David F. Porinchu

I am a broadly trained biogeographer with substantive research interests in Quaternary science, paleoclimatology and paleoecology. I direct the Environmental Change Laboratory (ECL), where we use the biological, chemical, and physical properties of lake sediment to reconstruct long-term and recent patterns of climate and environmental change in arctic, sub-arctic and alpine settings in North America, Central America and Eurasia. Robust, well-constrained reconstructions of past climate are essential. These reconstructions, which provide much-needed information on the impact of prolonged regional warming on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and water resources, are critical to testing, refining and improving the climate models attempting to simulate future climate conditions. In doing so, this research can help society anticipate and manage the potential impacts associated with projected climate change. The research we undertake in the ECL is largely interdisciplinary and  involves close collaboration with a broad spectrum of researchers, including geographers, geologists, biogeographers, ecologists and climate modelers.