Geobiology

Geobiology

Ann Pearson

Ann Pearson

PVK Professor of Arts and Sciences
Murray and Martha Ross Professor of Environmental Sciences
Head Tutor

Ann Pearson is the Murray and Martha Ross Professor of Environmental Sciences. Her research focuses on applications of analytical chemistry, isotope geochemistry, and molecular biology to biochemical oceanography and Earth history. 

Through study of the “how, when, and why” of microbial processes, her work yields insight about environmental conditions on Earth today, in the past, and about potential human impacts on our future.  Recent projects have focused on the carbon and nitrogen cycles and on pathways of lipid biosynthesis.

Pearson received a Fellowship for Science and Engineering from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation in 2004, a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship in 2009, and was named a Marine Microbiology Initiative Investigator of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation in 2012. She holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Oceanography from the MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography, where she was awarded the C. G. Rossby Award for Best Dissertation in the Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate; and a B.A. in Chemistry from Oberlin College.

Research Group Coordinator: Priya Putta

EPS
20 Oxford St.
Cambridge, MA 02138

Office location: Geo Museum, Room 362
p: 617-384-8392, f: 617-495-8839
David  Johnston

David Johnston

Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Director of Graduate Studies

Isotope geochemistry and historical geobiology. Re-animating ancient ecosystems and ocean chemistry using stable isotope systems, chemical speciation techniques, modern microbial experiments (for calibration) and theoretical considerations.

Research Group Coordinator: Mallory Bradbury

EPS
20 Oxford St.
Cambridge, MA 02138

Office Location: Geo Mus 363
p: 617-496-5024 f: 617-384-7396
2024 Jan 29

EPS Colloquium - Andrea Rinaldo, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL)

12:00pm to 1:00pm

Location: 

Geo Mus 102 (Haller Hall) and Zoom

River networks as ecological corridors for species, populations, and pathogens

Will future large-scale water resources plans make compelling arguments for including the reduction of the loss of biodiversity across scales in fluvial landscapea? Is the structure of river networks a template for large-scale spread of waterborne disease infections? Are we capable to provide solid economic arguments for preventing water development schemes in the light of the social and economic cost of predicted increased burden of disease they would bring? Do biological invasions, including...

Read more about EPS Colloquium - Andrea Rinaldo, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL)

Reginald A. Daly Postdoctoral Research Fellowship - Accepting Applications

October 10, 2023

Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences 
Harvard University 
Reginald A. Daly Postdoctoral Research Fellowship 


The Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University invites applicants for the Reginald A. Daly Postdoctoral Research Fellowship.  

The Department seeks candidates in the broad field of Earth and Planetary Sciences including but not limited to geology, geochemistry, geobiology, geodynamics, petrology,...

Read more about Reginald A. Daly Postdoctoral Research Fellowship - Accepting Applications
2023 Sep 18

EPS Colloquium - Lucas Vargas Zeppetello, Harvard University

12:00pm to 1:00pm

Location: 

Geo Mus 102 (Haller Hall) and Zoom

Do stomata respond to variations in atmospheric humidity?

A growing literature argues that ecosystem-scale evapotranspiration is more sensitive to drying of the atmosphere because of stomatal regulation by plants than to reductions in surface soil moisture. Past studies analyzed observations, for which it is difficult to conclusively control for potential relations between plant physiology, measurable state variables like vapor pressure deficit (VPD) or soil moisture, and the ecosystem-scale water flux. Here, we analyze natural mechanism-denial experiments at non-vegetated...

Read more about EPS Colloquium - Lucas Vargas Zeppetello, Harvard University
2023 Oct 10

EPS Colloquium - Eve-Lyn Hinckley, University of Colorado Boulder

12:00pm to 1:00pm

Location: 

Geo Mus 102 (Haller Hall) and Zoom

From Early Earth to Acid Rain and Agriculture: A Broad Look at the Changing Global Sulfur Cycle

Sulfur (S) is a key component of life and an element that has been dramatically changed by human industrial activities, including mining and fossil fuel combustion. Today, the nature of how humans alter the global S cycle is changing. As atmospheric S deposition has declined in response to air quality regulations in the United States and Europe, there has been an increase in S fertilizer applications reported in many large-scale regional crop systems. In addition, intensification...

Read more about EPS Colloquium - Eve-Lyn Hinckley, University of Colorado Boulder
2023 Oct 02

EPS Colloquium - Dani Or, University of Nevada Reno, ETH Zürich, & Desert Research Institute

12:00pm to 1:00pm

Location: 

Geo Mus 102 (Haller Hall) and Zoom

Surface Evaporation and Rainfall Partitioning in Arid Lands - Local and global perspectives

The presentation will explore two interconnected vignettes related to surface evaporation. In the first part we will review basic aspects of surface evaporation and discuss how soil type modulates evaporation dynamics via surface resistance and internal drainage that shelter infiltrated rainwater from evaporation losses (but not from plant water uptake). These basic elements offer a simple pathway for estimation of surface evaporation losses locally and globally. In the second part,...

Read more about EPS Colloquium - Dani Or, University of Nevada Reno, ETH Zürich, & Desert Research Institute
EPS 56

EPS/OEB 56 Field Trip to Spain

March 11, 2023
Over spring break, EPS/OEB 56: The History and Evolution of Life on Earth students traveled internationally to explore the geology and paleobiology of central and southern Spain. In addition to unearthing shale-hosted invertebrate animal fossils and vascular plants, the students had the opportunity to visit the Puertollano Basin and the city of Cuenca.

Faculty Job Advertisement in Earth’s Physical Processes: surface, crust, and mantle - Accepting Applications

September 27, 2022

The Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences (EPS) invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position in physical processes that influence the solid Earth.  Earth’s physical processes are broadly defined and include seismology, volcanism, geomorphology, hydrology, and anthropogenic influences on land surfaces.  Possible approaches include field, laboratory, computational, and theoretical studies.  We seek to attract an individual who will establish an innovative...

Read more about Faculty Job Advertisement in Earth’s Physical Processes: surface, crust, and mantle - Accepting Applications
2023 Apr 24

EPS Colloquium - Bärbel Hönisch, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory/Columbia University in the City of New York

12:00pm to 1:00pm

Location: 

Geo Mus 102 (Haller Hall) and Zoom

Talk Title:  Reconstructions of Cenozoic atmospheric CO2 and ocean carbon cycle perturbations

Abstract:  My research interests focus on understanding the role of the ocean, and in particular the role of marine carbonate chemistry in global climate change. As I was originally trained as a (marine) biologist, my way of approaching paleoceanographic questions often...

Read more about EPS Colloquium - Bärbel Hönisch, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory/Columbia University in the City of New York
2022 Sep 19

EPS Colloquium - Lidya Tarhan, Yale University

12:00pm to 1:00pm

Location: 

Geo Mus 102 (Haller Hal) and Zoom

Talk Title:  The Evolution of the Marine Carbonate Factory and the Rise of Biomineralizing Animals

Abstract: Formation of calcium carbonate is one of the primary pathways by which carbon is recycled between the ocean-atmosphere system and the solid Earth. On long timescales, changes in the magnitude of the marine carbonate factory—the...

Read more about EPS Colloquium - Lidya Tarhan, Yale University

Pages