Lauren Clark is broadly interested in the applications and methods employed in ancient sediment DNA (sedaDNA) studies in service of both archaeology and conservation paleobiology. To combine her interests, she has chosen to focus her thesis research on comparing the efficacy of various extraction methods of sedaDNA among stored sediment samples obtained from the Bridge River archaeological site in interior BC.
The Caribbean, a biodiversity hotspot, has experienced multiple distinct waves of colonization beginning around 7,000 years ago. As a result of human migration and extensive trade networks, this insular system has undergone intense cultural, economic, and demographic changes, which have, in turn, triggered substantial ecological change.
My research objective is to use an assortment of these sediment cores from multiple ponds and islands to reconstruct the long-term population dynamics of the vulnerable and in decline Leach’s Storm-petrel (Hydrobates leucorhous).