Matthew Wooller

Research
Recent Publications
Experience
Education

My research involves various applications of isotope techniques (and other techniques) to addressing ecological and paleo ecological research questions. An example project would be:

Identifying sources of organic matter to benthic organisms in the Beaufort and Chukchi outer continental shelves (CMI/BOEM). Benthic invertebrate communities in the Arctic are an essential ecosystem component in Arctic food webs, in terms of mineralization and energy transfer to higher trophic levels. Currently, the proportional contributions of different baseline sources of organic matter (marine, terrestrial or microbial carbon production) that sustain benthic organisms in the Arctic are unclear. This project will provide a better understanding of the organic matter sources consumed by benthic organisms, using a state-of-the-art fingerprinting approach for essential amino acids.

Recent Publications

J. Miriam et al., M.J. Wooller (2019) An assessment of plant species differences on cellulose oxygen isotopes from two Kenai Peninsula, Alaska peatlands: implications for hydroclimatic reconstructions. Frontiers. On-Line first.

V. Moreno Mayar, et al. M.J. Wooller (2019) Early Human Dispersals in the Americas. Science. On-Line first.

N. Bigelow, K. Mulliken, J. D. Reuther, É. Saulnier-Talbot, K. L. Wallace, M.J. Wooller (2019). Late-Glacial paleoecology of the Upper Susitna Valley, Alaska: Environmental context for human dispersal in the region. Frontiers. On-Line first.

A. Cyr, J. A López, L. Rea, M.J. Wooller, T. Loomis, S. Mcdermott, T. O’Hara (2019) Mercury concentrations in fishes from the Aleutian Islands: spatial and biological determinants. Environmental Science and Technology. On-Line first.

Miller et al., M.J. Wooller (2018). Wolfe Creek Wolfe Creek Crater: A continuous sediment fill in the Australian Arid Zone records changes in monsoon strength through the Late Quaternary. QSR. 197: 1-18.

 M. van Hardenbroek et al., M.J. Wooller (2018). Flotsam samples can help explain the δ13C and δ15N values of invertebrate resting stages in lake sediment records. QSR. 189: 187-196. 

M. van Hardenbroek et al., M.J. Wooller (2018). A review of the processes driving the stable isotope composition of organic and inorganic fossils in lake sediment records. QSR. On-Line First.

M. Nelson. et al., M.J. Wooller (2018). Fifty years of Cook Inlet beluga whale feeding ecology from isotopes in bone and teeth. Endangered Species Research. On-Line first.

M.J. Wooller et al., (2018). Bering Land Bridge paleoecology and human dispersal into North America. Royal Society Open Access.

 H. L. Mariash , M. Cazzanelli*, M. Rautio , L. Hamerlik, M.J. Wooller, and K. S. Christoffersen (2018). Changes in food web dynamics of low arctic ponds with varying content of dissolved organic carbon. AAAR. On-Line first.

 C. Glassburn* et al., M.J. Wooller (2018) Application of Strontium and Oxygen Isotope Analyses to Sequentially-Sampled Modern Bison (Bison bison bison) Teeth from Interior Alaska as a Proxy of Seasonal Mobility. Arctic. On-Line first.

Gaglioti, B.V., D.H. Mann, P. Groves, M.L. Kunz, L.M. Farquharson, R.E. Reanier, B.M.Jones, and M.J. Wooller. 2018. Aeolian stratigraphy describes ice-age paleoenvironments in unglaciated Arctic Alaska. Quaternary Science Reviews. 182:175–190. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.01.002 

Glassburn, C.L., B.A. Potter, J.L. Clark, J.D. Reuther, D.L. Bruning, and M.J. Wooller. 2018. Strontium and oxygen isotope profiles of sequentially sampled modern bison (bison bison bison) teeth from Interior Alaska as proxies of seasonal mobility. Arctic Institute of North America. 71(2):183–200. doi: https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic4718 

Mariash, H.L., M. Cazzanelli, M. Rautio , L. Hamerlik, M.J. Wooller, and K.S. Christoffersen. 2018. Changes in food web dynamics of low arctic ponds with varying content of dissolved organic carbon. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research. 50(1) doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2017.1414472 

Miller, G.H., J.W. Magee, M.L. Fogel, M.J. Wooller, P.P. Hesse, N.A. Spooner, B.J. Johnson, and L. Wallis. 2018. Wolfe Creek Crater: A continuous sediment fill in the Australian Arid Zone records changes in monsoon strength through the Late Quaternary. Quaternary Science Reviews. 197:1–18. 

Nelson, M.A., L.T. Quakenbush, B.A. Mahoney, B.D. Taras, and M.J. Wooller. 2018. Fifty years of Cook Inlet beluga whale feeding ecology from isotopes in bone and teeth. Endangered Species Research. 36:77–87. doi: https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00890 

van Hardenbroek, M., A. Chakraborty, K.L. Davies, P. Harding, O. Heiri, A.C.G. Henderson, J.A. Holmes, G.E. Lasher, M.J. Leng, V.N. Panizzo, L. Roberts, J. Schilder, C.N. Trueman, and M.J. Wooller. 2018. The stable isotope composition of organic and inorganic fossils in lake sediment records: Current understanding, challenges, and future directions. Quaternary Science Reviews. 196:154–176. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.08.003 

van Hardenbroek, M., P. Rinta, M.J. Wooller, J. Schilder, T. Stötter, and O. Heiri. 2018. Flotsam samples can help explain the delta13C and delta15N values of invertebrate resting stages in lake sediment. Quaternary Science Reviews. 189:187–196. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.04.008 

