Associate Professor Janelle Stevenson
BSc (UNSW), PhD (UNSW)
Research Fellow, School of Culture, History & Language
College of Asia & the Pacific
T:
+61 2 61253153
Areas of expertise
- Palaeoecology 060206
- Palaeontology (Incl. Palynology) 040308
- Quaternary Environments 040606
- Archaeological Science 210102
Biography
Janelle is a palaeoecologist with experience working in Southeast Asia, the Pacific and Australia. Her particular interests are in landscapes of the past, how these have changed under different climatic scenarios, and how we can disentangle climate change from human impact in the palaeoenvironmental record.
Janelle is leading or involved in several multi-disciplinary collaborative projects. Two of her current highlight projects is an ARC Discovery project based in Sulawesi and ANU Teaching and Education Grant funded project for education and outreach.
The pace and rythm of climate: 600,000 years in biological hotspot - ARC Discovery: led by Janelle along with Dr Marco Coolen from Curtin University and Professor James Russell from Brown University.
This project aims to generate knowledge of long-term changes in vegetation and rainfall for the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool (IPWP). The IPWP exerts enormous influence on the Earth’s climate through its interactions with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, the Austral–Asian monsoons and the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone. Yet despite its importance, the response of the IPWP to global climate change remains uncertain. Through palynology, ancient sedimentary DNA and compound specific stable isotope analyses, this project aims to produce a terrestrial vegetation, fire and biodiversity record for the last 600 000 years in Sulawesi. The unrivalled length and resolution of this record for the region would make it a benchmark reconstruction of palaeoclimate that may transform our understanding of the IPWP.
The Australian 3D Pollen Project. Janelle was delighted to receive an ANU Teaching Enhnacement Grant in 2018 that has allowed her to develop this project for education and outreach. The publically shared 3D models are published under a data commons license and can be found through the following DOI: 10.25911/5d0ac8204ae57
Janelle is also an Associate Investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Biodiveristy and Heritage
Publications
- Hamilton, R, Hall, T, Stevenson, J et al 2019, 'Distinguishing the pollen of Dipterocarpaceae from the seasonally dry, and moist tropics of south-east Asia using light microscopy', Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, vol. 263, pp. 117-133.
- Pritchard, J, Stevenson, J & Zawadski, A 2019, 'Increasingly allergenic airborne pollen revealed in sediment of Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra', Journal of Urban Ecology, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 1-14.
- Hope, G, Mooney, S, Allen, K et al 2019, 'Science Through Time: Understanding the Archive at Rennix Gap Bog, a Sub-alpine Peatland in Kosciuszko National Park, New South Wales, Australia', Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, vol. 141, pp. 25-47.
- Nolan, C, Overpeck, J, Allen, J et al 2018, 'Past and future global transformation of terrestrial ecosystems under climate change', Science, vol. 361, no. 6405, pp. 920-923pp.
- Proske, U, Stevenson, J, Seddon, A et al 2017, 'Holocene diatom records of wetland development near Weipa, Cape York, Australia', Quaternary International, vol. 440, pp. 42-54pp.
- Stevenson, J, Benson, A, Athens, J et al 2017, 'Polynesian colonization and landscape changes on Mo’orea, French Polynesia: The Lake Temae pollen record', Holocene, vol. Online, pp. 1-13pp..
- Brockwell, S, Stevenson, J & Clarke, A 2016, 'Plants and archaeology in Australia', in Karen Hardy and Lucy Kubiak-Martens (ed.), Wild harvest: Plants in the hominin and pre-agrarian human worlds, Oxbow Books, Oxford and Philadelphia, pp. 273-299.
- Russell, J, Bijaksana, S, Vogel, H et al 2016, 'The Towuti Drilling Project: paleoenvironments, biological evolution, and geomicrobiology of a tropical Pacific lake', Scientific Drilling, vol. 21, pp. 29-40.
- Brockwell, S, O Foghlu, B, Fenner, J et al 2016, 'New dates for earth mounds at Weipa, North Queensland, Australia', Archaeology in Oceania, vol. online, pp. 1-8.
