ORCID Profile
0000-0002-0510-5456
Current Organisations
Dortch and Cuthbert Pty Ltd
,
University of Western Australia
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Research Topics
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Archaeology | Palaeoecology | Archaeological Science | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Archaeology | Palaeontology | Archaeological Science | Anthropological Genetics
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity of environments not elsewhere classified | Consumption patterns, population issues and the environment | Understanding Australia's Past | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage | Expanding Knowledge in History and Archaeology |
Related Links
Publications
Seeing and managing rock art at Nganjarli
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-09-2021
The Noongar of south-western Australia
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 08-2021
DOI: 10.1093/BIOLINNEAN/BLAA097
Abstract: Occurring across all southern hemisphere continents except Antarctica, old, climatically buffered, infertile landscapes (OCBILs) are centres of biological richness, often in bio ersity hotspots. Among a matrix of young, often disturbed, fertile landscapes (YODFELs), OCBILs are centres of endemism and ersity in the exceptionally rich flora of the south-west Australian global bio ersity hotspot, home to Noongar peoples for ≥ 48 000 years. We analysed contemporary traditional Noongar knowledge of adjacent OCBILs (e.g. granite outcrops) and YODFELs (e.g. creekline fringes) both at a single site and in two larger areas to test whether patterns of disturbance dictated by Noongar custom align with OCBIL theory. We found that Noongar traditional knowledge reflects a regime of concentrated YODFEL rather than OCBIL disturbance—a pattern which aligns with maximal bio ersity preservation. SIMPER testing found traditional Noongar OCBIL and YODFEL activities are 64–75% dissimilar, whereas Pearson’s chi-square tests revealed c ing, burning, travelling through country and hunting as primarily YODFEL rather than OCBIL activities. We found that Noongar activities usually avoid OCBIL disturbance. This combined with high floristic ersity following enduring First Peoples’ presence, suggests that traditional Noongar knowledge is valuable and necessary for south-west Australian bio ersity conservation. Similar cultural investigations in other OCBIL-dominated global bio ersity hotspots may prove profitable.
Murujuga Rockshelter: First evidence for Pleistocene occupation on the Burrup Peninsula
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2018
Mid-Holocene exploitation of marine molluscs: In the lower Mid West, Western Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-2015
The size of the largest marsupial and why it matters
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 07-02-2004
Species identification of Australian marsupials using collagen fingerprinting
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 10-2021
DOI: 10.1098/RSOS.211229
Abstract: The study of faunal remains from archaeological sites is often complicated by the presence of large numbers of highly fragmented, morphologically unidentifiable bones. In Australia, this is the combined result of harsh preservation conditions and frequent scavenging by marsupial carnivores. The collagen fingerprinting method known as zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry (ZooMS) offers a means to address these challenges and improve identification rates of fragmented bones. Here, we present novel ZooMS peptide markers for 24 extant marsupial and monotreme species that allow for genus-level distinctions between these species. We demonstrate the utility of these new peptide markers by using them to taxonomically identify bone fragments from a nineteenth-century colonial-era pearlshell fishery at Bandicoot Bay, Barrow Island. The suite of peptide biomarkers presented in this study, which focus on a range of ecologically and culturally important species, have the potential to significantly lify the zooarchaeological and paleontological record of Australia.
Prolonged coexistence of humans and megafauna in Pleistocene Australia
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 31-05-2005
Abstract: Recent claims for continent wide disappearance of megafauna at 46.5 thousand calendar years ago (ka) in Australia have been used to support a “blitzkrieg” model, which explains extinctions as the result of rapid overkill by human colonizers. A number of key sites with megafauna remains that significantly postdate 46.5 ka have been excluded from consideration because of questions regarding their stratigraphic integrity. Of these sites, Cuddie Springs is the only locality in Australia where megafauna and cultural remains are found together in sequential stratigraphic horizons, dated from 36-30 ka. Verifying the stratigraphic associations found here would effectively refute the rapid-overkill model and necessitate reconsideration of the regional impacts of global climatic change on megafauna and humans in the lead up to the last glacial maximum. Here, we present geochemical evidence that demonstrates the coexistence of humans and now-extinct megafaunal species on the Australian continent for a minimum of 15 ka.
