Centre for Palynology and Palaeoecology

Director: Prof.Peter Kershaw

This study area is concerned with the reconstruction of past environments and biological communities from the study of pollen, diatoms, beetles and other organic materials preserved in accumulated sediments of bogs, lakes and marine environments.

It is interdisciplinary, involving most natural sciences and human-environment relationships. Results of studies are applied in a number of areas including testing the validity of predictive atmospheric circulation models, understanding the dynamics of biological communities, and assessment of environment/human relationships.

Study in this field involves a combination of outdoor and laboratory based work and has strong link with other teaching and research areas within the School of Geography and Environmental Science, especially Australian Indigenous Archaeology and the Climate Group.

Useful Resources

• The SouthEast Australian Pollen database
  (D'Costa and Kershaw, 1997, Aust J Bot, 45: 583-605)
• Seed of south-western Victoria database –
  ( Lewis, 2009.)
• SahulTime
• Australasian Pollen and Spore Atlas
• Australasian Quaternary Association (AQUA)
• International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA)
• PAGES – Past Global Changes
• Palaeoclimate Commission (PALCOMM)
• Research Publications List
• Sporopollenin Seminars - The Centre for Palynology and Palaeoecology holds occasional Sporopollenin seminars. Please contact Tara Lewis Tara.Lewis@arts.monash.edu.au if you are interested in receiving seminar notices, or if you will be visiting Monash and are interested in presenting your own research.
• Archived resources

Current Research:

Topics:

• The Quaternary history of eastern and northern Australia with emphasis on climatic variability, the development of the present vegetation, rainforest dynamics and the influence of Indigenous biomass burning.
• The history of climate, rainforest and peatland forest in the Maritime Continent region of Southeast Asia.
• Environmental change, Aboriginal occupation and conservation in south-western Victoria.
• Land-Ocean Correlation of long Quaternary records from the Southern Hemisphere on orbital and sub-orbital timescales
• Palaeolimnological evidence for recent droughts in western Victoria

Honours and research student participation in these project areas welcomed. (Contact APK for further information)