Carlie Pietsch
Department of Geology
San Jose State University
How do mass extinctions influence evolution?
How does community ecology change during extreme climate events?
As a paleontologist, I study changes in fossil assemblages, sediments, and geochemical proxies to determine how extreme climate intervals in Earth's history effect the paleoecology and evolution of marine communities.
I am an assistant professor in the Geology Department at San Jose State University.
I am always considering applications from motivated undergraduate and graduate students to join the research initiatives of the SJSU Paleo Lab.
If you want to work on the paleoecology of extreme climate events, send me an email: carlie.pietsch AT sjsu.edu
Projects examine intervals of extreme climate events in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic as both a proxy for anthropogenic climate change and a window into the role of climate on evolutionary trajectories of marine invertebrates.
Ongoing work examines changes (or lack there-of!) in functional ecology, life-history (growth rates, body size), and trophic energetics across extreme climate events. My current time intervals of interest include:
Recovery from the end-Cretaceous mass extinction
Early and Middle Triassic recovery from the end-Permian mass extinction (252 million years ago). The most devastating mass extinction to ever hit the planet.
The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
Check out the San Jose State Geology Department here
Here I am on a field trip to the Early Cambrian with Dr. David Bottjer.
“Earth is ancient now, but all knowledge is stored up in her. She keeps a record of everything that has happened since time began. Of time before time, she says little, and in a language that no one has yet understood. Through time, her secret codes have gradually been broken. Her mud and lava is a message from the past. Of time to come, she says much, but who listens?”
Jeanette Winterson,
Header photo: Eocene mollusks from the Gulf Coastal Plain