Wooller, M.J., É. Saulnier-Talbot, B.A. Potter, S. Belmecheri, N. Bigelow, K. Choy, L.C. Cwynar, K. Davies, R.W. Graham, J. Kurek, P. Langdon, A. Medeiros, R. Rawcliffe, Y. Wang, and J.W. Williams. 2018. A new terrestrial palaeoenvironmental record from the Bering Land Bridge and context for human dispersal. Royal Society Open Science. 2018(5):180145. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.180145 

Arppe, L., E. Kurki, M.J. Wooller, T.P. Luoto, M. Zajaczkowski, and A.E.K. Ojala. 2017. A 5500-year oxygen isotope record of high arctic environmental change from southern Spitsbergen. The Holocene. 27(12):1948–1962. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683617715698 

Gaglioti, B.V., D.H. Mann, M.J. Wooller, B.M. Jones, G.C. Wiles, P. Groves, M.L. Kunz, C.A. Baughman, and R.E. Reanier. 2017. Younger-Dryas cooling and sea-ice feedbacks were prominent features of the Pleistocene-Holocene transition in Arctic Alaska. Quaternary Science Reviews. 169:330–343. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.05.012 

Oxtoby, L.E., L. Horstmann, S.M. Budge, D.M. O’Brien, S.W. Wang, T. Schollmeier, and M.J. Wooller. 2017. Resource partitioning between Pacific walruses and bearded seals in the Alaska Arctic and sub-Arctic. Oecologia. 184(2):385–398. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-017-3883-7 

Rabanus-Wallace, M.T., M.J. Wooller, G.D. Zazula, E. Shute, A.H. Jahren, P. Kosintsev, J.A. Burns, J. Breen, B. Llamas, and A. Cooper. 2017. Megafaunal isotopes reveal role of increased moisture on rangeland during late Pleistocene extinctions. Nature Ecology & Evolution. 1 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0125 

Schollmeier, T., A.C.M. Oliveira, M.J. Wooller, and K. Iken. 2017. Tracing sea ice algae into various benthic feeding types on the Chukchi Sea shelf. Polar Biology. 41(2):207–224. doi: http://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-017-2182-4 

Wang, Y., P.D. Heintzman, L. Newsom, N.H. Bigelow, M.J. Wooller, B. Shapiro, and J.W. Williams. 2017. The southern coastal Beringian land bridge: cryptic refugium or pseudorefugium for woody plants during the Last Glacial Maximum? Journal of Biogeography. 44(7):1559–1571. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13010 

Choy, K., B.A. Potter, H.J. McKinney, J.D. Reuther, S.W. Wang, and M.J. Wooller. 2016. Chemical profiling of ancient hearths reveals recurrent salmon use in Ice Age Beringia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 113(35):9757–9762. doi: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1606219113 

Oxtoby, L.E., J.T. Mathis, L.W. Juranek, and M.J. Wooller. 2016. Estimating stable carbon isotope values of microphytobenthos in the Arctic for application to food web studies. Polar Biology. 39(3):473–483. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-015-1800-2 

Oxtoby, L.E., S.M. Budge, K. Iken, D.M. O’Brien, and M.J. Wooller. 2016. Feeding ecologies of key bivalve and polychaete species in the Bering Sea as elucidated by fatty acid and compound-specific stable isotope analyses. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 557:161–175. doi: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps11863 

Padilla, A., R.J. Brown, and M.J. Wooller. 2016. Determining the movements and distribution of anadromous Bering Ciscoes by use of otolith strontium isotopes. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. 145(6):1374–1385. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00028487.2016.1225599 

Rinta, P., M. van Hardenbroek, R.I. Jones, P. Kankaala, F. Rey, S. Szidat, M.J. Wooller, and O. Heiri. 2016. Land use affects carbon sources to the pelagic food web in a small boreal lake. PLoS ONE. 11(8):e0159900. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0159900 

Wang, S.W., A.M. Springer, S.M. Budge, L. Horstmann, L.T. Quakenbush, and M.J. Wooller. 2016. Carbon sources and trophic relationships of ice seals during recent environmental shifts in the Bering Sea. Ecological Applications. 26(3):830–845. doi: https://doi.org/10.1890/14-2421 

2017 – 2019 Department of Marine Biology Chair, appointed by the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences.

2013 – presentProfessor; jointly appointed by the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and the Water and Environmental Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska, USA.

2007 – 2013 Associate professor; jointly appointed by the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and the Water and Environmental Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska, USA.

2011 – 2014 Director Alaska Quaternary Center; College of Natural Science and Mathematics, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska.

2002 – 2007 Assistant professor; jointly appointed by the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences and the Water and Environmental Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska, USA.

2002 – present Director Alaska Stable Isotope Facility; Water and Environmental Research Center, Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Alaska, USA.

2000 – 2002 Postdoctoral Research Associate; Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, USA.

1996 – 1999 Teaching Assistant; Department of Geography, University of Wales Swansea, UK. 

 

 

2000 – 2002 Postdoctoral Research Associate; Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, USA.

PhD 1999. Palaeoecology, Department of Geography, University of Wales Swansea, UK.

MSc.1994. Ecology, Department of Ecology University of Wales Bangor, UK.

BSc.1992. Biology and Ecology, Biology Department, Worcester University, UK.