Capabilities
USGS North American Packrat Midden Database, Version 5.0
Data release published October, 2022
Our lab conducts paleoecological research through the study of plant remains preserved in the sediments of lacustrine, fluvial, and wetland environments. Cores extracted from these settings contain sediments deposited over thousands of years during the late Quaternary. Plant remains found within the cores provide records of past vegetation and environmental change.
Activities performed in the lab include plant macrofossil separation through sediment sample wet sieving, plant macrofossil identification, and wood identification. The lab houses many modern plant reference collections and a library of botanical floras to aid in the identification of macrofossil remains.
Quaternary Paleobotany Laboratory Research Collections
Modern Botanical Collections
Alaska/Yukon Region:
- Thomas Ager Juneau, Alaska Seed Collection
- Bigelow/Strickland Alaska-Yukon Seed Collection
- Thomas Ager Alaska Herbarium Specimen Collection:
- Thomas Ager SEM Photographic Seed Collection
Southwestern U.S. Region:
- Robert Thompson Modern Seed and Plant Specimen Collection for the western United States
- George Yaskovich Herbarium Collection of plants of the southwestern U.S. and Arizona
North America:
- North American Modern Wood Thin Section Reference Collection
- Richard Scott Seed Collection
Libraries (Reference Books)
- Thompson Library of North American Floras
- Plant Macrofossil and Wood Identification Reference Library
Modern Pollen Legacy Collections
- Thomas Ager Modern Pollen of Alaska Photographic Reference Collection
- USGS Modern Pollen Photographic Reference Collection
- USGS Modern Pollen Slide Reference Collection
- Jansonius, J. and Hills, L.V., 1976. Alphabetical Guide to the Genera of Fossil Spores and Pollen. Department of Geology, University of Calgary. (paper index card collection)
- Jansonius, J. and Hills, L.V., 1976. Morphological Guide to the Genera of Fossil Spores and Pollen. Department of Geology, University of Calgary. (paper index card collection)
Paleobotanical Collections
- Robert Thompson Fossil Packrat Midden Collection
- Last Interglacial Fossil Seed Collection from the Snowmastodon Site, Snowmass, Colorado
Datasets
- USGS North American Packrat Midden Database, Version 5.0 (October 2022)
