Published Technical Papers

Louys, J., O’Connor, S., Mahirta, Higgins, P., Hawkins, S., and Maloney, T., in press, New Genus and Species of Giant Rat from Alor Island, Indonesia: Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity, 8 pp.

Higgins, P., 2018, Isotope Ecology from Biominerals, p. 99–120, in: Croft D., Su D., Simpson S. (eds) Methods in Paleoecology: Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer, Cham.

Price, G.J., Ferguson, K.J., Webb, G.E., Feng, Y.-X., Higgins, P., Nguyen, A.D., Zhao, J.-X., Joannes-Boyau, R., and Louys, J., 2017., Seasonal migration of marsupial megafauna in Pleistocene Sahul (Australia-New Guinea): Proceedings of the Royal Society B, v. 284, 20170785.

Higgins, P., 2014, Was Special Creation De-Nye’d?: Skeptical Inquirer, v. 38.3.

Montanari, S., Higgins, P., and Norell, M. A., 2013, Dinosaur eggshell and tooth enamel geochemistry as an indicator of Mongolian Late Cretaceous paleoenvironments: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 370, p. 158–166.

Higgins, P., 2012, Climate change at the Paleocene-Eocene boundary: New insights from mollusks and organic carbon in the Hanna Basin of Wyoming: PalArch’s Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 9, p. 1–20.

Bershaw, J., Garzione, C. N., Higgins, P., MacFadden, B. J., Anaya, F., Alvarenga, H. M. F., 2010, High altitude dentistry: Understanding Altiplano paleoclimate and paleoelevation through stable isotopes (δ18O) of mammal teeth: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 289, p. 530–538.

Higgins, P. and MacFadden, B. J., 2009, Seasonal and geographic climate variability during the Last Glacial Maximum in North America: applying isotopic analysis and macrophysical climate models: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 283, p. 15¬–27.

Higgins, P., 2007, Fossils to fertilizer: taphonomic implications of uranium roll-fronts. Palaios, 2007, v. 22, p. 577–582.

MacFadden, B. J. and Higgins, P., 2004., Ancient ecology of 15 million-year-old browsing mammals within C3 plant communities from Panama. Oecologia, v.140, p. 169–182.

Higgins P. and MacFadden, B. J., 2004, “Amount Effect” recorded in oxygen isotopes of Late Glacial horse (Equus) and bison (Bison) teeth from the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts, southwestern United States: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 206, p. 337–353.

MacFadden, B. J., Higgins, P., Clementz, M. T., Jones, D. S., 2004, Diets, habitat preferences, and niche differentiation of Cenozoic sirenians from Florida: Evidence from stable isotopes. Paleobiology, v.30, p. 297-324.

Higgins, P, 2003, A Wyoming succession of Paleocene mammal-bearing localities bracketing the boundary between the Torrejonian and Tiffanian North American Land Mammal “Ages.” Rocky Mountain Geology, v.38, p. 247–280.

Higgins, P, 2003, A new fossil multituberculate from the Paleocene of the Hanna Basin, Wyoming: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 23, p. 468–470.

Higgins, P, 1998, North American Land Mammal “Ages” and Cretaceous mammalian biostratigraphy, in Tate ‘98, Life in the late Cretaceous field conference, Tate Museum Guidebook no. 3, p. 81–90.

Higgins, P, 1994, Structure and tectonic evolution of Uncompahgre Canyon, San Juan Mountains, Colorado, in Westervelt, T.N., and Sheriff, W.M., eds., Geology and mines of Uncompahgre Canyon, western San Juan Mountains, Colorado: Geological Society of America Rocky Mountain Section Meeting Field Trip Guidebook, p. 6–13.

Penny’s Abstracts

Higgins, P., and Meachen, J., 2018, Pronghorn, Pronghorn, Why Dost Thou Run So Swift? [abstract]: Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM, October 17–20, 2018.

Higgins, P., Townsend, K.E., and Rosenstein, D, 2016, Color and Chemistry as Proxies for Environmental Change During the Uintan North American Land Mammal “Age” (NALMA) and at the Boundary Between the Uintan and Duchesnean NALMAs [abstract]: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 36, supplement to number 3.

