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Research and Teaching Activities

Northern Great Plains

Cavernocypris wardi

Cyprois marginata

Elk Lake, Clearwater Co., Minnesota

Alison J. Smith, Professor
Department of Geology
Kent State University
Kent, OH 44242 USA

Contact Information

Dr. Alison J. Smith
Department of Geology
221 McGilvrey Hall
Kent State University
Kent, OH 44242
+1 330-672-3709 office

alisonjs@kent.edu

Smith Paleolimnology Lab Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Kevin Engle, M.S. 2015. Thesis: Paleoecology and Isotope Analysis of Ostracodes in a Holocene core from Twin Ponds Lake in Brookfield, Vermont

Frank Mathias, M.S. 2014. Thesis: Ostracodes as proxies of the paleoenvironment in a prehistoric lake, Butte Valley, Siskiyou County, California

Katie Thomas Wells, M.S. 2011. Thesis: Paleoecology of Beringian lacustrine deposits as indicated by northern hemisphere ostracode biogeography

Kay Amey, Ph.D. 2011. Dissertation: Hydrology and predictive model of headwater streams and groundwater/surface water interactions supporting brook trout habitat in Northeast Ohio

Cordelia Dennison-Budak, M.S. 2010. Thesis: Ostracode Paleoecology of Pliocene Lake Deposits, Hagerman National Monument, Idaho

Timothy N. Cosma, M.S., 2002. Thesis: Paleoenvironment of Plio-Pleistocene Lake Cahuilla, Anza-Borrego State Park, California

Colleen Jones, M.S., 2002. Thesis: Ostracode Distribution and Hydrogeochemical Variability in a Fen Wetland

Bonnie Muller, M.S., 2001. Thesis: Application of Spatial Analysis to Nonmarine Ostracode Distribution in the United States

Sonia Bacon, M.S., 1999. Thesis: Seasonal Study of Ostracodes and Environmental Isotopes in Page Pond, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio

Dana Oleskoweicz, M.S. 1998. (in co-advisement with Robert Carlson, Biology Dept., KSU) Thesis: Seasonal Distributions of Ostracodes in East Twin Lake, Portage Co., Ohio

John Carney, M.S. 1997. Thesis: The Use of Ostracodes and Environmental Isotopes as Indicators of Surface-Groundwater Interaction in Hays County, Central Texas

Joan C. Puller, M.S. 1995. Thesis: A Study of Fossil Ostracoda from Elkwater Lake, Alberta: Lake Response to Late Holocene Climate Changes.

Research Interests

My research 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 ostracodes

Great Lakes Holocene History & Paleolimnology

Calibration of Ostracode Shell Geochemistry (stable isotopes, trace elements) against hydrogeochemistry

Development of "NANODe",
North American Nonmarine Ostracode Database
Co-authors R. Forester (USGS), D. Palmer (KSU) and B. Curry (Illinois G.S.)
this database is now ALSO ACCESSIBLE THROUGH
Neotoma, an international collaborative and public-access paleoecology database
www.neotomadb.org

Ostracodes as hydrologic indicators in springs, seeps and streams

Ostracodes as paleohydrologic and paleoclimatic indicators in
Plio-Pleistocene lake records of North America

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 (Elsevier).

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 (USA), Journal of Paleolimnology, 55, 241-258. DOI 10.1007/s10933-015-9877-8.

Smith, A.J., Horne, D.J., Martens, K. and Schön, I., 2014. Ostracoda, IN (Thorp, J. and Rogers, D.C. (Eds.) Ecology and General Biology, Thorp & Covich's Freshwater Invertebrates, Volume 1, Academic Press, Chapter 30, pp. 757-780, electronically released October 2014, print version Jan 2015.

Smith, A.J. and Palmer, D.F. 2013. The versatility of Quaternary ostracods as palaeoclimate proxies: comparative testing of geochemical and ecological/biogeographical approaches, IN (Horne, D., Holmes, J., Rodrigez-Lasaro, J., and Viehberg, F., Eds.) Ostracoda as Proxies for Quaternary Climate Change, vol. 17 in Developments in Quaternary Science series, Elsevier Science Publishing, pp. 183-203.

Mezquita, F., Viehberg, F. and Smith, A.J. 2013. The biology and ecology of ostracods IN (Horne, D., Holmes, J., Rodrigez-Lasaro, J., and Viehberg, F., Eds.) Ostracoda as Proxies for Quaternary Climate Change, vol. 17 in Developments in Quaternary Science series, Elsevier Science Publishing, pp. 15-35.

Curry, B. B., Delorme, L.D., Smith, A.J., Palmer, D.F., and Stiff, B.J., 2013. The biogeography and physiochemical characteristics of aquatic habitats of freshwater ostracodes in Canada and the United States IN (Horne, D., Holmes, J., Rodrigez-Lasaro, J., and Viehberg, F., Eds.) Ostracoda as Proxies for Quaternary Climate Change, vol. 17 in Developments in Quaternary Science series, Elsevier Science Publishing, pp. 85-115.

Smith, Alison J. and Horne, David J., 2012. Northern Hemisphere Quaternary and Modern Non-Marine Ostracoda: Developing Research Initiatives: Final report to NSF-IOSE on International Workshops held in 2011 and 2012.

Smith, Alison J. 2012. Evidence of environmental change from terrestrial and freshwater palaeoecology, Chapter 12 IN (Matthews, J., Editor) Handbook of Environmental Change, Sage Publishing, volume 1, pp. 254-283.

Schön, I., Pinto, R.L., Halse, S., Smith, A.J., Martens, K., Birkey, W.,Jr., 2012. Cryptic species in putative ancient asexual Darwinulids (Crustacea, Ostracoda), PLoS1, v.7, (7), e39844, pp. 1-10.

Blois, Jessica; Goring, Simon; Smith, Alison, 2011. Integrating Paleoecological Databases, EOS, vol. 92, p. 48.

Smith, Alison J. and Delorme, L. Denis, 2009. Ostracoda, Chapter 19, IN Thorp, J. and Covich, A. (Eds.), Ecology and Classification of North American Freshwater Invertebrates, Third Edition, Academic Press, November, 2009, pp. 811-849.