Sandstone quarries and grinding stone manufacture: Survey and excavation at Yambacoona Hill in South-Eastern Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 2003
Nanostructured TiO2 Grown by Low-Temperature Reactive Sputtering for Planar Perovskite Solar Cells
Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
Date: 16-08-2019
Scrapheap Challenge: A novel bulk-bone metabarcoding method to investigate ancient DNA in faunal assemblages
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 28-11-2013
DOI: 10.1038/SREP03371
Somatic Symptom Disorders in Adolescent Inpatients
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2018
DOI: 10.1016/J.JADOHEALTH.2018.06.026
Abstract: There are only a few reports of adolescents with somatic disorders (SDs) whose symptoms are sufficiently severe to require hospital admission. The aim of this study was to describe the symptom profile, health service utilization, and outcome of adolescents with SDs admitted to a tertiary children's hospital. A retrospective cohort study of all adolescents admitted to the Adolescent Medicine Unit of a tertiary children's hospital was undertaken from July 2013 to June 2014. In a two-stage process, medical records were examined to identify patients who met the diagnostic criteria for SD. Evidence of functional recovery was obtained for the period from 18 to 30 months after discharge and rated as completely recovered, partially recovered, or functionally disabled. A total of 60 admissions (53 patients, 79% female) were identified with SD, accounting for 12% of the unit's admissions and 2% of hospital admissions over 12 years old. Nearly half (45%) the presenting symptoms were neurological and 39% involved pain. In total, 20% of admissions were for complex symptoms involving multiple body systems. The majority (81%) of adolescents with follow-up documentation (n = 37) demonstrated complete or partial recovery. Patients whose families fully accepted the diagnosis were more likely to accept counseling following discharge (p < .001) and were almost 20 times more likely to have completely recovered compared to adolescents whose families partially accepted or rejected the diagnosis (odds ratio 17.36, p = .003). Hospitalized adolescents with SD utilize substantial resources due to the requirement for comprehensive assessment, including multidisciplinary communication. Recovery can be anticipated for the majority, especially if supported by parents.
So ends this day:American whalers in Yaburara country, Dampier Archipelago
Publisher: Antiquity Publications
Date: 02-2019
Test Excavation At The Oyster Harbour Stone Fish Traps, King George Sound, Western Australia: An Investigation Aimed at Determining the Construction Method and Maximum Age of the Structures
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-2006
Genetic diversity and drivers of dwarfism in extinct island emu populations
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 04-2018
Abstract: Australia's iconic emu ( Dromaius novaehollandiae novaehollandiae ) is the only living representative of its genus, but fossil evidence and reports from early European explorers suggest that three island forms (at least two of which were dwarfs) became extinct during the nineteenth century. While one of these—the King Island emu—has been found to be conspecific with Australian mainland emus, little is known about how the other two forms—Kangaroo Island and Tasmanian emus—relate to the others, or even the size of Tasmanian emus. We present a comprehensive genetic and morphological analysis of Dromaius ersity, including data from one of the few definitively genuine Tasmanian emu specimens known. Our genetic analyses suggest that all the island populations represent sub-populations of mainland D . novaehollandiae . Further, the size of island emus and those on the mainland appears to scale linearly with island size but not time since isolation, suggesting that island size—and presumably concomitant limitations on resource availability—may be a more important driver of dwarfism in island emus, though its precise contribution to emu dwarfism remains to be confirmed.
Human Niche Construction: Noongar Evidence in Pre-colonial Southwestern Australia
Publisher: Medknow
Date: 2017
DOI: 10.4103/CS.CS_16_75
The contest for the tall forests of South-Western Australia and the discourses of advocates
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2019
DOI: 10.1071/PC18058
Abstract: After over 50000 years of interaction between Aboriginal people and changing climates, south-western Australia’s tall forests were first logged less than 200 years ago, initiating persistent conflict. Recent conservation advocacy has resulted in the protection of 49% of these tall forests in statutory reserves, providing an opportunity to implement and benefit from a growing moral consensus on the valuing of these globally significant, tall forest ecosystems. We analysed a cross-section of literature (63 papers, 118 statements) published on these forests over 187 years to identify values framing advocacy. We differentiated four resource-oriented discourses and three discourses giving primacy to social and environmental values over seven eras. Invasion sparked initial uncontrolled exploitation, with the Forests Act 1918 managing competing agricultural and timber advocacy. Following the Colonial and Country Life eras, industrial-scale exploitation of the karri forest region resulted in reaction by increasingly broad sectors of society. Warming and drying in the 21st Century emphasises the importance of intact tall forest and the Indigenous Renaissance discourse. Vesting for a more comprehensive set of values would acknowledge a new moral consensus.
