Emily Johns

Project Description

Today, climate change is the most pressing global issue. However, while humans have played a major part in its rise, they can also be a part of the solution. The large-scale international AEGIS (Ancient Environmental Genomics Initiative for Sustainability) project is an effort that is aiming to build a more sustainable and secure food production system, while also preserving biodiversity in cropping systems under climate change. In order to accomplish this, it is essential to explore past changes in crop occurrence and their persistence in response to climate change and human activity.

My research, which is embedded within AEGIS, seeks to reconstruct and examine the climate and environment of one of the most vulnerable regions in the world: the Middle East. I aim to analyze plant responses to climate change and contextualize how climate and associated changes in agricultural practices, such as plant domestication and land-use changes, influenced historical vegetation responses.

Molecular proxies, namely methyl-branched tetraether lipids produced by soil bacteria and stable hydrogen and carbon isotopes of plant waxes, will be used to reconstruct past continental temperatures and the hydrological cycle and water availability, respectively. Further, a non-targeted and targeted lipid analysis of crop and sediment samples across the Middle East will be performed and combined with sedimentary ancient DNA (aDNA) data generated in the AEGIS project in order to identify species and community responses to climatic stress factors. The results of this research will contribute to the growing body of work that is attempting to address the critical threat that climate change poses to human food security and innovate sustainable agricultural practices.

Curriculum Vitae