About

Patricia A. Beddows is a faculty member in the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences at Northwestern University, serving as the Director of Undergraduate Studies and Chair of the Environmental Sciences Steering Committee. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Bristol, an M.Sc. from McMaster University, and a B.A. from McMaster University. Her research focuses on karst and caves, hydrogeology, geochemistry, geomorphology, and sedimentology, with particular interest in paleoenvironmental records of sea level, climate change, and landscape evolution derived from sediments, speleothems, and fluid inclusions. Her applied research includes water resources, contaminant transport, and geoarcheology. Beddows has contributed to earth science education through leadership in program development, emphasizing problem-based learning and education beyond the classroom, as well as developing open-source hardware and software for underwater and remote research. She has an extensive publication record in her field, highlighting her expertise in paleoclimate, hydrogeology, and geochemistry.

Research topics

• Geology
• Geography
• Oceanography
• Archaeology
• Biology
• Ecology
• Environmental science
• Climatology
• Physical geography
• Paleontology
• Chemistry

Selected publications

• Common Era time-transgressive forcing of Caribbean water balance

  Communications Earth & Environment · 2025-11-24

  articleOpen access

  Tropical North Atlantic sea surface temperatures and low-latitude rainfall covary, but prehistoric subtropical rainfall records are often misaligned. Here, a submarine groundwater discharge record from the northern Bahamas archives regional water balance in the northeastern Atlantic Warm Pool. We compare the reconstruction to the tropical North Atlantic seasonal temperature gradient, which can help inform how northeastern Caribbean rainy seasons are influenced by the Atlantic Warm Pool. A positive water balance in the northern Bahamas aligned with a ~0.9 °C seasonal temperature gradient from 0 to 950 CE, with both covarying on multi-decadal timescales. Aridity began at ~950 CE when a ~2.2 °C seasonal temperature gradient increase likely shortened the wet season. From 1450 to 1850 CE, frequent hurricanes offset aridity in the northeastern Caribbean by elevating rainfall. This record archives time-transgressive changes in hydroclimate forcing, and suggests that projected changes to rainfall seasonality must be considered when assessing tropical water security risk. The balance between precipitation and evaporation in the Caribbean region during the Common Era can be estimated through analyses of sedimentary foraminiferal assemblages that record submarine groundwater discharge.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Soil moisture and water redistribution patterns in white oak (Quercus alba) saplings and trees in fragmented urban woodlands

  Environmental Research · 2024-10-11

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Soil Moisture and Water Redistribution Patterns in White Oak (Quercus Alba) Saplings and Trees in Fragmented Urban Woodlands

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Variability of trace-elements and δ18O in drip water from Gruta del Rey Marcos, Guatemala; seasonal and environmental effects, and its implications for paleoclimate reconstructions

  Frontiers in Earth Science · 2023 · 7 citations

  • Geology
  • Climatology
  • Physical geography

  Guatemala is located at the core of one of the largest warming pools in the planet, the Western Hemisphere Warm Pool, an important source of tropical moisture to middle and high latitudes and, thus, a key area for paleoclimatic studies. This, along the karst pervasiveness in the area provides the opportunity to obtain high-resolution records of past hydroclimatic conditions using stalagmites. Despite this, the atmospheric and geochemical processes that might affect the variability of geochemical proxies in stalagmites are yet to be constrained, as no cave-monitoring in the area has been carried out previously. Here, we present a 2.5-year cave-monitoring study from Gruta del Rey Marcos, Guatemala, which allows to understand the effect of external atmospheric and environmental conditions upon the variability of δ 18 O, Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, and Ba/Ca in drip water. By incorporating cave ventilation dynamics, isotopic information of local rainfall and cave-river water, we are able to understand the most relevant processes that affect the variability of the geochemical proxies in drip water, hence stalagmites. Our results suggest that two-isotopically distinct rainfall regimes, as well as tropical cyclones affecting the area contribute to the composition of the drip-water, hence the resulting stalagmites, with low δ 18 O (∼-6‰ VSMOW) values indicative of strong convective activity, whilst high δ 18 O values (−4.5 and −5‰ VSMOW), are indicative of poor convection and proportionally more significant winter-frontal rainfall. We also demonstrate that the trace-element composition of drip water is largely modulated by PCP, and thus, the variability in underlying stalagmites can be interpreted to reflect changes in karst humidity, with low E/Ca ratios (E = Mg, Sr, Ba), indicative of a wet epikarst and high E/Ca ratios indicative of a dry epikarst. Our results provide essential information for the interpretation of the δ 18 O and trace element variability in stalagmites, which can result in robust paleoclimatic reconstructions from Gruta del Rey Marcos and elsewhere in central America and southern Mexico.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Microbial biogeography of the eastern Yucatán carbonate aquifer

