Research: When asked as a small child what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would immediately answer “dinosaur hunter”. Not a paleontologist – I wanted to hunt and study real dinosaurs. It took several years as a geology undergraduate to learn, much to my dismay, that I was several million years too late. However, my passion for adventure and interest to investigate complex systems in the past remained and has led me to historical ecology.

My research as a historical ecologist is broadly interested in telling the story of ecosystems through time, focusing on three broad questions: 1) What was their historical variability? 2) How has that variability changed with the arrival of humans? and 3) What modern stressors can we alleviate to encourage resilience during global change? Specifically, I use several tools relating to ecogeochemistry, archaeology, ecology, geology, and biochemistry to collect data and communicate the story of these past ecosystems. For my postdoctoral fellowship as the Smithsonian 2021 Earl J. Tupper Fellow, I will employ all these tools to investigate how human influences - from first arrival through Spanish colonization to modern times - have altered the ecosystems and food webs of the Tropical Eastern Pacific. I will analyze both archaeological collections and coral reef fossils using ecogeochemical methods such as compound-specific stable isotope analysis (CSIA) and the denitrifier method. Results will hopefully allow me to trace human influence through resource removal and alterations to nutrient regimes, which could illuminate previously unobserved impacts to trophic food webs. In short, I will attempt to better understand what ancient humans were eating, and how this resource use could have had direct and indirect consequences to the surrounding ecology. Ultimately, I hope this information can be used in collaboration with local Panamanian researchers and conservationists in order to prioritize conservation and management efforts.

When not in the field or lab, I can usually be found visiting my family, escaping to nature, brewing beer, lifting weights, or reading high fantasy.

Education:

2021 - Ph.D. Ecology and Biodiversity. University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

2016 - M.S. Environmental Science. American University, USA

2011 - B.S. Environmental Science, concentration in Surficial Processes. Northeastern University, USA

Contact Information:

Email: cybulski.j@gmail.com

Website: http://www.jonathancybulski.com/

@joncybulski