Dr Jessica Carilli
Staff Profile
Jessica works on reconstructing records of environmental change using archives contained in coral skeletons. These include coral growth rates (a proxy for coral health), the frequency of past coral bleaching events, water temperature (using stable oxygen isotopes and Sr/Ca), and land-based runoff (using metal/Ca ratios). At ANSTO, Jessica is expanding her paleoenvironmental toolkit, utilising radiocarbon and U/Th dating to reconstruct water circulation and upwelling, with a focus on the central Pacific. Jessica also uses benthic foraminiferal assemblages to investigate changes in water quality.
Expertise
Paleoclimate, paleoecology, sclerochronology, trace metals, corals, ENSO, benthic foraminifera.
Community Involvement
Reviewer for Marine Pollution Bulletin, Global Change Biology, Marine Ecology Progress Series, Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta American Academy for Underwater Sciences scientific diving certification Member, American Geophysical Union, International Society for Reef Studies Outreach coordinator, Scripps Community Outreach Program for Education, 2007-2009
Qualifications & Achievements
- PhD in Earth Sciences from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego (2009)
- Bs in Environmental Systems from University of California San Diego (2003)
- Associate Faculty, Miracosta College,
- 2009 Instructor of Record, University of California San Diego 2008-2009
Publications
Carilli J, Charles CD, Garren M, McField M, Norris RD (in review) Baseline shifts in coral skeletal oxygen isotopic composition: a signature of symbiont shuffling? Carilli J, Walsh S (2012) Benthic foraminiferal assemblages from Kiritimati (Christmas) Island indicate increased nutrification has occurred on a decadal scale. Marine Ecology Progress Series 456:87-99.
Carilli J, Donner SD, Hartmann A (2012) Historical temperature variability affects coral response to heat stress. PLoS ONE 7(3): e34418. Carilli J, Godfrey J, Norris RN, Sandin SA, Smith JE (2010) Periodic endolithic algal blooms in Montastraea faveolata corals may represent periods of low-level stress. Bulletin of Marine Science 86(3): 709-718
Carilli J, Norris RD, Black B, Walsh S, McField M (2010) Century-scale records of coral growth rates indicate that local stressors reduce coral thermal tolerance threshold. Global Change Biology 16(4): 1247-1257
Carilli J, Norris RD, Black B, Walsh S, McField M. (2009) Local stressors reduce coral resilience to bleaching. PLoS One 4(7): e6324. Carilli J, Prouty NG, Hughen K, Norris RD. (2009) Century-scale records of land-based activities recorded in Mesoamerican coral cores. Marine Pollution Bulletin 15(12):1835-1842.
Prouty NG, Hughen K, Carilli J (2008) Geochemical Signature of Land-based Activities in Caribbean Coral Surface Samples. Coral Reefs 27(4): 727-742.
Saenger C, Cohen AL, Oppo DW, Halley RB, Carilli JE (2009) Low-latitude north Atlantic sea surface temperature trends and variability since 1552. Nature Geoscience, doi:10.1038/ngeo552.