caestrom@u.washington.edu

(206) 543-0495

Paleobotany and Paleoecology Laboratory

2007 Postdoctoral Fellow, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC

2004-2006 Postdoctoral Fellow, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden

2003 Ph.D., Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley

1997 B.A., M.Sc., Department of Geology, Lund University, Sweden  

Cenozoic evolution of grasses and grazers

Grasses evolved in the Late Cretaceous, in parallel with the break-up of Gondwana. It is less clear how this species-rich and ecologically important group reached its current global distribution and what the earliest interactions with herbivores were. My research on grass phytoliths preserved in coprolites from the Late Cretaceous of India with colleagues at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow and the Panjab University, Chandigarh attempts to address these questions.

Ecology of Late Cretaceous angiosperms

Angiosperms had reached high taxonomic diversity by the Late Cretaceous, but were still marginal in terms of relative abundance in mid-high latitude vegetation in North America. Together with Scott Wing (National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution) and colleagues, I investigate vegetation structure and the ecological role(s) that angiosperms played in the Late Cretaceous, using an exceptionally preserved fossil flora at the Big Cedar Ridge, central Wyoming.

2009
Bennington, J. B., W. DiMichele, C. Badgley, R. Bambach, P. M. Barrett, A. K. Behrensmeyer, R. Bobe, R. Burnham, T. Daeschler, J. van Dam, J. Eronen, D. Erwin, S. Finnegan, S. Holland, G. Hunt, D. Jablonski, S. Jackson, B. F. Jacobs, S. Kidwell, P. L. Koch, M. Kowalewski, C. Labandeira, C. Looy, K. Lyons, P. Novack-Gottshall, R. Potts, P. Roopnarine, C. A. E. Strömberg, H. D. Seus, P. Wagner, P. Wilf, and S. L. Wing. 2009. Paleontological powers of ten: issues of scale in paleoecology. Palaios 24: 1-4.

Strömberg, C.A.E., 2009. Methodological concerns for analysis of phytolith assemblages: Does count size matter? Quaternary International 93: 124-140.

Strömberg, C.A.E., 2009. Reply to comment on the paper in Quaternary International: "Methodological concerns for analysis of phytolith assemblages: Does count size matter?" (A. Alexandre and L. Bremond) Quaternary International 93: 143-145.

2007
Strömberg, C.A.E., Werdelin, L., Friis, E. M., and Saraç, G, in press. The spread of grass-dominated habitats in Turkey and surrounding areas during the Cenozoic: phytolith evidence. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.

Strömberg, C.A.E. and Zhang, Z., in press. Neogene climatic and biotic changes in Eastern Eurasia: Preface. Vertebrata PalAsiatica.

Strömberg, C.A.E., Friis, E.M., Liang, M.-M., Werdelin, L., and Zhang, Y-l., in press. Palaeoecology of an Early-Middle Miocene lake in China: preliminary interpretations based on phytoliths from the Shanwang Basin. Vertebrata PalAsiatica.

Strömberg, C.A.E., in press. Can slide preparation methods cause size biases in phytolith assemblages?: Results from a preliminary study. In Madella, M., Zurro, D. and Jones, M. K. (eds.): Places, People and Plants: Using Phytoliths in Archaeology and Palaeoecology. Oxbow Books.

2006
Strömberg, C.A.E., 2006. The evolution of hypsodonty in equids: Testing a hypothesis of adaptation. Paleobiology32(2): 236-258.

2005
Prasad, V., Strömberg, C.A.E.*, Alimohammadian, H., Sahni, A., 2005. Dinosaur coprolites and the early evolution of grasses and grazers. Science 310: 1177-1180.(*Applicant was corresponding author and contributed to the paper by identifying and describing the fossil phytoliths and the modern reference material, placing the fossils taxonomically, and writing a substantial part of the paper.)

Strömberg, C.A.E., 2005. Decoupled taxonomic radiation and ecological expansion of open-habitat grasses in the Cenozoic of North America. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A.102(34): 11980-11984.

2004
Strömberg, C.A.E., 2004. Using phytolith assemblages to reconstruct the origin and spread of grass-dominated habitats in the Great Plains of North America during the late Eocene to early Miocene. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 207(3-4): 239-275.

Strömberg, C.A.E., and Feranec, R.S., 2004. The evolution of grass-dominated ecosystems during the late Cenozoic: Preface. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 207(3-4): 199-201.

2003
Strömberg, C.A.E., 2003. The origin and spread of grass-dominated ecosystems during the Tertiary of North America and how it relates to the evolution of hypsodonty in equids. Ph.D. thesis, Department of Integrative Biology, University of California at Berkeley. 779 pp.

2002
Strömberg, C.A.E. 2002. The origin and spread of grass-dominated ecosystems in the Late Tertiary of North America: Preliminary results concerning the evolution of hypsodonty. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 177: 59-75.

1997
Strömberg, C.A.E., 1997. The conodont genus Ctenognathodus in the Silurian of Gotland, Sweden. Examensarbete i Geologi vid Lunds Universitet vol. 85. Master's Thesis, Lund University, Sweden. 56 pp.