  Applied and Environmental Microbiology · 2023-11-02 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access

  ABSTRACT Constraining the spatial distribution of microorganisms and their ecological interactions is crucial for informing biogeochemistry. To that end, we explore horizontal and vertical patterns of microbial biogeography in the eastern Yucatán carbonate aquifer by examining the relative abundance of microbial taxa via 16S rRNA gene sequencing. As one of the largest anchialine groundwater systems on Earth, the density-stratified Yucatán aquifer consists of a meteoric lens overlying saline groundwater. The myriad sinkholes (cenotes) of the eastern peninsula lead into a vast network of subsurface conduits. Several studies describe microbial communities within specific regions of the aquifer, yet fundamental questions remain regarding the ecology and distribution of biogeochemically relevant microbes. Our analysis demonstrates that this aquifer hosts a distinct microbiome from nearby seawater, with regionalism observed across cave systems and vertical water column zones. We apply novel software to construct taxonomic co-occurrence networks at different scales and categorize highly connected groups of taxa into potential niches. Our network analysis approach suggests that ubiquitous, metabolically flexible taxa such as the family Comamonadaceae act as ecological linchpins across several niches, often directly or indirectly co-occurring with taxa capable of anammox (e.g., Gemmataceae ), methanotrophy (e.g., Methyloparacoccus ), or organoheterotrophy. Furthermore, communities from a deep, pit-like cenote open to the surface show the strongest niche partitioning between water column zones, differing from those encountered throughout the mostly dark and oligotrophic aquifer system, including another deep pit cenote with no direct surface opening. Our results suggest that members of a core microbiome could modulate different biogeochemical regimes depending on location, acting as reservoirs of metabolic potential in disparate environments of this groundwater system. IMPORTANCE The extensive Yucatán carbonate aquifer, located primarily in southeastern Mexico, is pockmarked by numerous sinkholes (cenotes) that lead to a complex web of underwater caves. The aquifer hosts a diverse yet understudied microbiome throughout its highly stratified water column, which is marked by a meteoric lens floating on intruding seawater owing to the coastal proximity and high permeability of the Yucatán carbonate platform. Here, we present a biogeographic survey of bacterial and archaeal communities from the eastern Yucatán aquifer. We apply a novel network analysis software that models ecological niche space from microbial taxonomic abundance data. Our analysis reveals that the aquifer community is composed of several distinct niches that follow broader regional and hydrological patterns. This work lays the groundwork for future investigations to characterize the biogeochemical potential of the entire aquifer with other systems biology approaches.

  PublisherDOI

• The Proyecto Costa Escondida: Historical ecology and the study of past coastal landscapes in the Maya area

  The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology · 2022 · 8 citations

  • Ecology
  • Geography
  • Archaeology

  Although Maya scholars have referenced coastal settlements in the more general discourse on past landscapes, coastal landscapes have only rarely been the explicit focus of research programs. Coastal peoples, however, faced distinct challenges and opportunities not shared by their inland neighbors. These had material ramifications in terms of the specific decisions coastal inhabitants made over time while trying to take advantage of opportunities and manage risks. The north coast of the Yucatan Peninsula is a complex physiographic mosaic that is categorically distinct from the inland expanses of the Maya lowlands. No doubt, the physically delimiting aspects of the north coast’s diverse environment played a major role in shaping more localized concepts of landscape. Here, we employ an historical ecology framework to integrate the interdisciplinary studies conducted by the Proyecto Costa Escondida along the Yucatan’s north coast. Specifically, we focus on the ancient Maya port site of Vista Alegre and what our research has revealed about the dynamic interplay of social and natural processes that shaped life at this ancient Maya port over the past three millennia.

