Dr. Bridget Wade

Bio

Dr. Wade’s research interests encompass the Paleogene paleoceanography and the paleoecology of Cenozoic calcareous microfossils. She uses microfossils and their chemistry to determine patterns of evolution and extinction, ancient marine temperatures, productivity levels, global ice volume and sea level fluctuations. Her research has been international in scope, involving fieldwork in Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean/Gulf of Mexico. She participated as a shipboard scientist on Ocean Drilling Program Leg 199 and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Equatorial Pacific Expedition 321. Currently she is engaged in a number of research projects focusing on Paleogene climate change from excellently preserved planktonic foraminifera to reconstruct sea surface temperatures across critical boundaries in Earth history. Related to her research in paleoceanography, is the high resolution refinement and calibration of Paleogene planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphy, and determining the biotic response to climatic events. From 2005 Bridget has been Chair of the Paleogene Planktonic Foraminifera Working Group, part of the International sub-commission of Paleogene stratigraphy. In 2008 Bridget was presented with the Hodson Award from the Palaeontological Association for a “palaeontologist that has made an outstanding achievement in contributing to the science through a portfolio of original published research” and recently received a CAREER Award through the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program. This program offers NSF's most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations.

Research

• Paleoceanography
• Paleogene biostratigraphy
• Paleobiology of extinct calcareous microfossils

Experience

• 2010-present Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Geology & Geophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.
• 2007-2010 Assistant Professor, Department of Geology & Geophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.
• 2006-2007 Research Scientist, Institute of Marine and Coastal Science, Rutgers University.
• 2005-2006 Lindemann Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Geological Sciences, Rutgers University.
• 2001-2004 Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Cardiff University and University of Edinburgh (UK).

