Amy Hessl

Director of Undergraduate Research, Honors College, and Professor of Geography

Dr. Hessl uses the environmental information stored in the growth rings of trees to study climate variability, ecosystem processes, and human activities over the last 2000 years.

Montane Forest Dynamics Lab

Find Dr. Hessl on Google Scholar

PI: Amy Hessl, Professor of Geography

Dr. Hessl uses the environmental information stored in the growth rings of trees to study climate variability, ecosystem processes, and human activities over the last 2000 years. She has studied forest dynamics, climate and human history in the American West, Mongolia and Southern Australia.

Representative Publications

*Designates student authors

de Graauw*, K. and Hessl, A. 2020. Do historic log buildings provide evidence of reforestation following the depopulation of indigenous peoples? Journal of Biogeography. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13769

Hessl, A., Anchukaitis, K.J., Jelsema, C., Cook, B., Byambasuran, O., *Leland, C., Nachin, B., Pederson, N., Tian, H., Andreu Hayles, L. 2018. Past and future drought in Mongolia. Science Advances 4, e1701832. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1701832 .

Di Cosmo, N., Hessl, A., *Leland, C., Byambasuren, O., Tian, H., Pederson, N., Andreu, L., and E. Cook. 2018. An integrated analysis of climate and socio-economic complexity in the expansion and collapse of the Uyghur Empire (744-840 CE). Interdisciplinary Journal of History 48(4):439-463. https://doi.org/10.1162/JINH_a_01194.

Hessl, A., Brown, P., Byambasuren, O., *Cockrell, S., *Leland, C., Cook, E., Nachin, B., Pederson, N., *Saladyga, T., and Suran, B. 2016. Fire and Climate in Mongolia (1532-2010 CE). Geophysical Research Letters 43(12):6519-6527. 10.1002/2016GL069059.

Pederson, N., A. Hessl, K. Anchukaitis, Nachin Baatarbileg, and N. Di Cosmo. 2014. Pluvials, Droughts, the Mongol Empire, and Modern Mongolia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111(12):4375–4379. 10.1073/pnas.1318677111

*Maxwell, R.S., A. Hessl, E. Cook, and B. Buckley. 2012. A 1248-year reconstruction of May precipitation for the mid-Atlantic region using Juniperus virginiana tree rings. Journal of Climate 25:1045-1056. 10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00017.1