My research uses the tools of sedimentology to understand what evidence of microbial communities and their habitats can enter the rock record, how we recognize these deposits, and what sorts of observations in modern microbial ecosystems can give us useful search patterns to bring back to the rock record. My work in Antarctica focuses on microbial communities of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, particularly those growing at the bottom of perennially ice covered lakes. We are continuing long-term observations of lake bottom communities to understand how they respond to environmental changes in the region and what their sensitivity might be to habitat transitions in a future warmer Antarctica.