In January 2013-14, I used an SIO-built, diver-operated vibracorer to collect cores through the modern reef in Bocas del Toro, Panama and (in 2014) the Mesoamerican Reef in Belize. These cores are being used to look at the last millennium of reef growth. We are particularly interested in the impact of land development and fishing on the reef environment.

I am also working on the fossil record of fish in the open ocean. The fish tooth record (of 'ichthyoliths') is nearly unstudied for its record of evolution in the ocean and for the impact of climate change on fisheries.

In Feb-March 2016, I joined IODP Expedition 361 "The South African Safari" to drill ocean cores off the eastern coast of Africa. We hope these cores will show the detailed climate and ecosystem history of southern Africa during the development of modern humans. Those cores are currently the subject of an intensive international scientific study of the past 6-7 million years of African ecosystem history.