Richard Vachula

Assistant Professor in Department of Geosciences, Auburn University

Bio: 

Richard Vachula researches how fires and humans have affected ecosystems of the past to inform management and policy decisions today. He studies the variability, controls, and impacts of fire in the Earth System, as well as the ecological impacts of humans on ecosystems. He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and graduated with a BS in Geology and a BA in French Studies. In 2020, he finished his PhD studies (ScM en route) in the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences at Brown University, where he was also an affiliate of the Institute at Brown for Environment & Society. He worked as a postdoctoral research assistant at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom in 2020 before joining the Environmental Science and Policy program at the College of William and Mary as a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow. In 2022, he started as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geosciences at Auburn University. 

Abstract:

Recent fires and fire seasons have caused significant concern in public and media discourse. Are these fires the result of anthropogenic climate change, poor forest management, or both? Would wildfires be less severe if Native American fire management techniques were brought back to landscapes? These questions can be addressed using paleofire approaches. By extracting fire by-products preserved in sedimentary deposits, we can establish long-term fire baselines with which to compare modern fire activity. By developing new paleofire proxies, we can further dissect how fire regimes have responded to climatic changes, management strategies, and ecological shifts of the past. This talk will explore paleofire proxies, ongoing research to refine them, and how they ultimately depend on the sedimentary archives that preserve them.  

--------

INSTAAR Seminar Series

All seminars are hybrid events, in person in SEEC S228 and via Zoom at 12:00-1:00 pm

Audience: All are welcome

Location: Online and in SEEC S228. 4001 Discovery Drive, Boulder, CO.