Dr Julien Louys
Areas of expertise
- Palaeontology (Incl. Palynology) 040308
- Palaeoecology 060206
- Speciation And Extinction 060311
- Biogeography And Phylogeography 060302
Research interests
- Evolutionary Palaeoecology
The examination of ecological concepts in the fossil record, the application of palaeontological data in ecological studies, and developing new palaeoecological methods to accurately reconstruct palaeoenvironments
- Palaeoanthropology
The timing, tempo and environmental context of human evolution. My research in this area focuses on East Africa and Southeast Asia. I have been involved with research on the Plio-Pleistocene of Kenya and Tanzania, addressing taphonomic, ecomorphic and palaeoecologic questions as well as conducting fieldwork. In Southeast Asia, I have focused specifically on the environmental context, interaction and biogeography of hominins and associated mammals
- Vertebrate Palaeontology
My research interests in this area are twofold. Firstly, I am interested in the changes in mammal communities in response to Cenozoic climate change in order to be able to provide evidence-based models to predict future community responses to global warming. I am also interested in the evolution of Cenozoic marsupial faunas, especially koalas, wombats and related marsupials such as wynyardiids
Biography
Julien is a vertebrate palaeontologist and palaeoecologist. He received a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Newcastle, Australia and a Bachelor of Sciences (Hons) and PhD from the University of New South Wales, Sydney. He completed a three year postdoctoral research assistant position at Liverpool John Moores University, UK, examining the use of taxon-free variables in palaeoecological analyses. Following the completion of this project, he worked for 12 months at the Queensland Museum as curator of Geosciences. He successfully secured a University of Queensland Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2012 with projects examining Australian marsupial palaeontology, particularly Pliocene faunas, as well as community ecology of Pleistocene/Holocene small mammal assemblages. He has also been involved in hominin and large mammal palaeoecological research of the Plio-Pleistocene of East Africa and Southeast Asia. Julien is currently working on the project "From Sunda to Sahul: understanding modern human dispersal, adaptation and behaviour en route to Australia".
Publications
- Louys, J & Price, G 2015, 'The Chinchilla Local Fauna: an exceptionally rich and well-preserved Pliocene vertebrate assemblage from fluviatile deposits of south-eastern Queensland, Australia', Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, vol. 60, no. 3, pp. 551-572.
- Louys, J 2014, 'The large terrestrial carnivore guild in Quaternary Southeast Asia', Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 96, pp. 86-97.
- Dennell, R, Louys, J, O'Regan, H et al 2014, 'The origins and persistence of Homo floresiensis on Flores: biogeographical and ecological perspectives', Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 96, pp. 98-107.
- Butler, K, Louys, J & Travouillon, K 2014, 'Extending dental mesowear analyses to Australian marsupials, with applications to six Plio-Pleistocene kangaroos from southeast Queensland', Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, vol. 408, no. 2014, pp. 11-25.
- Meloro, C, Elton, S, Louys, J et al 2013, 'Cats in the forest: predicting habitat adaptations from humerus morphometry in extant and fossil Felidae (Carnivora)', Paleobiology, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 323-344.
- Louys, J, Montanari, S, Plummer, T et al 2013, 'Evolutionary Divergence and Convergence in Shape and Size Within African Antelope Proximal Phalanges', Journal of Mammalian Evolution, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 239-248.
- Montanari, S, Louys, J & Price, G 2013, 'Pliocene Paleoenvironments of Southeastern Queensland, Australia Inferred from Stable Isotopes of Marsupial Tooth Enamel', PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science), vol. 8, no. 6, p. 8.
- Archer, M, Mooney, S, Wroe, S et al 2013, 'Reply to Brook et al: No empirical evidence for human overkill of megafauna in Sahul', PNAS - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 110, no. 36, pp. E3369-E3369.
- Louys, J., Montanari, S., Plummer, T., Hertel, F. Bishop, L.C., 2013. Evolutionary divergence and convergence in shape and size within African antelope proximal phalanges. Journal of Mammalian Evolution 20:239–248
- Meloro, C., Elton, S., Louys, J., Bishop, L.C., Ditchfield, P. 2013. Cats in the forest: predicting habitat adaptations from humerus morphometry in extant and fossil Felidae (Carnivora). Paleobiology 39: 323-344
- Wroe, S., Field, J. H., Archer, M., Grayson, D. K., Price, G. J., Louys, J., Faith, J. T., Webb, G. E., Mooney, S. D. 2013. Climate change frames debate over the extinction of megafauna in Sahul (Pleistocene Australia-New Guinea). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 110: 8777-8781
- Louys, J 2012, La surprenante extinction de la megafaune / The surprising extinction of megafauna, pp. 36-39.
