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Jens Zinke

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Professor of Palaeobiology, University of Leicester

I received my undergraduate degree (BSc) in Geology (1994) as well as his Master degree in Geology and Paleontology (1996) from Freie Universität Berlin (Germany). In 2000 I obtained my PhD degree (Magna Cum Laude) from Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel (Germany). I have worked in four countries as postdoc and Assistant Professor before joining Leicester as Professor in 2018. I have been awarded over five million Euro in funding for research projects in the UK Germany Australia and the Netherlands committed to carrying out cutting-edge research using quantitative field and laboratory methods for sedimentological paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatological reconstructions of coral reef and island systems as well as land-ocean coupling mechanisms in the Indian Ocean region the tropical Atlantic and Southeast Asia.

My research involves the geochemical study of marine biological (massive corals) and sedimentary archives from the tropical oceans as recorders of environmental and climate change over the past 300 years and during the Holocene. For most of my career I have worked on Indian Ocean coral and sediment records. This work is motivated by the need to produce reliable long-term baseline data of sea surface temperature ocean currents and the hydrological cycle over the tropical/subtropical oceans and how they shape patterns of biodiversity in our oceans and adjacent coasts. My current aspiration is to establish an international research group focussed on tropical paleoclimate research around flagship research areas where climate variability and change is of global and regional significance with the impetus on gaining more robust research output for the benefit of society. A Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship, a NERC Discovery Grant and a German DFG research grant awarded between 2018 and 2021 support my current Professorship at the University of Leicester.

Experience

  • –present
    Research Assistant Professor, UWA Oceans Institute

Education

  • 2000 
    Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, PhD

Publications

  • 2013
    Confounding effects of coral growth and high SST variability on skeletal Sr/Ca: Implications for coral paleothermometry, Geochem., Geophys. Geosyst.
  • 2013
    Human deforestation outweighs future climate change impacts of sedimentation on coral reefs, Nature Communications
  • 2013
    Madagascar corals reveal multidecadal modulation of rainfall since 1708., Climate of the Past
  • 2012
    Linking coral river runoff proxies with climate variability, hudrology and land-use in Madagascar catchments, Marine Pollution Bulletin
  • 2012
    Spectral luminescence and geochemistry of coral aragonite: effects of whole-core chemical treatments, Chemical Geology
  • 2012
    Social-ecological problems forcing unprecedented change on the latitudinal margins of coral reefs: the case of southwest Madagascar. , Ecology and Society
  • 2012
    Spatial linkages between coral proxies of terrestrial runoff across a large embayment in Madagascar, Biogeosciences
  • 2011
    On the role of the Agulhas system in ocean circulation and climate, Nature
  • 2011
    Dodo mass-mortality during megadrought ca. 4200 years ago: will insular vertebrates cope with future climatic extremes? , The Holocene
  • 2011
    Comment on ’A snapshot of climate variability at Tahiti at 9.5 ka using a fossil coral from IODP Expedition 310, Geochem., Geophys. Geosyst.
  • 2010
    Contrasting seasonal fluxes ofplanktonic foraminifera and impacts on paleothermometry in the Mozambique Channel upstream of the Agulhas Current, Paleoceanography
  • 2010
    River runoff reconstructions from novel spectral luminescence scanning of massive coral skeletons, Coral Reefs
  • 2009
    Western Indian Ocean marine and terrestrial records of climate variability: a review and new concepts on land-ocean interaction since A.D. 1660, International Journal of Earth Sciences
  • 2009
    Dominant Pacific SLP and SST variability recorded in Indian Ocean corals., International Journal of Earth Sciences
  • 2009
    Three monthly coral Sr/Ca records from the Chagos Archipelago covering the period of 1950 to 1995.: Reproducibility and implications for quantitative reconstructions of sea surface temperature variations, International Journal of Earth Sciences
  • 2008
    Mayotte coral reveales hydrological changes in the western Indian between 1865 to 1994, Geophysical Research Letters
  • 2008
    Caribbean Brain coral tracks the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation and Past Hurricane Intensity, Geology
  • 2005
    Atmosphere-Ocean dynamics in the western Indian Ocean recorded in corals, Philosophical Transactions Royal Society A
  • 2004
    ENSO and subtropical dipole variability is recorded in a coral record off southwest Madagascar for the period 1659 to 1995, Earth and Planetary Science Letters

Grants and Contracts

  • 2011
    WIOMSA-MASMA Integrative climate change project
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association
  • 2011
    NWO ALW CLIMATCH
    Role:
    Partner Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Netherlands Science Foundation NWO
  • 2011
    UWA/AIMS/CSIRO Fellowship program
    Role:
    Chief investigator
    Funding Source:
    UWA/AIMS/CSIRO Collaborative Agreement
  • 2010
    WIOMSA-MASMA Coral Reefs and Global Change
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association
  • 2007
    KNAW Seribu
    Role:
    Partner Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Royal Dutch Academy
  • 2006
    NWO ALW SINDOCOM
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Netherlands Science Foundation NWO