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Branwen Williams

Associate Professor of Environmental Science

Email: bwilliams@kecksci.claremont.edu
Office: Keck Science Center 227
Phone: 909-607-8017
Web Site: https://branwenwilliams.com

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 KS: Global Climate Change
  • EA 30L KS: Science and the Environment
  • EA 104 KS: Oceanography

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

Selected Publications

  1. Dassié, E.P., DeLong, K.L., Kilbourne, K.H., Williams, B., et al. (2017). Save our Marine Annually-Resolved Proxy Archives (MARPA)!. EOS 98: 10.1029/2017EO068159.
  2. McMahon, K.**, Williams, B., Guilderson, T.P., Glynn, D., and McCarthy, M. (2017). Calibrating amino acid δ13C and δ15N offsets between polyp and protein skeleton to develop proteinaceous deep-sea corals as paleoceanographic archives. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 220: 261-275.
    [Article – URL not found]
  3. Williams, B., Halfar, J., DeLong, K.L., Smith, E., Steneck, R., Lebednik, P., Jacob, D.E., Fietzke, J., Moore, G.W.K. (2017). 20th century North Pacific decadal-scale variability is unique for the past 342 years. Geophysical Research Letters 44: 3761–3769, doi: 10.1002/2017GL073138.
  4. Chan, P., Halfar, J., Hetzinger, S., Adey, W., Zack, T., Moore, G.W.K., Wortmann, U.G., Williams, B., and Hou, A. (2017). Multicentennial Record of Labrador Sea Primary Productivity and Sea-Ice Variability Archived in Coralline Algal Ba/Ca. Nature Communications  8: 15543, doi: 10.1038/ncomms15543.
  5. Chan, P., Halfar, J., Hetzinger, S., Adey, W., Zack, T., Moore, G.W.K., Wortmann, U.G., Williams, B., and Hou, A. (2017). Multicentennial Record of Labrador Sea Primary Productivity and Sea-Ice Variability Archived in Coralline Algal Ba/Ca. Nature Communications 8: 15543.
    Article
  6. Williams, B., Thibodeau, B., Chikaraishi, Y., Ohkouchi, N., Walnum, A., Grottoli, A., and Colin, P. (2016). Investigating variations in primary productivity in the Tropical Pacific Ocean due to multi-decadal nitricline depth fluctuation. Limnology and Oceanography: 10.1002/lno.10364.
  7. Bougeois, L., Williams, B., Halfar, J., Konar, B., Adey, W., Kronz, A., and Wortmann, U. (2015). Does the coralline alga Leptophytum fecundum (Kjellman) capture paleoenvironmental variability in the Arctic Ocean? Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 47: 167-179.
  8. Carilli, J., Williams, B., Schöne, B. R., Krause, R. A., & Fallon, S. J. (2015). Historical Contaminant Records from Sclerochronological Archives. Environmental Contaminants  Springer Netherlands: 355-391.
  9. Prouty, N.G., Roark, E.B., Andrews, A., Robinson, L., Hill, T., Sherwood, O., Willams, B., Guilderson, T., Fallon, S. (2015). Age, Growth Rates, and Paleoclimate Studies of Deep Sea Corals. The State of Deep-Sea Coral and Sponge Ecosystems of the United States Hourigan, T.F., Etnoyer, P.J., Cairns, S.D., Tsao, C.-F NOAA, Silver Spring 10: 1-21.
  10. Wang, X., Prokopenko, M., Sigman, D., Adkins, J.F., Robinson, L.F., Ren, H., Oleynik, S., Williams, B., and Haug, G. (2014). Isotopic composition of carbonate-bound organic nitrogen in deep-sea scleractinian corals: A new window into past biogeochemical change. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 400: 243-250.
    [Article – URL not found]
  11. Williams, B., Halfar, J., DeLong, K., Hetzinger, S., Steneck, R.S., and Jacob, J.E. (2014). Multi-specimen and multi-site calibration of Aleutian coralline algae Mg/Ca to climate signals. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 139: 190-204.
    [Article – URL not found]
  12. Adey, W., Halfar, J., and Williams, B. (2013). Biological, physiological and ecological factors controlling clathrostrome formation and producing a precision Arctic/Subarctic marine climate archive: the calcified coralline genus Clathromorphum Foslie. Smithsonian Institution Contributions to the Marine Sciences.
  13. Hönisch, B., Ridgwell, A., Schmidt, D.N., Thomas, E., Gibbs, S.J., Sluijs, A., Zeebe, R., Kump, L., Martindale, R., Greene, S., Kiessling, W., Ries, J., Zachos, J., Royer, D., Barker, S., Marchitto Jr, T.M., Moyer, R., Pelejero, C, Ziveri, P., Foster, G.L., and Williams, B. (2012). The geological record of ocean acidification. Science  335: 1058-1063.
    [Article – URL not found]
  14. 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.
  15. 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.
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. 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.
  19. 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.
  20. 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.
  21. 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.
  22. 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.
  23. 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.
  24. 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.
  25. 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.
  26. 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.