Daniel R. Green
Daniel Green received his Ph.D. in Human Evolutionary Biology from Harvard University, where he investigated methods of reconstructing seasonal climate using the chemistry and anatomy of mammalian dentition. As an Earth Institute Postdoctoral Researcher, Daniel is contributing to reconstructions of seasonal environments in east Africa over the last the 30 million years that shaped the evolution of African fauna, including African great apes, and human ancestors. Daniel’s research relies upon stable light isotope geochemistry, trace metal analyses, microscopy, and physiological modeling. You can learn more about Daniel's research at www.danielrgreen.org.
Fields of Interest
Evolutionary biology, paleoanthropology, stable isotope ecology, dental biology
Education
Ph.D., May 2017
Harvard University, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology
Laboratory of Tanya M. Smith
Dissertation Title: Reconstructing oxygen isotope seasonality in large herbivores through mineralization modeling, experimentation and optimization
A.M., May 2012
Harvard University, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology
B.S., May 2008
University of Michigan
Majors in Anthropology–Zoology, History, French and Francophone Studies
Minor in Biology
Honors & Awards
Earth Institute Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, 2021 –
Earth Institute at Columbia University – competitive fellowship
How does orbital forcing affect rainfall seasonality? A case study in the Pleistocene East African Rift System with implications for human evolution.
Awarded $157,000
Australian Research Council Discovery Project, 2021 – 2022
Constructing robust climate proxies to explore human and primate evolution
Jointly awarded with Tanya Smith and Ian Williams.
Grant total $349,765
Australian Academy of Science Regional Collaborations Programme, 2019 – 2021
Tracing Ancient Environments During the Peopling of Southeast Asia
Jointly awarded with Tanya Smith, Ian Williams and Hallie Buckley, and Tanya Smith as lead PI.
Grant total $79,000
American School of Prehistoric Research, 2019
Systematics of east African fossil herbivore dentitions through neural network-based image processing
Awarded $3,500
National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Training Fellowship, 2018 – 2019
Forsyth Institute Internal Competitive T90 Application
Inferring toxicant exposure timing and magnitude from human deciduous teeth
Awarded $144,000
Forsyth Institute Pilot Grant, 2017 – 2019
Inferring toxin exposure timing and magnitude from deciduous teeth
Awarded $7,830
Leakey Foundation General Grant, 2014 – 2017
Plio-Pleistocene Seasonal Precipitation through isotopes in Bovid molars, West Turkana
Awarded $12,000
Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Grant, 2014 – 2016
Experimental Reconstruction of Seasonal Rainfall for Paleoclimate Research
Awarded $18,810
National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, 2012 – 2014
Experimental Determination of Tooth Mineralization Patterns in Ungulates for Application to Paleoseasonality Reconstruction
Awarded $19,855
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, 2011 – 2014
A New Isotopic Sampling Method Combining Microtomography and Histology: Signal Distortion through Sampling Technique and Diagenesis
Awarded $90,000
Harvard University Committee on African Studies Summer Research Grant, 2012
Plio-Pleistocene Seasonal Precipitation through isotopes in Bovid molars, West Turkana
Awarded $5,000
European Synchrotron Radiation Facility Research Award, 2012
Determination of Enamel Mineralization Pattern by Scans of Successive Developmental Stages With Application for Study of Paleoecology
Awarded: 3 days beam time, est. $10,000/day
Smith TM, Austin C, Cook L, Dirks W, Green DR, Arora M (2021) Biological rhythms and chemical records in teeth reveal juvenile diet, health, and neurotoxicant exposures retrospectively. In Press, Bioessays.
Merceron G, Berlioz E, Vonhof H, Green DR, Garel M, Noûs C, Tütken T (2021) Tooth tales told by dental diet proxies: an alpine community of sympatric ruminants as a model to decipher the ecology of fossil fauna. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 562:110077.
Stifler CA, Jakes J, North JD, Green DR, Weaver JC, Gilbert PU (2021) Crystal misorientation correlates with hardness in tooth enamels. Acta Biomaterialia 120:124-3.
Green DR, Hardt M, Schulte F, Lee K-H, Pugach MK, Bidlack FB (2019) Mapping the Tooth Enamel Proteome and Amelogenin Phosphorylation Onto Mineralizing Porcine Tooth Crowns. Frontiers in Physiology 10:925.
Goodson JM, Hardt M, Hartman M-L, Alqaderi H, Green DR, Tavares M, Mutawa A-L, Ariga J, Soparkar P, Behbehani J, Behbehani K (2019) Salivary N1-Methyl-2-pyridone-5-carboxamide, a biomarker for uranium uptake, in Kuwaiti children exhibiting exceptional weight gain. Frontiers in Endocrinology 10:382.
Smith TM,* Austin C*, Green DR*, Joannes-Boyau R*, Bailey S, Dumitriu D, Fallon S, Grün R, James HF, Moncel M-H, Williams IS, Wood R, Arora M (2018) Wintertime stress, nursing, and lead exposure in Neanderthal children. Science Advances 4: eaau9483 *These authors contributed equally to this work.
Green DR, Smith TM, Green GM, Bidlack FB, Tafforeau P, Colman AS (2018) Quantitative reconstruction of seasonality from stable isotopes in teeth. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 235:483–504.
Green DR, Olack G, Colman AS (2018) Determinants of blood water δ18O variation in a population of experimental sheep: implications for paleoclimate reconstruction. Chemical Geology 485:32-43.
Green DR, Green GM, Bidlack FB, Colman AS, Tafforeau P, Smith TM (2017) Synchrotron imaging and Markov Chain Monte Carlo reveal tooth mineralization patterns. PLoS ONE 12(10): e0186391.
Cho S, Huang ZY, Green DR, Smith DR, Zhang J (2006) Balancing selection generates trans-species polymorphisms at the complementary sex-determination locus of honey bees. Genome Research 16:1366-1375.