Skip to main content
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
  • Visit
    • Visit the University of Nebraska–Lincoln
  • Apply
    • Apply to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln
  • Give
    • Give to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Log In
Search

Search Form

University Communication
Digital Photo Archive
Search
Log In
  • Photo Search
  • Tag Browser
    • Tags List
  • Ordering Instructions
  • Visit
    • Visit the University of Nebraska–Lincoln
  • Apply
    • Apply to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln
  • Give
    • Give to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln
  1. Nebraska
  2. University Communication
  3. Digital Photo Archive
  4. Taxonomy term

NSF Grant

Nebraska paleontologist Ross Secord and Judy Diamond pose next to a Mesohippus skeleton. The two are working together at Looking Back for Future Climate Clues. With a nearly $350,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, Secord’s pursuing a first-of-its-kind study that explores how climate change affected the environment, ecosystems and organisms during the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum. The EECO took place about 52 million years ago and was the warmest interval of the past 70 million years.    

  

Marked by a shift to high carbon dioxide levels, warm temperatures and increased precipitation, the transition from pre-EECO to the EECO is considered a good analogue for future climate change. Better understanding ecological changes during this time may provide clues to scientists trying to forecast future conditions.  

  

“Studying intervals in the geologic record where the global warming experiment has already occurred gives you a way of figuring out what the possible outcomes of climate change may be,” said Secord, associate professor of earth and atmospheric sciences.   

  

Secord and collaborators are analyzing fossil records from Wyoming’s Bighorn and Wind River basins, which have rich collections from the EECO. They will identify the types of forest structure that prevailed during that period. Their findings will clarify the interrelationship between climate change, forest structure and mammal evolution.  

  

Secord will analyze fossil teeth of EECO mammals to infer the types of habitats present in the environment. Mammalian tooth enamel preserves the different types of carbon found in the plants they consumed. This process is part of stable isotope geochemistry, one of Secord’s specialties.    

  

Nebraska’s Judy Diamond is leading an outreach plan that provides 50 rural and tribal libraries in Nebraska and across the nation with current information about climate change, water resources, mammal evolution a
220912 Diamond Secord 035
Nebraska paleontologist Ross Secord and Judy Diamond pose next to a Mesohippus skeleton. The two are working together at Looking Back for Future Climate Clues. With a nearly $350,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, Secord’s pursuing a first-of-its-kind study that explores how climate change affected the environment, ecosystems and organisms during the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum. The EECO took place about 52 million years ago and was the warmest interval of the past 70 million years.    

  

Marked by a shift to high carbon dioxide levels, warm temperatures and increased precipitation, the transition from pre-EECO to the EECO is considered a good analogue for future climate change. Better understanding ecological changes during this time may provide clues to scientists trying to forecast future conditions.  

  

“Studying intervals in the geologic record where the global warming experiment has already occurred gives you a way of figuring out what the possible outcomes of climate change may be,” said Secord, associate professor of earth and atmospheric sciences.   

  

Secord and collaborators are analyzing fossil records from Wyoming’s Bighorn and Wind River basins, which have rich collections from the EECO. They will identify the types of forest structure that prevailed during that period. Their findings will clarify the interrelationship between climate change, forest structure and mammal evolution.  

  

Secord will analyze fossil teeth of EECO mammals to infer the types of habitats present in the environment. Mammalian tooth enamel preserves the different types of carbon found in the plants they consumed. This process is part of stable isotope geochemistry, one of Secord’s specialties.    

  

Nebraska’s Judy Diamond is leading an outreach plan that provides 50 rural and tribal libraries in Nebraska and across the nation with current information about climate change, water resources, mammal evolution a
220912 Diamond Secord 032
Hamid Bagheri (left) and Lisong Xu, professors in the School of Computing, are using a $750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a tool that will address one of the most significant drivers of internet congestion: buggy congestion control algorithms. October 13, 2021. Photo by Craig Chandler / University Communication.
211013 Xu Bagheri 094
Hamid Bagheri (left) and Lisong Xu, professors in the School of Computing, are using a $750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a tool that will address one of the most significant drivers of internet congestion: buggy congestion control algorithms. October 13, 2021. Photo by Craig Chandler / University Communication.
211013 Xu Bagheri 054
Lisong Xu, professor in the School of Computing with Hamid Bagheri, assistant professor in the School of Computing, are using a $750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a tool that will address one of the most significant drivers of internet congestion: buggy congestion control algorithms. October 13, 2021. Photo by Craig Chandler / University Communication.
211013 Xu 104
Hamid Bagheri, assistant professor in the School of Computing, with Lisong Xu, professor in the School of Computing, are using a $750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a tool that will address one of the most significant drivers of internet congestion: buggy congestion control algorithms. October 13, 2021. Photo by Craig Chandler / University Communication.
211013 Bagheri 100
From left: Craig Allen, Simanti Banerjee, Dirac Twidwell and Daniel Uden are researching regional environmental change with the help of an NSF grant. The grant will develop resilience informatics screening tools for more advanced and earlier detection of vegetation transitions. September 18, 2019. Photo by Craig Chandler / University Communication.
190918 Ecosystems 021

Ordering Instructions

All photos are available to UNL departments at no charge. Email the titles of the photos to Craig Chandler or Monica Myers.

cchandler2@unl.edu
mmyers2@unl.edu

Related Links

  • UNL Events Calendar
  • University Communication
  • Office of the Chancellor

Campus Links

  • Directory
  • Employment
  • Events
  • Libraries
  • Maps
  • News
  • Office of the Chancellor
  • Report an Incident

Policies & Reports

  • Accessibility Statement
  • Institutional Equity and Compliance
  • Notice of Nondiscrimination
  • Privacy Policy
  • Safety at Nebraska
  • Student Information Disclosures
UNL web framework and quality assurance provided by the Web Developer Network · QA Test
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Established 1869 · Copyright 2023