Selected Publications

• Wade, B.S., Pearson, P.N., Berggren, W.A. and Pälike, H., 2011. Review and revision of Cenozoic tropical planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphy and calibration to the geomagnetic polarity and astronomical time scale. Earth Science Reviews, 104: 111-142.
• Pearson, P.N., Foster, G.L. and Wade, B.S., 2009. Atmospheric carbon dioxide through the Eocene-Oligocene climate transition. Nature, 461: 1110-1113.
• Wade, B.S. and Olsson, R.K., 2009. Investigation of pre-extinction dwarfing in Cenozoic planktonic foraminifera. In: Wade, B.S. and Twitchett, R. (Eds.). Extinction, Dwarfing and the Lilliput Effect. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Special Issue, 284: 39-46.
• Wade, B.S. and Twichett, R., 2009. Extinction, dwarfing and the Lilliput effect. In: Wade, B.S. and Twitchett, R. (Eds.). Extinction, Dwarfing and the Lilliput Effect. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Special Issue, 284: 1-3.
• Schulte, P., Wade, B.S., Kontny, A., and Self-Trail, J.M., 2009. The Eocene-Oligocene sedimentary record in the Chesapeake Bay impact structure: Implications for climate and sea level changes on the western Atlantic margin. In: Gohn, G.S., Koeberl, C., Miller, K.G., and Reimold, W.U., (Eds.), The ICDP-USGS Deep Drilling Project in the Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure: Results from the Eyreville Core Holes: Geological Society of America Special Papers 458: 839-865. doi: 10.1130/2009.2458(35).
• Browning, J.V., Miller, K.G., McLaughlin, P.P., Edwards, L.E., Kulpecz, A.A., Powars, D.S.,Wade, B.S., Feigenson, M.D. and Wright, J.D., 2009. Integrated sequence stratigraphy of the postimpact sediments from the Eyreville core holes, Chesapeake Bay impact structure inner basin. In: Gohn, G.S., Koeberl, C., Miller, K.G., and Reimold, W.U., (Eds.), The ICDP-USGS Deep Drilling Project in the Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure: Results from the Eyreville Core Holes: Geological Society of America Special Papers 458: 775-810. doi: 10.1130/2009.2458(33).
• Pearson, P.N. and Wade, B.S., 2009. Taxonomy and stable isotope paleoecology of well-preserved planktonic foraminifera from the uppermost Oligocene of Trinidad. Journal of Foraminifera Research, 39 (3), 191-217.Pearson, P.N. and Wade, B.S. (in press). Taxonomy and stable isotope paleoecology of well-preserved planktonic foraminifera from the uppermost Oligocene of Trinidad. Journal of Foraminifera Research, 39 (3).
• Okafor, C.U., Thomas, D.J., Wade, B.S., and Firth, J., 2009. Environmental change in the subtropics during the late-middle Eocene greenhouse and global implications. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems. 10, Q07003, doi:10.1029/2009GC002450.
• Miller, K.G., Wright, J.D., Katz, M.E., Wade, B.S., Browning, J.V., Cramer, B.S., and Rosenthal, Y., 2009. Climate threshold at the Eocene-Oligocene transition: Antarctic ice sheet influence on ocean circulation, In: Koeberl, C., and Montanari, A. (Eds.), The Late Eocene Earth—Hothouse, Icehouse, and Impacts: Geological Society of America Special Paper 452, p. 1–10, doi: 10.1130/2009.2452.
• Dunkley Jones, T., Bown, P.R., Pearson, P.N., Wade, B.S., Coxall, H.K., and Lear, C.H. 2008. Major shifts in calcareous phytoplankton assemblages through the Eocene-Oligocene transition of Tanzania and their implications for low-latitude primary production. Paleoceanography, 23, PA4204, doi:10.1029/2008PA001640.
• Wade, B. S. and Pearson, P. N., 2008. Planktonic foraminiferal turnover, diversity fluctuations and geochemical signals across the Eocene/Oligocene boundary in Tanzania. Marine Micropaleontology, 68: 244-255.
• Katz, M.E., Miller, K.G., Wright, J.D., Wade, B.S., Browning, J.V., Cramer, B.S. and Rosenthal, Y., 2008. Stepwise transition from the Eocene greenhouse to the Oligocene icehouse. Nature Geoscience, 1: 329-334.
• Miller, K.G., Wright, J.D., Katz, M.E., Browning, J.V., Cramer, B.S., Wade, B.S., Misintseva, S.F. 2008. A view of Antarctic ice-sheet evolution from sea-level and deep-sea isotope changes during the Late Cretaceous-Cenozoic. In: Cooper, A.K., Barrett, P.J., Stagg, H., Storey, B., Stump, E., Wise, W. and the 10th ISAES editorial team (Eds.). Antarctica: A keystone in a changing world. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Antarctic Earth Sciences. National Academy of Sciences Press, Washington, D.C, pp. 55-70.
• Wade, B. S., Al-Sabouni, N., Hemleben, C. and Kroon, D. 2008. Symbiont bleaching in fossil planktonic foraminifera. Evolutionary Ecology, 22: 253-265. (PDF)
• Pearson, P.N., McMillan, I.K., Wade, B.S., Dunkley Jones, T., Coxall, H.K., Bown, P.R. and Lear, C.H., 2008. Extinction and environmental change across the Eocene-Oligocene boundary in Tanzania. Geology, 36 (2): 179-182.
• Miller, K.G., Browning, J.V., Aubry, M-P., Wade, B.S., Katz, M.E., Kulpecz, A.A., and Wright, J.D., 2008. Eocene-Oligocene global climate and sea-level changes: St. Stephens Quarry, Alabama. Geological Society America Bulletin, 120 (1): 34-53.
• Bown, P.R., Dunkley Jones, T., Lees, J.A., Randell, R.D., Mizzi, J.A., Pearson, P.N., Coxall, H.K., Young, J.R., Nicholas, C.J., Karega, A., Singano, J. and Wade, B.S. 2008. A Paleogene calcareous microfossil Konservat-Lagerstätte from the Kilwa Group of coastal Tanzania. Geological Society America Bulletin, 120 (1): 3-12.
• Complete List of Publications

Affiliations

• Geological Society of America
• The Palaeontological Association
• The Cushman Foundation

Links

• ODASES