Research Paleobiologist and Curator of Paleobotany
National Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian Institution
PO Box 37012
NHB E315 MRC 121
Washington, D.C. 20013-7012
Email: dimichel at si.edu
http://paleobiology.si.edu/staff/individuals/dimichele.html
Research Interests
1. Response of tropical plant communities to the transition from cool to warm earth during the latest Pennsylvanian through early Permian periods.
2. Relationship between landscape heterogeneity and macroevolution.
3. Systematics and morphology of Permian plants, particularly those that comprise tropical ecosystems.
Current Research Projects
1. Spatial structure of Pennsylvanian plant communities, via studies of plant distribution in coal "roof shales" exposed in underground and strip mines. Being carried out mainly in Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky.
2. Permian fossil floras of the southwestern US, principally Texas and New Mexico, in paleoenvironmental context. Working with colleagues in geochemistry, sedimentology, and stratigraphy.
3. Changes in Pennsylvanian-age floras from the Appalachian Basin (West Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania) in response to changes in climate. Jointly with scientists from the US and state geological surveys.
Recent Publications
1. DiMichele, W.A., Falcon-Lang, H.J., Nelson, W.J., Elrick, S.D., and Ames, P.R. 2007. Ecological gradients within a Middle Pennsylvanian peat mire forest. Geology 35: 415-418.
2. DiMichele, W.A., Chaney, D.S., Nelson, W.J., Lucas, S.G., Looy, C.V., Quick, K., and Wang Jun. 2007. A low diversity, seasonal tropical landscape dominated by conifers and peltasperms: Early Permian Abo Formation, New Mexico. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 145: 249-273.
3. Montañez, I.P., Tabor, N.J., Niemeier, D., DiMichele, W.A., Frank, T.D., Fielding, C.R., and Isbell, J.L. 2007. CO2-forced climate and vegetation instability during Late Paleozoic deglaciation. Science 315: 87-91.
4. Willard, D.A., Phillips, T.L., Lesnikowska, A.D., and DiMichele, W.A. 2007. Paleoecology of the Late Pennsylvanian-Age Calhoun coal bed and implications for long-term dynamics of wetland ecosystems. International Journal of Coal Geology 69: 21-54.
5. DiMichele, W.A., Tabor, N.J., Chaney, D.S. and Nelson, W.J., 2006. From wetlands to wetspots: the fate and significance of Carboniferous elements in Early Permian coastal plain floras of North-Central Texas. In: Greb, S. and DiMichele, W.A., eds. Wetlands Through Time. Geological Society of America Special Publication 299: 223-248.
6. DiMichele, W.A., Phillips, T.L., and Pfefferkorn, H.W. 2006. The paleoecology of late Paleozoic pteridosperms from tropical Euramerica. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 133: 83-118.
7. DiMichele, W.A., Gastaldo, R.A., and Pfefferkorn, H.W. 2005. Plant biodiversity partitioning in the Late Carboniferous and Early Permian and its implications for ecosystem assembly. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 56 (supplement 1): 32-49.
8. DiMichele, W.A. and R.M. Bateman. 2005. Evolution of land plant diversity: Major innovations and lineages through time. In G.A. Krupnick and W.J. Kress, eds., Plant Conservation: A Natural History Approach, pp. 3-14. University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London.
9. DiMichele, W.A., R.W. Hook, W.J. Nelson, and D.S. Chaney. 2004. An unusual Middle Permian flora from the Blaine Formation (Pease River Group, Leonardian-Guadalupian Series) of King County, West Texas. Journal of Paleontology 78: 765-782.
10. DiMichele, W.A., A.K. Behrensmeyer, T.D. Olszewski, C.C. Labandeira, J.M. Pandolfi, S.L. Wing, and R. Bobe. 2004 Long-term stasis in ecological assemblages: Evidence from the fossil record. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 35: 285-322.
Updated -11/13/07
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