- Hoogakker, B, Smith, R, Singarayer, J et al 2016, 'Terrestrial biosphere changes over the last 120 kyr', Climate of the Past Discussions, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 51-73.
- Stevenson, J, Brockwell, S, Rowe, C et al 2015, 'The palaeo-environmental history of Big Willum Swamp, Weipa: An environmental context for the archaeological record', Australian Archaeology, vol. 80, no. 80, pp. 17-31.
- Proske, U, Wood, R, Fallon, S et al 2015, 'Use of heavy liquid density separation to remove pyrite from sediment samples for radiocarbon dating', Quaternary Geochronology, vol. 25, pp. 66-71.
- Kahn, J, Nickelsen, C, Stevenson, J et al 2014, 'Mid- to late Holocene landscape change and anthropogenic transformations on Mo'orea, Society Islands: A multi-proxy approach', Holocene, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 333-347.
- Stevenson, J & Bellwood, P 2013, 'Appendix: Archaeobotanical and Palaeoenvironmental Observations', in Peter Bellwood and Eusebio Dizon (ed.), 4000 Years of Migration and Cultural Exchange: The Archaeology of the Batanes Islands, Northern Philippines (Terra Australis 40), ANU ePress, Canberra, pp. 241-242.
- Daniau, A, Bartlein, P, Harrison, S et al 2012, 'Predictability of biomass burning in response to climate changes', Global Biogeochemical Cycles, vol. 26, no. 4.
- Mooney, S, Harrison, S, Bartlein, P et al 2012, 'The Prehistory of Fire in Australasia', in Ross A Bradstock, A Malcolm Gill and Richard J Williams (ed.), Flammable Australia: Fire Regimes, Biodiversity and Ecosystems in a Changing World, CSIRO Publishing, Australia, pp. 3-25.
- Athens, J & Stevenson, J 2012, 'Pohnpei Coring Records: The Natural Distribution of Cyrtosperma chamissonis and Neolithic Charcoal Particles', Journal of Pacific Archaeology, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 35-48.
- Ledru, M & Stevenson, J 2012, 'The rise and fall of the genus Araucaria: A southern hemisphere climatic connection', in Simon G Haberle & Bruno David (ed.), Peopled landscapes: (terra australis 34)archaeological and biogeographic approaches to landscapes, ANU ePress, Canberra, pp. 241-253.
- Haberle, S & Stevenson, J 2012, Cape York Peninsula Fire History and Palaeoecology Report.
- Mooney, S.D., Harrison, S.P., Bartlein, P.J., Daniau, A.-L., Stevenson, J., Brownlie, K.C., Buckman, S., Cupper, M., Luly, J., Black, M., Colhoun, E., D'Costa, D., Dodson, J., Haberle, S.G., Hope, G.S., Kershaw, P. Kenyon, C., McKenzie, M., Williams, N. (2011) Late Quaternary fire regimes of Australasia. Quaternary Science Reviews 30, 28-46.
- Prebble, M, Stevenson, J & Haberle, S 2010, 'A D-section and a tin whistle: A tribute to Prof. Geoff Hope', in Haberle, S.G., Stevenson, J. and Prebble, M. (ed.), Altered Ecologies: Fire, climate and human influence on terrestrial landscapes (Terra Australis 32), ANU ePress, Canberra Australia, pp. 1-14.
- Haberle, S, Stevenson, J & Prebble, M, eds, 2010, Altered Ecologies: Fire, Climate and Human Influence on Terrestrial Landscapes, ANU ePress, Canberra Australia.
- Stevenson, J, Gillespie, R, Hope, G et al 2010, 'The archaic and puzzling record of Lake Xere Wapo, New Caledonia', in Haberle, S.G., Stevenson, J. and Prebble, M. (ed.), Altered Ecologies: Fire, climate and human influence on terrestrial landscapes (Terra Australis 32), ANU ePress, Canberra Australia, pp. 381-393.
