Arnold I Miller

Professor | Paleontology
Philosophy - Affiliate Faculty
Geology - Tenure-Track Faculty
609 Geology-Physics Building
513-556-4022
arnold.miller@uc.edu

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Education

B.S., University of Rochester, 1978 (Biology-Geology).

M.S., Virginia Tech, 1981 (Geology).

Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1986 (Geophysical Sciences).

Professional Summary

Throughout my career, a unifying thread in my research has been an interest in biodiversity throughout geological time and in the present day. Currently, a central focus of my work is the interpretation of major changes in global biodiversity during the history of life, including brief intervals of time when global biodiversity dramatically decreased (mass extinctions) or increased (radiations). I also remain interested in: analyses of shells accumulating on present-day seafloors both to better understand the formation of ancient fossil assemblages and to help diagnose recent, anthropogenic changes in coastal environments; the numerical modeling of the formation of fossil assemblages; and distributions of ancient communities of marine organisms in association with environmental gradients. Recently, I have also begun collaborating with colleagues in the Departments of Biology and Geography in an investigation of the effects of urbanization on the distribution and abundance of plant species in urban-to-rural settings.


Although most of my graduate students conduct research that touches in some way on the topic of biodiversity, they investigate a wide range of issues using a broad analytical toolkit. Austin Hendy (Ph.D. 2007) worked on the Cenozoic record of biodiversity in New Zealand and elsewhere, which he used as a testing ground for the investigation of Cenozoic diversification at regional through global scales. Kate Bulinski (Ph.D. 2008) investigated quantitative properties of samples collected in the type Cincinnatian (e.g., evenness and the aggregate contributions of rare taxa), and how these properties affect the composite-diversity patterns observed at broader regional levels. Devin Buick (Ph.D. 2009) dissected the relationship between morphological variation, paleobiogeography, and diversification in the prolific Mesozoic-Cenozoic bivalve genus Cucullaea; along the way, he has pioneered a variety of new methods for analyzing and visualizing morphological variation. Chad Ferguson (Ph.D. 2009) used the subfossil record at a study area in Florida Bay to diagnose the stratigraphic preservability of anthropogenic environmental changes. Jacalyn Wittmer (M.S. 2009) investigated the global paleobiogeography and regional paleoecology of tentaculitoids, a prolific, but enigmatic early to mid Paleozoic group. Sarah Kolbe (Ph.D. in progress) is investigating regional, present-day variations in the distributions and abundances of plant species, including invasives, in association with the urban gradient and variations in bedrock and soil composition. Anne Lagomarcino (M.S. in progress) is investigating species-area relationships among Cretaceous biotas worldwide.

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