Branwen Williams
Assistant Professor of Environmental Science
Assistant Professor of Biology
 
Email: bwilliams@kecksci.claremont.edu
Office: Keck Science Center 227
Phone: 909-607-8017
Office Hours:
Web Site: http://sites.google.com/site/branwenw/home
   
Educational Background:
Ph.D., Geological Sciences, School of Earth Sciences, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (2009)
M.Sc., Biology, GEOTOP, University of Quebec at Montreal, Montreal, QC (2005)
B.Sc., Marine and Freshwater Biology, Department of Zoology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON (2003)
Courses Taught:
EA 100L: Global Climate Change EA 30L: Science and the Environment
Research Interests:
Development and interpretation of new types of proxy records from marine organisms
Penetration of anthropogenic carbon into marine environments and the resulting ocean acidification
Natural and anthropogenic-induced ocean and climate variability over the past millennium
Thesis Topics:
Investigation of changing growth rates in Labrador coralline algae: natural variability or anthropogenic influence?
Russian seawater temperature records from a coralline alga
 
Selected Publications List: Click to open new window.
1.   Williams, B., Halfar, J., Steneck, R. S., Wortmann, U. G., Hetzinger, S., Adey, W., Lebednik, P., and Joachimski, M . (2011). Twentieth century d13C variability in surface water dissolved inorganic carbon recorded by coralline algae in the northern North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Biogeosciences   8: 165-174, doi: 10.5194/bg-8-165-2011.
 
2.   Williams, B., and Grottoli, A.G . (2011). Solution and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) measurements of Br, I, Pb, Mn, Cd, Zn, and B in the organic skeleton of soft corals and black corals. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems   12: Q03011, doi:10.1029/2010GC003375 .
 
3.   Sinclair, D.J., Williams, B., Allard, G., Ghaleb, B., Ross, S.W., and Risk, M.J . (2011). Reproducibility of trace element profiles in a specimen of the deep-water Bamboo Coral Keratoisis sp.. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta   75: 5101-5121.
 
4.   Halfar, J., Williams, B., Hetzinger, S., Steneck, B., Lebednik, P.,Winsborough, C., Omar, G., and Chan, P . (2011). 225 years of Bering Sea climate and ecosystem dynamics archived by coralline algae. Geology   39: 579-582.
 
5.   Chan, P., Halfar, J., Williams, B., Hetzinger, S., Steneck, R., Zack, T., and Jacob, D . (2011). Freshening of the Alaska Coastal Current recorded by coralline algal Ba/Ca ratios. Journal of Geophysical Research   116: G01032, doi:10.1029/2010JG001548.
 
6.   Halfar, J., Hetzinger, S., Adey, W., Zack, T., Gamboa, G., Kunz, B., Williams, B., and Jacob, D . (2011). Coralline red algal growth increment widths archive North Atlantic climate variability. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology   320: 71-80.
 
7.   Williams, B., and Grottoli, A.G . (2010). Variability in δ15N and δ13C values of alcyonacean and antipatharian corals from the western equatorial Pacific. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta   74: 5280-5288.
 
8.   Williams, B., and Grottoli, A.G . (2010). Recent shoaling of the nutricline and thermocline in the western tropical Pacific. Geophysical Research Letters   37: L22601, doi:10.1029/2010GL044867.
 
9.   Williams, B., Risk, M.J., Ross, S.W., and Sulak, K.J . (2007). Stable isotope records from deep-water antipatharians: 400-year records from the south-eastern coast of the United States of America. Bulletin of Marine Science   81: 437-447.
 
10.   Williams, B., Risk, M.J., Stone, R., Sinclair, D.J. and Ghaleb, B . (2007). Oceanographic changes in the Gulf of Alaska over the past century recorded in deep-water gorgonian corals. Marine Ecology Progress Series   335: 85-94.
 
11.   Williams, B., Risk, M.J., Ross, S.W., and Sulak, K.J . (2006). Deep-water Antipatharians: proxies of environmental change? . Geology   34: 773-776, doi: 10.1130/G22685.1.
 
12.   Sinclair, D.J., Williams, B., and Risk, M . (2006). Trace element "Vital Effects" - a ubiquitous feature of Scleractinian coral skeletons. Geophysical Research Letters   33: L17707, doi:10-102932006GL027183.
 
13.   Risk, M.J., Hall-Spencer, J., and Williams, B . (2005). Climate records from the Faroe-Shetland Trough using Lophelia pertusa (Linneaus, 1758). Cold-water Corals and Ecosystems, Erlangen Freiwald, A., Robert, M  : 1097-1108.