Jacquelyn Gill is a

paleoecologist Paleoecology (also spelled palaeoecology) is the study of interactions between organisms and/or interactions between organisms and their environments across geologic timescales. As a discipline, paleoecology interacts with, depends on and informs ...

and assistant professor of

climate science Climatology (from Greek , ''klima'', "slope"; and , '' -logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 years. Climate concerns the atmospher ...

at the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...

. She has worked on such as the relationship between megafauna and vegetation in the Pleistocene, and the sediment cores of

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

. Gill is also a science communicator on climate change.

Education

Gill was inspired into a scientific career whilst exploring caves in the hills of

Acadia National Park Acadia National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located along the mid-section of the Maine coast, southwest of Bar Harbor, Maine, Bar Harbor. The park includes about half of Mount Desert ...

, when it struck her that they had formed when the sea level was higher, and were lifted up when Maine's coast bounced back after being pushed down by the weight of Ice Age glaciers. In 2005 Gill achieved a BSc in

Human Ecology Human ecology is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary study of the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments. The philosophy and study of human ecology has a diffuse history with advancements in ecolo ...

at the

College of the Atlantic College of the Atlantic (COA) is a private liberal arts college in Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island, Maine. Founded in 1969, it awards bachelors and masters ( M.Phil.) degrees solely in the field of human ecology, an interdisciplinary approa ...

, and studied a short course in

palynology Palynology is the study of microorganisms and microscopic fragments of mega-organisms that are composed of acid-resistant organic material and occur in sediments, sedimentary rocks, and even some metasedimentary rocks. Palynomorphs are the mic ...

at the University of London. She then moved to the University of Wisconsin, where she completed a PhD entitled, "The biogeography of biotic upheaval: Novel plant associations and the end - Pleistocene megafaunal extinction", under the supervision of Dr John Williams in 2012. This work examined the impact of the extinction of giant Pleistocene animals on plant life. In 2008 she was the recipient of the E. Lucy Braun Award for Excellence in Ecology. In 2010 she was awarded the Ecological Society of America Cooper Award. She also received the Whitbeck Dissertator. Fellowship from the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

. After her PhD, Gill served as the Voss Postdoctoral Fellow at

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

Research

She is an

Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

ecologist who uses natural experiments of the past to understand the impacts of

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

on the extinction and interactions of different species, communities and ecosystems. She is an assistant professor with a joint appointment in the Climate Change Institute and Biology and Ecology Department at the

. There, Gill directs the BEAST Lab for investigations on Biodiversity and Environments Across Space and Time. Using sediments and fossils from lakes and bogs, she studies climate change over the past 20,000 years. She concentrates on the

Quaternary Period The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

, an era of alternating ice ages and subsequent warm spells. Her research suggests that megaherbivores helped to make the ecosystems they live in more resistant to climate change. Her research is currently focussed on the

sediment cores Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice ...

, looking to develop a 10,000 year environmental record of fire, vegetation and climate. She is involved with Project 23, which will reconstruct the

food web A food web is the natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical representation of what-eats-what in an ecological community. Position in the food web, or trophic level, is used in ecology to broadly classify organisms as autotrophs or he ...

learning how various species were connected for when they were not under climate stress. In 2019, while filming the documentary "Lost Beasts of the Ice Age" in

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

, Gill was hospitalized for

deep vein thrombosis Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a type of venous thrombosis involving the formation of a blood clot in a deep vein, most commonly in the legs or pelvis. A minority of DVTs occur in the arms. Symptoms can include pain, swelling, redness, and enl ...

which manifested as multiple blood clots in both her legs and lungs. Upon recovering at a hospital in

Yakutsk Yakutsk ( ) is the capital and largest city of Sakha, Russia, located about south of the Arctic Circle. Fueled by the mining industry, Yakutsk has become one of Russia's most rapidly growing regional cities, with a population of 355,443 at the ...

, Russia, she returned home to her home in Maine.

Public engagement

Gill regularly contributes to the public understanding of climate science and conservation. She is interested in STEM diversity, how scientists embrace new media and increasing disabled access at conferences. She is the co-host of the podcast "Warm Regards" (founded July 2016) along with meteorologist Eric Holthaus and climate journalist Andy Revkin of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. When America pulled out of the

Paris Climate Accord The Paris Agreement (also called the Paris Accords or Paris Climate Accords) is an international treaty on climate change that was signed in 2016. The treaty covers climate change mitigation, Climate change adaptation, adaptation, and Climate ...

in 2017, Gill spoke up, “I hope that people don’t see this and think that all is lost". She was inspired by the

Women's March Women's March may refer to: * Women's March on Versailles, a 1789 march in Paris * Women's Sunday, a 1908 suffragette march in London * Woman Suffrage Procession, a 1913 march and rally in Washington, D.C. * Women's March (South Africa), a 1956 ma ...

in protest of the election of Donald Trump to set up a

March for Science The March for Science (formerly known as the Scientists' March on Washington) was an international series of rallies and marches held on Earth Day. The inaugural march was held on April 22, 2017, in Washington, D.C., and more than 600 other cit ...

, which resulted in 600 demonstrations on April 22, 2017 (

Earth Day Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally through earthday.org (formerly Earth Day Network) includin ...

). Gill left the organizational committee because of leaders’ resistance to address inequalities in race and gender.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gill, Jacquelyn Living people College of the Atlantic alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Scientists from Maine Women ecologists University of Maine faculty Year of birth missing (living people) American science communicators Climate communication American ecologists 21st-century American scientists 21st-century American women scientists