Intergenerational archaeology
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 12-2014
Stone artifacts in the intertidal zone, Dampier Archipelago
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-12-2021
A comment on Ward et al.’s ‘Insights into the procurement and distribution of fossiliferous chert artefacts across Southern Australia from the archival record’
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-09-2021
Identifying palaeo-environments and changes in Aboriginal subsistence from dual-patterned faunal assemblages, south-western Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2010
Pleistocene occupation of Yellabidde Cave in the northern Swan Coastal Plain, southwestern Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-2016
Risk Factors for Mortality in Cardiac Implantable Electronic Device (CIED) Infections: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 29-05-2022
DOI: 10.3390/JCM11113063
Abstract: Background: Infections following cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) implantation can require surgical device removal and often results in significant cost, morbidity, and potentially mortality. We aimed to systemically review the literature and identify risk factors associated with mortality following CIED infection. Methods: Electronic searches (up to June 2021) were performed on PubMed and Scopus. Twelve studies (10 retrospective, 2 prospective cohort studies) were included for analysis. Meta-analysis was conducted with the restricted maximum likelihood method, with mortality as the outcome. The overall mortality was 13.7% (438/1398) following CIED infection. Results: On meta-analysis, the male sex (OR 0.77, 95%CI 0.57–1.01, I2 = 2.2%) appeared to have lower odds for mortality, while diabetes mellitus appeared to be associated with higher mortality (OR 1.47, 95%CI 0.67–3.26, I2 = 81.4%), although these trends did not reach statistical significance. Staphylococcus aureus as the causative organism (OR 2.71, 95%CI 1.76–4.19, I2 = 0.0%), presence of heart failure (OR 1.92, 95%CI 1.42–4.19, I2 = 0.0%) and embolic phenomena (OR 4.00, 95%CI 1.67–9.56, I2 = 69.8%) were associated with higher mortality. Surgical removal of CIED was associated with lower mortality compared with conservative management with antibiotics alone (OR 0.22, 95%CI 0.09–0.50, I2 = 62.8%). Conclusion: We identified important risk factors associated with mortality in CIED infections, including Staphyloccocus aureus as the causative organism, and the presence of complications, such as heart failure and embolic phenomena. Surgery, where possible, was associated with better outcomes.
Genetic diversity loss in a biodiversity hotspot: ancient
DNA
quantifies genetic decline and former connectivity in a critically endangered marsupial
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 24-11-2015
DOI: 10.1111/MEC.13430
Abstract: The extent of genetic ersity loss and former connectivity between fragmented populations are often unknown factors when studying endangered species. While genetic techniques are commonly applied in extant populations to assess temporal and spatial demographic changes, it is no substitute for directly measuring past ersity using ancient DNA (aDNA). We analysed both mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and nuclear microsatellite loci from 64 historical fossil and skin s les of the critically endangered Western Australian woylie (Bettongia penicillata ogilbyi), and compared them with 231 (n = 152 for mtDNA) modern s les. In modern woylie populations 15 mitochondrial control region (CR) haplotypes were identified. Interestingly, mtDNA CR data from only 29 historical s les demonstrated 15 previously unknown haplotypes and detected an extinct ergent clade. Through modelling, we estimated the loss of CR mtDNA ersity to be between 46% and 91% and estimated this to have occurred in the past 2000-4000 years in association with a dramatic population decline. In addition, we obtained near-complete 11-loci microsatellite profiles from 21 historical s les. In agreement with the mtDNA data, a number of 'new' microsatellite alleles was only detected in the historical populations despite extensive modern s ling, indicating a nuclear genetic ersity loss >20%. Calculations of genetic ersity (heterozygosity and allelic rarefaction) showed that these were significantly higher in the past and that there was a high degree of gene flow across the woylie's historical range. These findings have an immediate impact on how the extant populations are managed and we recommend the implementation of an assisted migration programme to prevent further loss of genetic ersity. Our study demonstrates the value of integrating aDNA data into current-day conservation strategies.
