Debra A Willard, Ph.D.
I am a palynologist (pollen and spores) with expertise in paleoecology, paleoclimatology, and biostratigraphy. My biostratigraphic expertise extends from the Carboniferous to the Holocene, with an emphasis on Euramerica (Paleozoic) and the Northern Hemisphere. My paleoclimate expertise includes the late Paleozoic and the Paleogene to Holocene intervals.
Editorial Boards
- Global and Planetary Change
- Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution – Paleoecology section Review Editor
- Quaternary
- Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology
Professional Experience
2021-Present Research Geologist, US Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia
2011-2021 Coordinator, USGS Climate Research & Development Program
1991-2011 Research Geologist, US Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia
1990-1991 Postdoctoral Researcher, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Education and Certifications
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Ph.D., Botany 1990
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - M.S., Botany 1985
The Pennsylvania State University - B.S., Botany 1982
Stephens College - A.A., Geology 1980
Affiliations and Memberships*
American Geophysical Union
Geological Society of America
The Palynological Society
Science and Products
Rapid inundation of the southern Florida coastline despite low relative sea-level rise rates during the late-Holocene
Arctic vegetation, temperature, and hydrology during Early Eocene transient global warming events
The mighty Susquehanna—extreme floods in Eastern North America during the past two millennia
Geographic attribution of soils using probabilistic modeling of GIS data for forensic search efforts
A North American Hydroclimate Synthesis (NAHS) of the Common Era
The ACER pollen and charcoal database: A global resource to document vegetation and fire response to abrupt climate changes during the last glacial period
Shallow marine response to global climate change during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, Salisbury Embayment, USA
Trans-Amazon Drilling Project (TADP): origins and evolution of the forests, climate, and hydrology of the South American tropics
Holocene environmental changes inferred from biological and sedimentological proxies in a high elevation Great Basin lake in the northern Ruby Mountains, Nevada, USA
Coastal and wetland ecosystems of the Chesapeake Bay watershed: Applying palynology to understand impacts of changing climate, sea level, and land use
Patterns of floodplain sediment deposition along the regulated lower Roanoke River, North Carolina: annual, decadal, centennial scales
Pollen and spores of terrestrial plants
Science and Products
Rapid inundation of the southern Florida coastline despite low relative sea-level rise rates during the late-Holocene
Arctic vegetation, temperature, and hydrology during Early Eocene transient global warming events
The mighty Susquehanna—extreme floods in Eastern North America during the past two millennia
Geographic attribution of soils using probabilistic modeling of GIS data for forensic search efforts
A North American Hydroclimate Synthesis (NAHS) of the Common Era
The ACER pollen and charcoal database: A global resource to document vegetation and fire response to abrupt climate changes during the last glacial period
Shallow marine response to global climate change during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, Salisbury Embayment, USA
Trans-Amazon Drilling Project (TADP): origins and evolution of the forests, climate, and hydrology of the South American tropics
Holocene environmental changes inferred from biological and sedimentological proxies in a high elevation Great Basin lake in the northern Ruby Mountains, Nevada, USA
Coastal and wetland ecosystems of the Chesapeake Bay watershed: Applying palynology to understand impacts of changing climate, sea level, and land use
Patterns of floodplain sediment deposition along the regulated lower Roanoke River, North Carolina: annual, decadal, centennial scales
Pollen and spores of terrestrial plants
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government