
THE LAST GLACIAL MAXIMUM USING STABLE ISOTOPES
AND DIGITAL ANALYSIS

• Pennilyn Higgins
• Florida Museum of Natural History
• Gainesville, FL
• loligo_at_earth.rochester.edu

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Isotopes as environmental proxy

• C Dietary proxy
• C3 vs C4 plants in herbivores
• C3 d13C lower than C4 d13C
• O Climatic proxy
• d18O increases with warmer temperatures
• d18O decreases with high rainfall in warm weather

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Outline

• An overabundance of data
• Geographical data
• Using the computer to sort it out
• Visualizing large data sets
• Making it look nice
• Real applications

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Outline

• An overabundance of data
• Geographical data
• Using the computer to sort it out
• Visualizing large data sets
• Making it look nice
• Real applications

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Data generation
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One tooth how many data points?
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Database
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Outline

• An overabundance of data
• Geographical data
• Using the computer to sort it out
• Visualizing large data sets
• Making it look nice
• Real applications

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Plotting isotopic values against geographical
information
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Localities sampled
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Stacked plots
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Outline

• An overabundance of data
• Geographical data
• Using the computer to sort it out
• Visualizing large data sets
• Making it look nice
• Real applications

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Database query
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Plot and contour the data
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Change your data and color scheme.
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Look at a specific part of the fauna
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and compare with other species
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Liven it up with color
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and get a closer look
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Outline

• An overabundance of data
• Geographical data
• Using the computer to sort it out
• Visualizing large data sets
• Making it look nice
• Real applications

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Exporting to other formats
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Initial diagrams can be pretty ugly
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but are easy enough to sharpen with other
software
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Plotting oxygen and carbon
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Outline

• An overabundance of data
• Geographical data
• Using the computer to sort it out
• Visualizing large data sets
• Making it look nice
• A real applications

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Full Glacial Glacial Carbon
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FG G Bison and Camelops
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FG G Equus
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Full Glacial Glacial Carbon
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Late Glacial Carbon
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Late Glacial Carbon
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Outline

• An overabundance of data
• Geographical data
• Using the computer to sort it out
• Visualizing large data sets
• Making it look nice
• Real applications