Paleo-Bloggers – A List

EDIT:  I’ve added some more blogs based on suggestions from the comments here and on twitter.  And I just keep adding more (Jan 23, 2013)!

Well, I’ve been thinking about doing a post like this for a while, a big list of paleobloggers. This post has been sitting in my drafts pile for a while and I wanted to get it moving forward with a bit of crowd sourcing. Besides, it’s hard to define what actually constitutes a “paleoecology” blog, given that blogs like The Rock Remains certainly deal with paleoecological concepts, are interested in the past and aren’t wholly about rocks, or this tiny slice at the surface of time, but these blogs aren’t exactly ecological. Of course it’s hard to define what’s ecological about downwithtime sometimes. (links below the fold)

“How come ecologists don’t get time scales like the Holocene?” “How come you don’t think about anything before the Quaternary?” “Good point.”
Image from Wikipedia.

Some Blogs Then

downwithtime – You are here.

contemplative mammoth – Jacquelyn Gill’s blog. She’s a Voss post-doc a Brown with Dov Sax, she also used to share an office with me and is a great blogger. She actually got me started with downwithtime, this terrible albatros (fun fact)

W. Andrew Barr’s Paleoecology Blog – There’s some really interesting and diverse posts about human and mammal evolution and ecology, as well as some great R tips.

Ecological Paleoecology – Valenti Rull has some great papers, but he also has some really good blog posts at Ecological Paleoecology. Never one to shy away from controversy, he’s also got a great call to arms, well, a manifesto really, for scientists here.

Montana State Paleoecology Lab – Well. . . there’s a post from late August 2012, but the next post is from 2011. Maybe they’re turning over a new leaf? But seriously, this is a great lab, with some great recent publications. And in fairness, I turned in an application there last week.

Among the Stately Trees – Bob Booth is a blogger and an associate professor at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA. The blog is interesting, with some great personal anecdotes mixed in with great science. If you want to see what field work looks like, this is the site to check.

From the Bottom of the Heap – Gavin Simpson’s blog, mostly numerical paleoecology. Good stuff, but nothing new since August! Again, he’s got lots of great recent work, so he must be working on a really great post that’s just taking a while.

PaleoWave – Kaustubh Thirumalai’s blog. He’s got a great post up right now, and lots of good field work posts from the Pacific. Kind of makes me jealous, but then I think about how hot it must be in Texas and I feel a bit better.

The Broadleaf Papers – Neil Pederson’s blog at The Earth Institute of Columbia University.  With a focus on dendroecology and dendrochronology.  Some nice pictures, and good tales from the field! (Thanks Bob for the suggestion!)

This Changing Life – I first heard of Tim Parshall from his 2001 paper with Randy Calcote, but he’s an Associate Professor at Westfield State University now and writing a great blog about biodiversity, climate change and still talking about hemlock.

Strange Weather – A blog about paleoclimate written by Julien Emile-Geay (I actually contacted Julien about a post-doc position early in my job search, but Jack hired me too fast!) and Kevin Anchukaitis (a very prolific tweeter). Lots of nice graphs and references to the literature.

Green Tea and Velociraptors – This is a great blog, Jon has taught me more about dinosaurs just by reading his blog (which pays off with the kids!) than I ever knew, but we get into this weird neverland, where does paleoecology end and paleontology begin. Jon, what do you think?

Up and Down in Moxos:  Umberto Lombardo is a post-doc in Bern who does research in the Amazon Basin.  I only just found this blog, but there are some great posts, and interesting discussions in the comments.  His most recent post has a good summary of work ongoing in the Bolivian Amazon, and there’s an interesting post here about pre-Columbian signals of human habitation in the Amazon and the environmental triggers for the development of complex civilizations.

Evolutionary Paleoecology – CASHP – The Center for the Advanced Study of Hominid Paleobiology at the George Washington University has some pretty interesting posts dealing with paleoecology as it relates to early homonid evolution.  There’s also some great biographical posts and a diversity of bloggers.  Besides, don’t you want to know “How to Excavate a Gorilla with a Spoon“?

Three blogs suggested by Kaustubh Thirumalai:

The Cobb Lab: Kim Cobb is a coral paleoclimatologist at Georgia Tech.  A few posts about AGU and some fieldwork posts.  There is a great post about women’s fashion at AGU which follows up on an extensive discussion on the Earth Science Women’s listserv.  Interesting stuff to follow!

The PAST Lab: Kristine DeLong has an awesome name for her lab at Louisiana State University and is another coral paleoclimatologist.  Seriously, this is almost better than Extreme GORing, almost.  Good blog, and it showcases a great paper and Dr. DeLong’s ability to throw a good party.

Expedition Antarctic:  Really great field stuff from Amelia Shevenell, a paleooceanographer in the Antarctic.

The Ocular Reversed: Margot Saher‘s blog, discussing research on sea level change, paleooceanography and offering her a place to “vent her scientific spleen”!.

Not Just Science: Anthea Lacchia‘s brand new (in November 2012) blog with a really nice clean layout, and a broad set of science writings on various topics that reflect her credentials as a science writer and academic.  This post has a great sonnet to a fossil, I’m going to have to steal it!

Palaeolimnology et al.: The blog for the Palaeoenvironmental Change Research Group at the Open University.  This is a good site with a mix of interesting research, administrative updates (for example, available grants!) and more biographical posts about life in the lab.

Demoliendo hoteles (Demolishing Hotels?):  A blog by Ada Czerwonogora, a paleontologist at the Universidad e la Republica in Uruguay.  There are some really interesting posts on the blog (that Google Translate helpfully allowed me to read), spanning technology, pedagogy, and paleontology.

Adventures in Archaeology, Human Palaeoecology and the Internet: A blog by Matt Law, a lecturer in Geography at Bath Spa University.  Lots of great posts and pictures about molluscs, and public engagement with science.

If you’d be so kind:

I’d appreciate adding to this list, both for my own edification and to help others. If you have a great blog about paleoecology post it in the comments, or let me know through the regular channels.