Meachen, J., Cooper, A., McGuire, J., Higgins, P., Tybout, S., 2015, Natural Trap Cave: A Pleistocene Treasure Trove [abstract]: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 33, supplement to number 3.

Higgins, P. 2016. Bioapatite and matrix matching: Why using carbonate standards for analysis of tooth enamel is bad. [abstract]: Advances in Stable Isotope Techniques and Applications, held at the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadephia, June 19–21, 2016.

Hebdon, N., and Higgins, P., 2015, A Marine Reptile in the Steele Shale: A New Look at the Western Interior Seaway of the Hanna Basin, Wyoming [abstract]: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 33, supplement to number 3.

Tarduno, J., Bono, R., Brinkman, D., Clarke, J., and Higgins, P. 2014. The Ultra-warm Arctic ca. 90 Million Years Ago: Testing Linkages with Volcanic CO2 Outgassing [abstract]: GSA annual meeting, Vancouver, BC.

Higgins, P., Potapova, O., and Agenbroad, L., 2012, Mineralization of Mammoth Molars [abstract]: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 32, supplement to number 3, p. 111.

Higgins, P., Croft, D., Bostelmann, E., Rinderkinecht, A., Ubilla, M., 2011, Paleodiet and Paleoenvrionment of Fossil Giant Rodents from Uruguay [abstract]: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 31, supplement to number 3, p. 125.

Higgins, P., 2010, Proxies for metabolic carbon (CM) and/or dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) contributions to mollusc shells presented at 2010 Fall Meeting, AGU, San Francisco, California, December 13-17, 2010.

Higgins, P., Croft, D.C., and Simpson, S., 2010, Microwear, Microscopy, and Isotopes: Mineralization and Growth Rates of Hypselodont Cheek Teeth of Notoungulates: for the International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology held in Punta del Este, Uruguay July 26–31, 2010.

Higgins, P., and Burke, R., 2010, Comparing Standards and Methods for Stable Isotope Analysis of
Dissolved Inorganic Carbon (DIC) in waters: for the 16th Workshop on continuous-flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry held at Université du Québec à Montréal from June 20–23, 2010.

Higgins, P., MacFadden, B., Bershaw, J., and Garzione., C., 2010, Modeling Complex Past Environments with Bulk Isotopic Data [abstract]: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 30, supplement to number 3, p. 104A.

Higgins, P., Croft, D.C., and Simpson, S., 2009, Mineralization and growth rate of hypselodont cheek teeth: insights into the paleobiology of notoungulates [abstract]: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 29, supplement to number 3, p. 114A.

Higgins, P., 2009, Taphonomic implications of uranium ore deposits on vertebrate remains: for the 5th conference on bone diagenesis held in Bonn, Germany September 18-21, 2009.

Higgins, P., 2009, Improvements to Nafion traps to reduce water-induced error in the measurements of carbon isotopic ratios from carbon dioxide gas: for the 15th Workshop on continuous-flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry held at Cornell University June 28-July 1, 2009.

Higgins, P., and MacFadden, B.J., 2008, Use of Macrophysical Climate Modeling or Serial Isotopic Analysis of Hypsodont Teeth to Understand Past Climate: Two Methods, One Story? [abstract]: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 28, supplement to number 3, p. 90A–91A.

Higgins, P. and Voronov, J., 2008, Isotope Sclerochronology of Freshwater Mollusks: A New Look at Terrestrial Environmental Change during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum in Wyoming: Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, Houston, Texas.

Rosario, J.J., Jordan, T.E., Garzione, C., Hernández, J.I., Hernández, R.M., and Higgins, P., 2008, Paleosol Stratigraphy and Its Paleoclimatic Implications In Northwestern Argentina: Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, Houston, Texas.

Higgins, P., Bershaw, J., Garzione, C., MacFadden, B.J., Anaya, F., Alvarenga, H.M.F., 2008, Oxygen isotopic composition of modern mammal teeth associated with longitude, altitude, and humidity in South America: Geological Society of America Northeastern Section meeting, Buffalo, New York.