- Stevenson, J, Siringan, F, Finn, J et al 2010, 'Paoay Lake, northern Luzon, the Philippines: a record of Holocene environmental change', Global Change Biology, vol. 16, no. 6, pp. 1672-1688.
- Hope, G, Stevenson, J & Southern, W 2009, 'Vegetation histories from the Fijian Islands: Alternative records of human impact', in Geoffrey Clark and Atholl Anderson (ed.), The Early Prehistory of Fiji (Terra Australis 31), ANU ePress, Canberra, Australia, pp. 63-86.
- Lewis, H, Paz, V, Lara, M et al 2008, 'Terminal Pleistocene to mid-Holocene occupation and an early cremation burial at Ille Cave, Palawan, Philippines', Antiquity, vol. 82, no. 316, pp. 318-335.
- Bellwood, P, Stevenson, J, Dizon, E et al 2008, 'Where are the Neolithic landscapes of Ilocos Norte?', Hukay, vol. 13, pp. 25-38.
- Stevenson, J, Haberle, S, Johnston, F et al 2007, 'Seasonal distribution of pollen in the atmosphere of Darwin, tropical Australia: Preliminary results', Grana, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 34-42.
- Stevenson, J 2007, 'Mid-Holocene environmental change in the Northern Philippines', XVII INQUA Congress the Tropics: Heat Engine of the Quaternary, ed. Norm R. Catto, Elsevier, Oxford, p. 397.
- Stevenson, J & Hope, G 2005, 'A comparison of late Quaternary forest changes in New Caledonia and northeastern Australia', Quaternary Research, vol. 64, pp. 372-383.
- Pickett, E, Harrison, S, Hope, G et al 2004, 'Pollen-based reconstructions of biome distributions for Australia, southeast Asia and the Pacific', Journal of Biogeography, vol. 31, pp. 1381-1444.
- Stevenson, J 2004, 'A late-Holocene record of human impact from the southwest coast of New Caledonia', Holocene, vol. 14, no. 6, pp. 888-898.
- Lu, H, Prosser, I, Moran, C et al 2003, 'Predicting sheetwash and rill erosion over the Australian continent', Australian Journal of Soil Research, vol. 41, pp. 1037-1062.
- Bellwood, P, Stevenson, J, Anderson, A et al 2003, 'Archaeological and palaeoenvironmental research in the Batanes and Ilocos Norte Provinces, Northern Philippines', Congress of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 2002, ed. Peter Bellwood, Doreen Bowdery, Richard Pearson & Judy Voelker, Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association, Canberra, pp. 141-162.
- Stevenson, J, Dodson, J & Prosser, I 2001, 'A late Quaternary record of environmental change and human impact from New Caledonia', Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, vol. 168, no. 1-2, pp. 97-123.
Projects and Grants
Grants information is drawn from ARIES. To add or update Projects or Grants information please contact your College Research Office.
- The pace and rhythm of climate: 600,000 years in a biological hotspot (Primary Investigator)
- CNH: Socio-Ecosystem Dynamics of Human-Natural Networks on Model Islands (Primary Investigator)
- Palaeontological and archaeological investigations of Pleistocene cave deposits from Sumatra (Secondary Investigator)
- Services Agreement for Cape York Peninsula Fire History and Palaeocology Report (Secondary Investigator)
- From Prehistory to History: Landscape and Cultural Change on the South Alligator River, Kakadu National Park (Secondary Investigator)
- Palynological Analysis of Subfossil Pollen from Lake Temae, Mo'orea Island (Primary Investigator)
- Enhancing cultural heritage management for mining operations: a multi-disciplinary approach (Secondary Investigator)
- The Archaeology of Sulawesi: A Strategic Island for Understanding Modern Human Colonization and Interactions Across our Region (Secondary Investigator)
- Sedentism in a cross-border region: identities, techniques, territories and environments (Primary Investigator)
- The Creation of Southeast Asian Peoples and Cultures, 3500 BC to AD 500 (Secondary Investigator)
