Steven D. Emslie

CP-LUHNA Author: Late Holocene Environmental Change in the Upper Gunnison Basin, Colorado

Univ. of North Carolina
Dept. of Biological Sciences
Wilmington, NC 28403
Phone: (910) 962-3357 (office)
Fax: (910) 962-4066

E-mail: emslies@uncwil.edu

Current Academic Position:

Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina, Wilmington

 

Education:

Ph.D. 1987 University of Florida, Gainesville--Zoology

M.S. 1982 Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff--Biology

M.A. 1977 University of Colorado, Boulder--Anthropology

B.A. 1975 University of Colorado, Boulder--Anthropology

 

Research Interests:

My research interests are interdisciplinary and focus on avian ecology and paleoecology, especially on the fossil record of birds in the Plio/Pleistocene. I have been investigating the evolution and extinction of birds in relation to climate change beginning 2.5 million years ago in the Florida peninsula and the western U. S. I also have been studying the paleoecology of seabirds in the Antarctic Peninsula with excavations of abandoned penguin colonies to recover bones and prey remains. These remains are providing information on the occupation history of abandoned colonies that can be correlated with past population movements by penguins and episodes of climate change in this region.

In summer 1999, I initiated investigations of Royal and Sandwich Terns that breed along the coast of North Carolina with graduate and undergraduate students at UNCW. This research includes monitoring of nesting success, systematic observations of birds feeding chicks to identify diet, and radiotelemetry studies of foraging behavior. Satellite imagery analyses of ocean productivity, both inshore and at the Gulf Stream, also are being incorporated to better understand how seabirds respond to changing marine conditions.

I will be completing additional research on the paleoecology of the Upper Gunnison Basin with excavations at Cement Creek Cave, which contains a rich late Pleistocene vertebrate assemblage, in summer 2000.

Recent Grants and Awards:

Colorado Natural History Small Grants Program, $2000 to support excavations of Cement Creek Cave, Colorado, summer 1999 (deferred to summer 2000).

North Carolina Sea Grant, $5000 minigrant for research on seabirds of the Cape Fear river ecosystem, North Carolina, summer 1999.

Center for Marine Science Research, University of North Carolina, Wilmington, $7996 to investigate seabirds as environmental indicator species in coastal North Carolina (with D. Lindquist and F. Bingham), 1999.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry Program, $150,350 to investigate high-trophic level ecosystem response to climate change in the Antarctic Peninsula (W. Fraser, G. Miller, and E. Hofmann, Co-PI’s) 1999-2000.

Cahill Award, Univ. of North Carolina—Wilmington, for ecological investigations of colonial waterbirds fo the Cape Fear River, $2500, 1999.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry Program, $29,580 to develop a remote sensing program at UNCW using new satellite imagery from NASA as applied to seabird colonies in coastal North Carolina, 1998-1999.

Colorado Historical Society, $89,860 to continue investigations of the Gunnison Basin archaeology and paleoecology with undergraduate students from Western State College, 1997-1998 (with Mark Stiger, Co-PI).

National Geographic Society (NGS 5995-97), $14,550 to support cave excavations and paleoecological studies of the Pleistocene/Holocene in the Upper Gunnison Basin, Colorado, 1997-1998.

Thornton Biology Undergraduate Research Program, Western State College, $4200 to support two students for field and laboratory studies of Holocene packrat middens and pollen samples from the Upper Gunnison Basin, Colorado, 1996-1997 (with students Ellen Wambach and Wendelyn Plourde).

Colorado Historical Society, $97,590 to investigate the Holocene archaeology and paleoecology of the Upper Gunnison Basin, Colorado, with undergraduate students from Western State College, 1996-1997 (with Mark Stiger, senior PI).

Selected Publications:

Emslie, S. D. Submitted. The Pleistocene avifauna from Porcupine Cave, Colorado. In: Early and Middle Pleistocene Biodiversity and Environmental Change: the Porcupine Cave Fauna from Colorado (A. D. Barnosky, Ed.). Univ. of California Press, Berkeley.

Collins, P. W., N. F. R. Snyder, and S. D. Emslie. Submitted. Faunal remains in California Condor nest caves. Condor.

Emslie, S. D. and N. J. Czaplewski. In Press. Two new fossil eagles from the late Pliocene (late Blancan) of Florida and Arizona and their biogeographic implications. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology No. 89.

Emslie, S. D. 1998. Cave taphonomy and the composition of vertebrate fossil assemblages. Pp. 29-39, in Quaternary Paleozoology in the Northern Hemisphere (J. J. Saunders, B. W. Styles, and G. F. Baryshnikov, Eds.). Illinois State Museum Scientific Papers 27 (published August 1999).

Emslie, S. D. 1996. A fossil scrub-jay supports a recent systematic decision. Condor 98: 675-680.

