My research interest is related to prehistoric coastal adaptations, specifically subsistence strategies and resource use. By studying marine fauna from coastal archaeological sites (shell middens) I am able to reconstruct the coastal environments and ecosystems exploited by humans, and also the strategies used to exploite marine resources. My doctoral dissertation aims to reconstruct  ecological conditions during prehistoric human occupation and characterize past shellfish harvesting strategies and their impact on intertidal communities around Santa Cruz Island, southern California, USA. This will be done by a) compiling present day ecological data on intertidal shellfish species distribution and abundance and associated oceanographic patterns around the California Channel Islands, b) assessing archaeological shellfish species variation from Santa Cruz Island and its local sea-surface temperature(SST) paleorecords, and c) incorporating regional paleoclimatic SST records  available for the Santa Barbara Channel.   

Curriculum Vitae and publications