Palaeoecology of a Pleistocene Land-Bridge 40,000 years of human-landscape interaction in Australia

Join us for a seminar by Professor Simon Haberle, Professor of Paleoecology and Natural History at the Australian National University, who will be visiting the University in May 2026 as a Senior Global Fellow.

Hosted by the St Andrews Centre for Critical Sustainabilities (StACCS), this seminar forms part of activities organised by Dr Katy Roucoux, the new lead of the Chronologically theme. This area of focus brings together researchers examining long‑term environmental and societal change, asking how deep‑time perspectives can inform decisions too often shaped by short‑term political, economic, and cultural pressures.

Abstract:

Land-bridges play a crucial role in the evolution, dispersal and extinction of organisms, and have provided pathways for human dispersal out of Africa to the far reaches of the globe. The crossing of the Bass Strait Landbridge at latitude 40o South, between mainland Australia and the island of Lutruwita/Tasmania more than 40,000 years ago, represents one of the most remarkable chapters in that epic journey of humankind.

New palaeoecological records from the Bass Strait islands spanning more than 60,000 years reveal the interplay between climate, ecosystems and the people who inhabit these environments over thousands of years. Research spanning the last decade in partnership with Palawa custodians, traditional owners of the Bass Strait islands, shows their long connection to, and interaction with, the landscapes of the Bassian Plain. In two island locations, pollen and charcoal records reveal a change in fire regimes occurring in Lutruwita/Tasmania circa 41,600 years ago that is linked to initial human habitation.

This presentation will show how these palaeoecological records were developed in partnership with the Tasmanian Aboriginal community and discuss the implications of palaeoecological data for current land use and management strategies.

Professor Simon Haberle is a palaeoeoclogist and palynologist who works on Quaternary records of vegetation and fire dynamics, with a particular focus on the long-term interaction between people and their environment. His research spans from the Amazon rainforests to the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, and from the grasslands of Madagascar to the cool temperate rainforests of Tasmania. Beyond traditional academic research, he is also known for building a range of e-Research tools such as the Australasian Pollen and Spore Atlas and the Indo-Pacific Pollen Database.