Student develops research technique

March 14, 2011

Ben Gaglioti, a PhD student working with Professor Matthew Wooller in the and the UAF , has developed a new technique for understanding what vegetation grew in �Ӱ�ԭ�� tens of thousands of years ago. Gaglioti examined fossilized grass leaves for clues about the ecology of �Ӱ�ԭ�� when, now extinct, bison (amongst a host of other large fauna) roamed �Ӱ�ԭ�� at the time part area known as Beringia – when the land bridge between Russia and �Ӱ�ԭ�� existed.

Gaglioti’s work was recently published in the Review of Paleobotany and Palynology, “Developing graminoid cuticle analysis for application to Beringian Palaeoecology.” He is also a contributor to another paper with Matthew Wooller as lead author to appear soon in Journal of Quaternary Science, “The detailed paleoecology of a mid-Wisconsinan interstadial (~32,000¹⁴C years) vegetation surface from interior �Ӱ�ԭ��.”