Bonnie F. Jacobs
Ph.D., Arizona
Associate Professor
Chair of the Environmental Science Program
Phone 214-768-2743
Email bjacobs@smu.edu
- Palynology
- Paleobotany
Courses Taught
GEOL 1315 - Intro to Environmental Science
GEOL 7350 - Biogeography
Related Links
Research Statement
Climate is the main determinant of plant geography and leaf morphology.
Therefore, fossil plants can be used to understand past climate, which is
essential for the testing of climate models used to create scenarios of future
climate change. Moreover, the foundation of nearly every ecosystem on Earth
is plants, which supply energy derived from the sun to all other life, resulting
in a close ecological link between flora and fauna, and knowledge of the
former sheds light on the food resources and habitat of the latter. Equally
as important, fossil plants provide tangible evidence of how and where our
current flora evolved.
My research centers on paleobotany, the study of fossil plants, ranging in
size from microscopic cells to macroscopic leaves, fruits, seeds and wood.
Within paleobotany, I am pursuing several research questions, all united
by a broad research interest in past climate and paleoecology. Paleoclimate
and climate change are directly relevant to environments of human evolution,
and tied closely to the evolution of plants and biomes. Research projects
have included field work in Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and in the U. S.,
Texas, and New Mexico.