Shelly Rayback
Professor and Chair
Co-Director of ENSC
Department of Geography & Geosciences
College of Arts and Sciences
BIO
Professor Rayback’s research focuses on understanding the response of trees and shrubs to climate and other environmental changes across varying temporal and spatial scales. She uses dendrochronological (the study of tree rings) techniques and stable isotope analysis to investigate the influence of climate, pollution and rising atmospheric carbon dioxide on plant growth and leaf-gas exchange, as well as to reconstruct past climate. Her research takes place in the Canadian Arctic, the Colorado Rockies, the Cascades, the Himalayas, and the Northern Forest of New England. Her current research focuses on understanding leaf-gas exchange changes in Northern Forest trees in response to rising carbon dioxide, legacy pollutants and variable climate. She is also working on developing an eastern North American past temperature network using blue intensity analysis with colleagues from University of Idaho and Indiana University. This work is funded by a grant from NSF’s Paleo Perspectives on Climate Change program. She is also a co-founder and co-director of the DendroEcological Network (https://www.uvm.edu/femc/dendro).
Area(s) of expertise
Biogeography, Paleoclimatology, Dendrochronology, Climate change, Isotopes, Arctic
Bio
Professor Rayback’s research focuses on understanding the response of trees and shrubs to climate and other environmental changes across varying temporal and spatial scales. She uses dendrochronological (the study of tree rings) techniques and stable isotope analysis to investigate the influence of climate, pollution and rising atmospheric carbon dioxide on plant growth and leaf-gas exchange, as well as to reconstruct past climate. Her research takes place in the Canadian Arctic, the Colorado Rockies, the Cascades, the Himalayas, and the Northern Forest of New England. Her current research focuses on understanding leaf-gas exchange changes in Northern Forest trees in response to rising carbon dioxide, legacy pollutants and variable climate. She is also working on developing an eastern North American past temperature network using blue intensity analysis with colleagues from University of Idaho and Indiana University. This work is funded by a grant from NSF’s Paleo Perspectives on Climate Change program. She is also a co-founder and co-director of the DendroEcological Network (https://www.uvm.edu/femc/dendro).
Areas of Expertise
Biogeography, Paleoclimatology, Dendrochronology, Climate change, Isotopes, Arctic