Understanding and anticipating ecological responses to environmental changes, including climate variability, altered disturbance regimes, and changes in land use, is a pressing and critical challenge for ecologists and earth-system scientists. As a broadly trained ecologist interested in the effects of environmental variability on the structure and function of communities and ecosystems, much of my research program has been focused on meeting this critical challenge. Our research group exploits the “natural experiments” of the past to better understand the causes and consequences of environmental change and variability. The primary source of information that we use for these investigations is the paleoecological record derived from peatlands and lakes, although when possible we couple these studies with investigations of contemporary and historical ecology in an effort to better interpret past changes and bridge the gap in our understanding between long-term (i.e., millennial) and short-term (i.e., subdecadal) ecological processes. We have also pioneered the development of an important and increasingly applied tool in studies of global change – the use of testate amoebae in ecological and paleoenvironmental studies. Recent and ongoing research projects are aimed at better understanding the ecology and biogeography of testate amoebae to refine and extend the use of these organisms in answering global-change questions.
Robert Booth
Professor
Department Chair
B.S., Biology, Penn State University, 1995
M.S., Biology, Georgia Southern University, 1998
Ph.D., Botany, University of Wyoming, 2003
Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of Wisconsin, 2003-2005
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Research Areas
Additional Interests
- Environmental Change
- Paleoecology
- Wetland Ecology
- Forest Ecology
Research Statement
A full list of publications can be found on Google Scholar.
Selected Publications Arranged by Research Area
Testate amoeba ecology and use as paleoenvironmental indicators
Booth, R.K., A.R. Stansfield, E. Cowper, and J. Kodero. 2025. Testate amoebae as paleoenvironmental indicators in peatlands: calibration-dataset synthesis and assessment of modern analogues using the Neotoma Paleoecology Database. Quaternary Science Reviews 366, 109491. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109491
Herbert, R.P., S.C. Peters, D.M. Nelson, & R.K. Booth. 2019. Light variability and mixotrophy: responses of testate amoeba communities and shell δ13C values to a two-year peatland shading experiment. European Journal of Protistology 67: 15-26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejop.2018.10.005
Amesbury, M.J., R.K. Booth, T.P. Roland, J. Bunbury, M.J. Clifford, D.J. Charman, S. Elliot, S. Finkelstein, M. Garneau, P.D.M. Hughes, A. Lamarre, J. Loisel, H. Mackay, G. Magnan, E.R.Markel, E.A.D. Mitchell, R.J. Payne, N. Pelletier, H. Roe, M.E.Sullivan, G.T.Swindles, J. Talbot, S. van Bellen, & B.G.Warner. 2018. Towards a Holarctic synthesis of peatland testate amoeba ecology: Development of a new continental-scale palaeohydrological transfer function for North America and comparison to European data. Quaternary Science Reviews 201: 483-500. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.10.034
Sullivan, M.E. & R.K. Booth. 2011. The potential influence of short-term environmental variability on the composition of testate amoeba communities in Sphagnum peatlands. Microbial Ecology 62:80-93
Booth, R.K. and B. Meyers. 2010. Environmental controls on pore number in Hyalosphenia papilio: implications for paleoenvironmental reconstruction. Acta Protozoologica 49: 29-35.
Booth, R.K. 2008. Testate amoebae as proxies of mean annual water-table depth in Sphagnum-dominated peatlands of North America. Journal of Quaternary Science 23: 43-57.
Forest paleoecology and dynamics
Booth, R.K., G.W. Schuurman, E.A. Lynch, M.G. Huff, J.A. Bebout, and N.M. Montano. 2023. Paleoecology provides context for conserving culturally and ecologically important pine forest and barrens communities. Ecological Applications, p.e2901. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2901
Clifford, M.J. & R.K. Booth. 2015. Late-Holocene drought and fire drove a widespread change in forest community composition in eastern North America. The Holocene 25: 1102-1110.
Jackson, S.T., R.K. Booth, K. Reeves, J.J. Andersen, T.A. Minckley, & R.A. Jones. 2014. Inferring local to regional changes in forest composition from Holocene macrofossils and pollen of a small lake in central Upper Michigan. Quaternary Science Reviews 98: 60-73.
Booth, R.K., S. Brewer, M. Blaauw, T.A. Minckley, & S.T. Jackson. 2012. Decomposing the Mid-Holocene Tsuga Decline in Eastern North America. Ecology 93:1841–1852.
Booth, R.K., S.T. Jackson, V.A. Sousa, M.E. Sullivan, T.A. Minckley, & M.J. Clifford. 2012. Multidecadal drought and amplified moisture variability drove rapid forest community change in a humid region. Ecology 93:219-226.
Peatland development and peat-based paleoenvironmental archives
Stansfield, A.R., R. K. Booth, J. Loisel, P. Camill, Z. Yu, Z. Xia, A. Gengaro, A. Scally. 2025. Recent Sphagnum expansion into the tundra on the North Slope of Alaska. Ecological Monographs in press.