Voronov, J., and Higgins, P., 2008, A new record of environmental change during the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum: Geological Society of America Northeastern Section meeting, Buffalo, New York.

Higgins, P., 2007, Managing Data in the Laboratory: an Introduction to LIMS for Light Stable Isotopes [abstract]: 13th Canadian CF-IRMS Workshop, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, June 24 – 27, 2007.

Bershaw, J., Garzione, C. N., Higgins, P., MacFadden, B. J., Anaya, F., Alvarenga, H. M., 2006, The isotopic composition of mammal teeth across South America: A proxy for paleoclimate and paleoelevation of the Altiplano: Eos Transactions, AGU, v. 87 n. 52, Fall Meeting Supplement Abstract T33C-0519.

Higgins, P., 2006, Insights into the biology of large, extinct South American ungulates [abstract]: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 26, supplement to number 3, p. 75A.

Higgins, P., 2005, Standardizing isotopic analysis of bioapatites [abstract]: Is the Geochemical Record of Ecological and Biological Signals in Skeletal Remains Reliable Enough? First International Workshop on Taphonomy and Biochemistry Applied to Human and Environmental Sciences, Paris, France, May 30 – 31 and June 1, 2005

Higgins, P., 2004, Modeling climate, atmospheric, and vegetational change since the Last Glacial Maximum [abstract]: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 24, supplement to number 3, p. 70A.

Higgins, P. and MacFadden, B. J., 2004, Stable isotopes from tooth enamel: Interpreting diet and climate from ancient and modern mammal teeth [abstract]: Inorganic Mass Spectrometry: Elemental and Isotopic Analysis. 16th Sanibel Conference on Mass Spectrometry, sponsored by the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, Sanibel Island, FL, January 23¬–26, 2004.

Higgins, P. and MacFadden, B. J., 2003, Investigating ancient climate through analysis of stable isotopes from fossil tooth enamel [abstract]: 225th American Chemical Society National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, March 23-27, 2003.

Higgins, P. and MacFadden, B. J., 2002, Straight from the horse’s mouth: stable isotopes and inferences about Pleistocene climate change in the southwestern United States [abstract]: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 20, supplement to number 3, p. 64A.

MacFadden, B. J., Higgins, P., Clementz, M. T., Jones, D. S., 2002, Ancient diets and ecology of Cenozoic sirenians from Florida: evidence from stable isotopes [abstract]: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 20, supplement to number 3, p. 81A.

Higgins, P., 2001, New applications of geographic information systems to vertebrate paleontology [abstract]: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 19, supplement to number 3, p. 61A.

Higgins, P., 1999, Destruction of vertebrate fossils by uranium roll-fronts: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 31, n. 7, p. A-170.

Higgins, P., 1999, Biostratigraphy of the boundary between Torrejonian and Tiffanian North American Land Mammal “Ages” [abstract]: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 19, supplement to number 3, p. 51A.

Higgins, P., 1998, Taphonomy of Paleocene vertebrates, Hanna Formation, Hanna Basin, south-central Wyoming [abstract]: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 18, supplement to no. 3, p. 50A–51A.

Dissertation and Theses

Higgins, P., 2000, Re-evaluation of the boundary between the Torrejonian and Tiffanian North American Land Mammal “Ages,” with description of a new fauna from the Hanna Basin, south-central Wyoming [Ph.D. dissert.]: University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, 222 p.

Higgins, P., 1999, Uranium roll-fronts as vertebrate taphonomic agents in the Hanna Basin, south-central Wyoming [M.S. thesis]: University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, 98 p.

Higgins, P., 1995, Reversals of the Earth’s magnetic field and extinction of animal species [B.S. thesis]: Fort Lewis College Biology Department, Durango, Colorado.

Higgins, P., 1995, Vertebrate fossil locality on “Moving Mountain,” Durango, Colorado [B.S. thesis]: Fort Lewis College Geology Department, Durango, Colorado.