Samantha Kaplan

PhD, 2003 University of Wisconsin-Madison

Postdoctoral Fellow

Center for Climatic Research
1153 Atmospheric, Oceanic & Space Science Bldg.
1225 W. Dayton St.
Madison, Wisconsin 53706-1695

Phone: (608) 263-7655
Fax: (608) 263-4190
Email: swkapan@wisc.edu


Research Interests

My research interests encompass the broader field of Late-Quaternary climate and environmental change with particular emphasis on the use of lake and peatland deposits for the reconstruction of past climates. I am also curious about the response of vegetational and geomorphic landscapes to changes in climate at time scales ranging from years to millennia. My analyses employ proxy records of local and regional climate variability, including pollen, sedimentology, charcoal, and sediment chemistry. Currently I am involved in projects in southern Florida and central Wisconsin. The Florida project, an outgrowth of research with Marjorie Winkler and Patricia Sanford, uses pollen, charcoal and other microfossils to reconstruct Holocene hydroecological landscapes, climate, and sea-level fluctuations in the Everglades region. The work in Wisconsin, in conjunction with Kevin Spigel, focuses on the high resolution (annual to sub-decadal) climatic signal preserved in lake varves and tree rings, and the calibration of these proxies with local instrumental records.

Publications

Kaplan, S.W., 2003, Peat Records of Late-Holocene Climate and Sea-Level Change in South Florida. Doctoral dissertation, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 298p.

Winkler, M.G., Sanford, P.R., and Kaplan, S.W., 2001, Hydrology, climate and vegetation change in the southern Everglades during the Holocene. In Wardlaw, B.R., ed., Paleoecological Studies of South Florida. Bulletins of American Paleontology, 361, p. 57-100.