Ireland, A.W., R.K. Booth, S.C. Hotchkiss, & J.E. Schmitz. 2013. A comparative study of within-basin and regional peatland development: implications for peatland carbon dynamics. Quaternary Science Reviews 71: 85-95.
Ireland, A.W., R.K. Booth, S.C. Hotchkiss, & J.E. Schmitz. 2012. Drought as a trigger for rapid state shifts in kettle ecosystems: implications for ecosystem responses to climate change. Wetlands. DOI: 10.1007/s13157-012-0324-6.
van Bellen, S., M. Garneau, & R.K. Booth. 2011. Holocene carbon accumulation rates from three ombrotrophic peatlands in boreal Quebec, Canada: impact of climate-driven ecohydrological change. The Holocene 21: 1217-1231.
Ireland, A.W. & R.K. Booth. 2011. Hydroclimatic variability drives episodic expansion of a floating peat mat in a North American kettlehole basin. Ecology 92: 11-18.
Holocene paleoclimate
Monteath, A.J., B.J.L. Jensen, L.J. Davies, M.S.M. Bolton, P.D.M. Hughes, H. Mackay, M.E. Edwards, M. Finkenbinder, R.K. Booth, L.C. Cwynar, J. Harvey, S.Pyne-O’Donnell, C.N. Papp, D.G. Froese, G.Mallon, M.J. Amesbury, and R.J. Mayfield. 2025. Increasing tephra deposition in northeastern North America points to atmospheric circulation changes at the Early-Mid Holocene transition. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 130, e2024JD042135. https://doi.org/10.1029/ 2024JD042135
Mackay, H., G. Plunkett, B.J. Jensen, T.J. Aubry, C. Corona, W.M. Kim, M. Toohey, M. Sig, M. Stoffel, K.J. Anchukaitis, C.Raible, M.S.M. Bolton, J.G. Manning, T.P. Newfield, N. Di Cosmo, F. Ludlow, C. Kostick, Z. Yang, L.C. McClung, M. Amesbury, A. Monteath, P.D.M. Hughes, P.G. Langdon, D. Charman, R. Booth, K.L. Davies, A. Blundell. & G.T. Swindles. 2022. The 852/3 CE Mount Churchill eruption: examining the potential climatic and societal impacts and the timing of the Medieval Climate Anomaly in the North Atlantic Region. Climate of the Past, 18(6), 1475-1508. https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1475-2022
Turner, E.T., G.T. Swindles, D.J. Charman, P.G. Langdon, P.J. Morris, R.K. Booth, L.E. Parry, & J.E. Nichols. 2016. Solar cycles or random processes? Evaluating solar variability in Holocene climate records. Scientific Reports 6: 23961.
Booth, R.K., M. Notaro, S.T. Jackson, & J.E. Kutzbach. 2006. Widespread drought episodes in the western Great Lakes region during the past 2000 years: geographic extent and potential mechanisms. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 242: 415-427.
Booth, R.K., S.T. Jackson, S.L. Forman, J.E. Kutzbach, E.A. Bettis, III, J. Kreig, and D.K. Wright. 2005. A severe centennial-scale drought in continental North America 4200 years ago and apparent global linkages. The Holocene 15: 321-328.
Teaching
Philosophy:
My teaching philosophy is based on six general ideas. First, because learning is facilitated by experience and engagement, I provide a range of learning avenues by employing a variety of methods (e.g., collaborative and group learning activities, case studies, problem and inquiry-based learning, discussions, and traditional lectures). Second, I strongly believe that teaching in the earth and environmental sciences should provide students with an understanding of how science is practiced and provide them with applied skills. I am convinced that the best way to do this is to give them experience doing science, and this often means getting the students into the field to observe, question, and develop/test hypotheses first-hand. My own experience in a field botany course was what convinced me that I wanted to be a field-based research scientist. Third, my primary goal as a teacher is not just to convey the essential subject matter, but also to promote the development of critical thinking and communication skills. Effective communication and critical thinking, particularly the ability to evaluate evidence and competing hypotheses, are essential tools in all career paths. Fourth, I strive to incorporate interdisciplinary training into my classes whenever possible. Scientists that can work and think across disciplinary boundaries are increasingly needed in both scientific and societal contexts. Fifth, I continually strive to foster an inclusive environment in the classroom, where students from diverse backgrounds and differing personalities feel comfortable contributing to discussions and the learning environment. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I try to convey my own enthusiasm for ecology and environmental science to the students. Generating excitement is critical to attracting and maintaining students and given the magnitude of environmental problems facing our planet’s life-support systems, we need a generation of passionate, well-informed, and creative planetary stewards.
Current Courses:
EES 028. Conservation and Biodiversity
EES 152. Ecology
EES 386. Wetland Ecology
EES 459. Reconstructing Environmental Change
EES 497. Advanced Topics in Paleoecology