  PublisherDOI

• Unique Habitat for Benthic Foraminifera in Subtidal Blue Holes on Carbonate Platforms

  Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution · 2021 · 12 citations

  • Oceanography
  • Geology
  • Ecology

  Dissolution of carbonate platforms, like The Bahamas, throughout Quaternary sea-level oscillations have created mature karst landscapes that can include sinkholes and off-shore blue holes. These karst features are flooded by saline oceanic waters and meteoric-influenced groundwaters, which creates unique groundwater environments and ecosystems. Little is known about the modern benthic meiofauna, like foraminifera, in these environments or how internal hydrographic characteristics of salinity, dissolved oxygen, or pH may influence benthic habitat viability. Here we compare the total benthic foraminiferal distributions in sediment-water interface samples collected from <2 m water depth on the carbonate tidal flats, and the two subtidal blue holes Freshwater River Blue Hole and Meredith’s Blue Hole, on the leeward margin of Great Abaco Island, The Bahamas. All samples are dominated by miliolid foraminifera (i.e., Quinqueloculina and Triloculina ), yet notable differences emerge in the secondary taxa between these two environments that allows identification of two assemblages: a Carbonate Tidal Flats Assemblage (CTFA) vs. a Blue Hole Assemblage (BHA). The CTFA includes abundant common shallow-water lagoon foraminifera (e.g., Peneroplis , Rosalina , Rotorbis ), while the BHA has higher proportions of foraminifera that are known to tolerate stressful environmental conditions of brackish and dysoxic waters elsewhere (e.g., Pseudoeponides , Cribroelphidium , Ammonia ). We also observe how the hydrographic differences between subtidal blue holes can promote different benthic habitats for foraminifera, and this is observed through differences in both agglutinated and hyaline fauna. The unique hydrographic conditions in subtidal blue holes make them great laboratories for assessing the response of benthic foraminiferal communities to extreme environmental conditions (e.g., low pH, dysoxia).

  PublisherDOI

• Influence of tropical cyclones rain on the δ 18 O drip water composition at Río Secreto Cave in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.

  AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts · 2020-12-01

  article
  Publisher

• A 50,000-year stratigraphic record from a Bahamian sinkhole and direct evidence for Saharan dust export to the tropical North Atlantic

  AGUFM · 2019-12-01

  article
  Publisher

• Hoyo Negro: The Formation and Transformation of a Submerged Late Pleistocene Cave Site in Quintana Roo, Mexico

  Society for Historical Archaeology · 2018-01-01

  article
  Publisher

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research: An Investigation Into Long Term Human Coastal Adaptation

  NSF · $28k · 2015–2019

Frequent coauthors

• Dominique Rissolo

  University of California, San Diego

  16 shared

• Henry P. Schwarcz

  McMaster University

  16 shared

• Fiona Whitaker

  University of Bristol

  16 shared

• Derek Ford

  14 shared

• Peter J. van Hengstum

  11 shared

• Eduard G. Reinhardt

  11 shared

• PL Smart

  University of Bristol

  10 shared

• Roy Jaijel

  Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research

  8 shared

Labs

• Patricia A. Beddows LabPI

Education

• Ph.D., Department of Geographical Sciences

  University of Bristol

  2004

• M.Sc., School of Geography and Earth Sciences

  McMaster University

  1999

• B.A. , School of Geography and Earth Sciences

  McMaster University

  1995