About This Project

Jamaica is a highly biodiverse island in the Caribbean, but its ecological resources are threatened by climate and land-use changes. To conserve Jamaica’s flora and fauna, we need a better understanding of how the island’s species responded to past climate and human impacts. Funds raised through this campaign will help us collect sediment cores to develop a 10,000-year long environmental record of vegetation, fire, climate, and human impacts in Jamaica.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Jamaican habitats support over 900 plant species that are found nowhere else on Earth, in addition to several endemic and endangered wildlife species. The island has several sites that are designated as internationally important conservation areas under global treaties. Few studies have investigated past climate and environmental changes in the Caribbean islands, and of these, Jamaica is one of the least understood. An unresolved question concerns the timing of first human arrival in Jamaica, as the earliest archaeological dates from the island differ greatly from dates for other nearby large islands. Lake sediment cores provide a record of past climate and ecological conditions, and thus can be used to reconstruct Jamaica’s environmental history.

What is the significance of this project?

To this point, no studies have assessed long-term vegetation changes in Jamaica in the combined context of the island's climate and human land-use histories. This research will fill an important knowledge gap in Jamaica’s environmental history, and the findings will create new possibilities for both ecological and archaeological research on the island. Ultimately, this will expand the information available to Jamaican natural resource managers about the causes and effects of environmental change on the island, which will provide significant benefits to local biodiversity and habitat conservation efforts. Overall, our project will promote the advancement of ecological research in Jamaica, and will provide a platform for future studies about prehistoric environmental changes on the island.

What are the goals of the project?

Funds raised through this campaign will allow us to travel to Jamaica to collect lake sediment cores. These sediment cores contain preserved charcoal, pollen, oxygen isotopes, and fungal spores. We will use these records to analyze the fire, vegetation, climate, and land use histories of the island. This information will enable us to answer questions that are critical for maintenance of the island’s rich biodiversity, such as how Jamaican species responded to past climate and human events.