Emslie, S. D., J. I. Mead and L. Coats. 1995. Split-twig figurines in Grand Canyon, Arizona: new discoveries and interpretations. Kiva 61: 145-173.

Bocherens, H., S. D. Emslie, D. Billiou and A. Mariotti. 1995. Stable isotopes (13C, 15N) and paleodiet of the giant short-faced bear (Arctodus simus). Comptes Rendus de l'Acad des Sciences, Paris, t. 320, série II a: 779-784.

Emslie, S. D. 1992. Early humans in North America. Letter in Science 256: 426-427.

Emslie, S. D., J. Speth and R. Wiseman. 1992. Two prehistoric puebloan avifaunas from the Pecos Valley, southeastern New Mexico. Journal of Ethnobiology 12: 83-115.

Emslie, S. D. 1990. Additional radiocarbon dates on fossil California Condor. National Geographic Research 6 (2): 134-135.

Emslie, S. D. 1988. Vertebrate paleontology and taphonomy of caves in Grand Canyon, Arizona. National Geographic Research 4 (1):128-142.

Emslie, S. D. 1988. The fossil history and phylogenetic relationships of condors (Ciconiiformes: Vulturidae) in the New World. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 8 (2): 212-228.

Emslie, S. D. 1988. An early condor-like vulture from North America. Auk 105 (3): 529-535.

Emslie, S. D. 1987. Age and diet of fossil California condors in Grand Canyon, Arizona. Science 237: 768-770.

Emslie, S. D. and T. H. Heaton. 1987. The late Pleistocene avifauna of Crystal Ball Cave, Utah. Journal of the Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science 21: 53-60.

Emslie, S. D., R. C. Euler and J. I. Mead. 1987. A desert culture shrine in Grand Canyon, Arizona, and the role of split-twig figurines. National Geographic Research 3 (4): 511-516.

Rosholt, J., S. D. Emslie and L. Stevens. 1987. Paleoclimate and paleohydrologic significance of uranium-series ages of anhydrite and gypsum in caves, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs 19: 330.

Emslie, S. D. 1986. Late Pleistocene vertebrates from Gunnison County, Colorado. Journal of Paleontology 60 (1): 170-176.

Emslie, S. D. 1986. Canyon echoes of the condor. Natural History, April, pp. 10-14.

Emslie, S. D. 1985. The cave of ancient bears. Terra 23 (4): 10-14.

Emslie, S. D. 1985. A new species of teal from the Pleistocene (Rancholabrean) of Wyoming. Auk 102 (1): 201-205.

Emslie, S. D. 1985. The late Pleistocene avifauna of Little Box Elder Cave, Wyoming. Contributions to Geology, University of Wyoming, 23 (2): 63-82.

Emslie, S. D. and N. Czaplewski. 1985. A new record of giant short-faced bear, Arctodus simus, from western North America with a re-evaluation of its paleobiology. Los Angeles County Museum Contributions in Science 371: 1-12.

Emslie, S. D. 1985. Packrat and porcupine midden collection at Beaver Trap Shelter (Site 5MT4654). Pp. 191-194, in Dolores Archaeological Program: Studies in Environmental Archaeology. Bureau of Reclamation, Denver.

Emslie, S. D. 1984. Faunal remains and archaeological research designs: a need for consistency. American Archaeology 4 (2): 132-139.

Emslie, S. D. 1984. Cultural and climatic implications in Anasazi faunal exploitation: a review and perspectives. Proceedings of the Anasazi Symposium, Mesa Verde National Park, pp. 119-124.

Emslie, S. D. 1981. Prehistoric agricultural ecosystems: avifauna from Pottery Mound, New Mexico. American Antiquity 46 (4): 853-861.

Emslie, S. D. 1981. Birds and prehistoric agriculture: the New Mexican Pueblos. Human Ecology 9: 305-329.

Hargrave, L. L. and S. D. Emslie. 1980. Passenger pigeon bones from archaeological sites in New Mexico. Los Angeles County Museum Contributions to Science 330: 257-260.

Emslie, S. D. and L. L. Hargrave. 1979. Avifauna from the Curtis Site, southeastern Arizona. Kiva 44: 121-131.

Emslie, S. D. 1978. Prehistoric dog burials from Mancos Canyon, Colorado. Kiva 43: 167-182.

Selected Presentations (1998):

Packrat middens and paleocology of the Upper Gunnison Basin, Colorado. Invited speaker, Native Plant Society, Montrose, Colorado, 21 February.

Community, climate, and cultural changes during the Holocene in the Upper Gunnison Basin, Colorado. Invited speaker, Colorado Archaeological Society meeting, Gunnison, 30 April.

Paleoecology and paleobotany of the Gunnison Basin. Invited speaker, Colorado Native Plant Society Annual Meetings, Gunnison, CO, 19-20 Sept.