Browsing by Author "Wagner, Sophia"
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- ItemLife in the Carboniferous Coal Swamp Forests: Reconstructing the Paleoecophysiology of the Extinct Horsetail Sphenophyllum(2024) Wagner, Sophia; Wilson, JonathanDuring the Carboniferous Period, there was a radiation of diversity in early plants that were well preserved for study due to the conditions of the Carboniferous coal swamp forests. Studying the coal balls gives scientists insight into the ecosystems of the past. Collaborations with paleoclimate scientists have allowed paleobotanists to line up flora abundances with climatic trends. During the Middle and Late Pennsylvanian period, there were five major intervals of climatic shifts from wet to dry ecosystems and, by the second dry interval at the Late Westphalian D early Stephanian, major plant extinctions took place as the swamp biomes became drier. This paper aims to give context into the species that inhabited the coal swamps and how the ecosystem shifted throughout the period. On a plant scale level, this paper also aims to examine the morphological properties of these Carboniferous plants that particularly make them vulnerable or resistant to the reductions in water availability. This targeted morphological research focuses on a specific understory horsetail genus Sphenophyllum. Sphenophyllum is a particularly unique plant due to its large, wide tracheids and density of bordered pits throughout the xylem making the plant extremely hydraulically conductive while also prone to cavitation. In understanding these plants on a community scale and also an individual morphological scale, we can begin to better understand the past ecosystems and predict how certain plants will respond to climate change in the present and future.
- ItemQuilting Ecologies: Pennsylvania Tree Memorial Quilt Project(2024) Wagner, Sophia; Wilson, JonathanClimate change is altering entire communities, ecosystems, and entire biomes in a variety of devastating ways and the question still remains–how do we get people to care? Scientists are notoriously bad at communicating their findings and ideas and discussions about climate change have a tendency to end in apathy or anxiety that is not conducive to action. For this project, I propose that art can and should be utilized as a means to shift the conversations about climate change to allow people to feel, think, and act in ways that science alone cannot. I have created a memorial quilt of Pennsylvania tree species that are specifically vulnerable to climate change to highlight some of the culturally, historically, and ecologically important species that may not be on this land in fifty to one hundred years due to the drastic shifts in climate and all the byproducts of such effects. Yet the purpose of this project is not just to grieve the potential loss we will face, but to kindle reflection, discussion, and action towards protecting the biodiversity that defines our landscapes. In this supplementary paper, I expound on the ideas of communicating climate change and the advantages to utilizing art as the platform for social change. Additionally, I look specifically at how quilts have been used in the past as a means towards social justice and the history and meaning that quilts hold. I also delve into my specific quilt piece, examining climate change’s effect on native Pennsylvania tree species and each individual tree.