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Laurel
S. Collins
Associate
Professor
Ph.D. Yale University, 1989
M.S.
George Washington University, 1985
B.S. University of Maryland, 1974
Office:
PC 435
Laboratory:
PC 349A
Telephone:
(305) 348-1732
Email:
collinsl@fiu.edu
For
a complete CV in pdf format please click here.
Paleobiology,
Micropaleontology
Research
Interests
I
investigate environmental changes of the past and the
extent to which they have affected evolution, including
changes in evolutionary rates, communities, and organismal
morphology. The originations and extinctions of fossil
taxa and their ecology/paleoecology are used to identify
evolutionary, paleoceanographic, paleoclimatic and tectonic
trends through time. Current research projects
include:
Neogene
Evolution of Tropical American Benthic Foraminifera
The
Neogene emergence of the Isthmus of Panama separated
tropical Eastern Pacific and Western Atlantic biotas.
Fieldwork in Central America (Panama, Costa Rica,
Nicaragua) and Ecuador is establishing a stratigraphic
and paleoenvironmental framework to assess biogeographic
and evolutionary changes.
Uplift
of the Isthmus of Panama
I
am using the paleoecology, paleobiogeography and stable
isotopes of foraminifera to identify evolutionary
shallow-water paleoceanographic and tectonic changes
associated with the early Miocene to early Pliocene
emergence of the Isthmus of Panama.
Seagrass
History of Florida Bay, Everglades National Park
FIU
geologists, biologists and chemists are investigating
the amount of variation in coastal environmental conditions
that is naturally occurring. Our approach is to reconstruct
the historical record of seagrass abundance, which
is highly correlated with environmental water quality.
We have collected sediment cores and obtained ages
as old as 4000+ years, and we are using proxies of
seagrass abundance contained in the sediment as indicators
of the environmental water quality of the past few
hundred years. I am studying seagrass-associated foraminifera
as an indicator of seagrass abundance, and will combine
my results with the other proxies (sedimentology,
geochemistry, diatoms) to produce an integrated history
of Florida Bay seagrass abundance.
Selected
publications:
Jain,
S., and Collins, L.S. (2007). Trends in Caribbean paleoproductivity
related to the Neogene closure of the Central American
Seaway. Marine Micropaleontology, v. 63, pp. 57-74.
Coates, A.G., L.S. Collins, M.P. Aubry, and W.A. Berggren
(2004). The geology of the Darien, Panama, and the late
Miocene-Pliocene collision of the Panama arc with northwestern
South America. Geological Society of America Bulletin,
v. 116 (11/12), pp. 1327-1344.
Buzas, M.B., L.S. Collins, and S.J. Culver (2002). Latitudinal
difference in biodiversity caused by higher tropical
rate of increase. Proceedings of the National Academy
of Science, v. 99, no. 12, pp. 7841-7843.
Collins, L.S., and A.G. Coates (Editors; 1999/2000).
A Paleobiotic Survey of Caribbean Faunas from the Neogene
of the Isthmus of Panama. Bulletins of American Paleontology,
no. 357, 351 pp.
Collins, L.S., A.F. Budd, and A.G. Coates (1996). Earliest
evolution associated with closure of the Tropical American
Seaway. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
v. 93: 6069-6072.
Collins, L.S., A.G. Coates, W.A. Berggren, M.-P. Aubry,
and J. Zhang (1996). The late Miocene Panama isthmian
strait. Geology, v. 24, no. 8: 687-690.
Collins, L.S., A.G. Coates, J.B.C. Jackson, and J.A.
Obando (1995). Timing and rates of emergence of the
Limón and Bocas del Toro basins: Caribbean effects
of Cocos Ridge subduction?. In P. Mann (ed.), Geologic
and Tectonic Development of the Caribbean Plate Boundary
in southern Central America. Geological Society of America,
Special Paper: 263-289.
Collins, L.S. (1993). Neogene paleoenvironments of the
Bocas del Toro Basin, Panama. Journal of Paleontology,
v. 67: 699-710.
Collins, L.S. (1990). The correspondence between water
temperature and coiling direction in Bulimina. Paleoceanography,
v. 5 (3): 289-294.
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4/17/08
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