I am interested in the evolution of vegetation in the Cenozoic (Paleogene-Neogene) ecosystems of South America, as well as in the relationship between vegetation and climate change.
In order to reconstruct paleoenvironments, I use phytolith analysis and in parallel, I work on calibrating this tool in several modern Neotropical habitats, in particular within the Amazon Basin. The objective of these modern calibrations is to build the basis for interpreting the fossil phytolith record of this region in order to reconstruct the evolution of Amazonia thanks to the analysis of phytoliths from future ICDP (International Continental Scientific Drilling Program) cores.
In the past, I have sampled modern soils and ancient sediments in the rainforest, and dry forest (Costa Rica), savannah (Colombia), Patagonia (Middle Miocene), Peruvian (Miocene-Pliocene), and Bolivian (Miocene) Altiplano.