Bio

Hello! My name is Jess and I was raised in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota.I graduated with my Bachelor of Arts degree from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. During this period, I was involved with studying the impacts of restored prairies on small mammal communities in northwestern Minnesota. From there, I moved to Stephenville, Texas where I attended Tarleton State University and received my Master of Science degree. My thesis work, under the supervision of Dr. Jesse Meik, investigated geographic variation in morphology in the Mohave rattlesnake (Crotalus scutulatus).

I started my PhD with Dr. Bush in the fall of 2021. My research investigates how palm abundances have changed through time across latitudinal and precipitation gradients, as well as the impact of humans. Palms have been and are heavily utilized by indigenous populations for food and construction. I use phytoliths, microscopic silica particles found in many plants, as
a proxy for changes in vegetation over time. Phytoliths preserve well in the soil and taxa that are heavily used by humans, such as Poaceae (grasses) and Arecaceae (palms), produce an abundance of phytoliths. My sites are in two areas of South America separated by the Andes: the Chocó and western Amazonia. The Chocó bioregion is one of the rainiest places on earth and understudied
compared to other tropical regions. This is the first study that we are aware of examining the phytolith record in this region. We have a series of soil cores collected across the Ecuadorian Chocó. In western Amazonia, I have samples from near Iquitos, Cocha Cashu, and Tambopata.

email: watson2021@my.fit.edu