- Louys, J. Wilkinson, D.M., Bishop, L.C., 2012. Ecology needs a palaeontological perspective. In Louys J (ed) Paleontology in Ecology and Conservation. Springer-Verlag, Berlin pp. 23-38
- Louys, J., 2012. Mammal community structure of Sundanese fossil assemblages from the Late Pleistocene, and a discussion on the ecological effects of the Toba eruption. Quaternary International 258: 80-87
- Louys, J., 2012. Paleoecology and conservation paleobiology: future directions. In Louys J (ed) Paleontology in Ecology and Conservation. Springer-Verlag, Berlin pp. 253-262
- Louys, J., 2012. Paleontology in Ecology and Conservation. Springer-Verlag, Berlin
- Louys, J., 2012. Paleontology in ecology and conservation: an introduction. In Louys J (ed) Paleontology in Ecology and Conservation. Springer-Verlag, Berlin pp. 1-7
- Louys, J., 2012. The future of mammals in Southeast Asia: conservation insights from the fossil record. In Louys J (ed) Paleontology in Ecology and Conservation. Springer-Verlag, Berlin pp. 227-238
- Louys, J., Ditchfield, P., Meloro, C., Elton, S., Bishop, L.C., 2012. Stable isotopes provide independent support for the use of mesowear variables for inferring diets in African antelopes. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 279:4441-4446
- Louys, J., Turner, A., 2012. Environment, preferred habitats and potential refugia for Pleistocene Homo in Southeast Asia. C. R. Palevol 11: 203-211
- Walmsley, A., Elton, S., Louys, J., Bishop, L.C., and Meloro, C. 2012. Humeral epiphyseal shape in the Felidae: the influence of phylogeny, allometry and locomotion. Journal of Morphology 273: 1424-1438
- Louys, J., Meloro, C., Elton, S., Ditchfield, P., Bishop, L. C., 2011. Mammal community structure correlates with arboreal heterogeneity in faunally and geographically diverse habitats: implications for community convergence. Global Ecology and Biogeography 20: 717-729
- Louys, J., Meloro, C., Elton, S., Ditchfield, P., Bishop, L. C., 2011. Mesowear as a means of determining diets in African antelopes. Journal of Archaeological Science 38: 1485-1495
- Louys, J., Meijaard, E., 2010. Palaeoecology of Southeast Asian megafauna-bearing sites from the Pleistocene and a review of environmental changes in the region. Journal of Biogeography 37: 1432-1449
- Louys, J, Bishop, L & Wilkinson, D 2009, 'Opening dialogue between the recent and the long ago', Nature, vol. 462, no. 7275, p. 847.
- Louys, J., Aplin, K., Beck, R.M.D., Archer, M., 2009. Cranial anatomy of Oligo-Miocene koalas (Diprotodontia: Phascolarctidae): stages in the evolution of an extreme leaf-eating specialization. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29: 981-992
- Louys, J., Travouillon, K. J., Bassarova, M., Tong, H., 2009. The use of natural protected areas in palaeoecological analyses: assumptions, limitations and application. Journal of Archaeological Science 36: 2274-2288
- Louys, J., 2008. Quaternary extinctions in Southeast Asia. In Elewa AMT (ed) Mass Extinction. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, Germany, pp. 159-189
- Louys, J., 2007. Limited effect of the Quaternary’s largest super-eruption (Toba) on land mammals from Southeast Asia. Quaternary Science Reviews 26: 3108-3117
- Louys, J., Black, K., Archer, M., Hand, S. & Godthelp, H., 2007. Descriptions of koala material from the Miocene of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland and its implications for Litokoala (Marsupialia, Phascolarctidae). Alcheringa 31: 99-110
- Louys, J., Curnoe, D., Tong, H., 2007. Characteristics of Pleistocene megafauna extinctions in Southeast Asia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 243: 152-173
- West, J.A. & Louys, J., 2007. Differentiating bamboo from stone tool cut marks in the zooarchaeological record, with a discussion on the use of bamboo knives. Journal of Archaeological Science 34: 512-518
- Archer, M., Arena, D. A., Bassarova, M., Beck, R., Black, K., Boles, W.E., Brewer, P., Cooke, B.N., Crosby, K., Gillespie, A., Godthelp, H., Hand, S.J., Kear, B., Louys, J, Morrell, A., Muirhead, J., Roberts, K.K., Scanlon, J.D., Travouillon, K.T, and Wroe, S., 2006. Current status of species-level representation in faunas from selected fossil localities in the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, northwestern Queensland. Alcheringa Special Issue 1: 1-17