Dingo scat-bone ‘signature patterns’: an actualistic study and comparison of wild and captive scat-bone assemblages and interpretation of bone fragments from Witchcliffe Rock Shelter, south western Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-2016
Large mammal species richness and late Quaternary precipitation change in south-western Australia
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 29-07-2017
DOI: 10.1002/JQS.2888
A genomic history of Aboriginal Australia
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-09-2016
DOI: 10.1038/NATURE18299
Abstract: The population history of Aboriginal Australians remains largely uncharacterized. Here we generate high-coverage genomes for 83 Aboriginal Australians (speakers of Pama-Nyungan languages) and 25 Papuans from the New Guinea Highlands. We find that Papuan and Aboriginal Australian ancestors ersified 25-40 thousand years ago (kya), suggesting pre-Holocene population structure in the ancient continent of Sahul (Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania). However, all of the studied Aboriginal Australians descend from a single founding population that differentiated ~10-32 kya. We infer a population expansion in northeast Australia during the Holocene epoch (past 10,000 years) associated with limited gene flow from this region to the rest of Australia, consistent with the spread of the Pama-Nyungan languages. We estimate that Aboriginal Australians and Papuans erged from Eurasians 51-72 kya, following a single out-of-Africa dispersal, and subsequently admixed with archaic populations. Finally, we report evidence of selection in Aboriginal Australians potentially associated with living in the desert.
Early human occupation of a maritime desert, Barrow Island, North-West Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2017
Traditional owner participation in genetic research
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 06-12-2019
Interactions with Megafauna
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date: 12-05-2021
DOI: 10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780190095611.013.10
Abstract: Megafauna were a prominent feature of the bio ersity of Sahul. They were still erse when people reached Sahul but had largely disappeared by about 40,000 years ago. Several studies provide evidence that, before their extinction, megafaunal animals were exploited by people, but such evidence is rare. This rarity of evidence could indicate that interaction was infrequent or that evidence of significant interaction is missing because of weaknesses and biases in the palaeontological and archaeological records. The timing and pattern of disappearance of megafauna suggest that humans played a role in their extinction, but more research is needed to understand the nature of human impacts on megafauna and the synergistic or independent effects of climate.
The timing and cause of megafauna mass deaths at Lancefield Swamp, south-eastern Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2016
What Happened to Kangaroo Grass? Human Agents and Endemic Grassy Ecosystems in South-Western Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 27-07-2023
Late Quaternary Aboriginal hunter-gatherer occupation of the Greater Swan Region, south-western Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-01-2019
Exploring the evolutionary history of kinetic stability in the alpha-lytic protease family
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 31-08-2020
DOI: 10.1101/2020.08.30.274340
Abstract: In addition to encoding the final tertiary fold and stability, the primary sequence of a protein encodes the folding trajectory and kinetic barriers that determines the speed of folding. How these kinetic barriers are encoded by the sequence is not well understood. Here, we use evolutionary sequence variation in the alpha-lytic protease (αLP) protein family to probe the relationship between sequence and energy landscape. αLP has an unusual energy landscape: the native state of αLP is not the most thermodynamically favored conformation and, instead, it remains folded due to a large kinetic barrier preventing unfolding. In order to fold, αLP utilizes an N-terminal pro region of similar size to the protease itself that functions as a folding catalyst. Once folded, the pro region is removed, and the native state does not unfold on a biologically relevant timescale. Without the pro region, αLP folds on the order of millennia. A phylogenetic search uncovers αLP homologs with a wide range of pro-region sizes, including some with no pro region at all. In the resulting phylogenetic tree, these homologs cluster by pro-region size. Homologs naturally lacking pro regions are thermodynamically stable, fold much faster than αLP, yet retain the same fold as αLP. Key amino acids thought to contribute to αLP’s extreme kinetic stability are lost in these homologs, further supporting their role in kinetic stability. This study highlights how the entire energy landscape plays an important role in determining the evolutionary pressures on and changes to the protein sequence.
Madjedbebe and genomic histories of Aboriginal Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-09-2017
Aboriginal responses to Late Quaternary environmental change in a Mediterranean-type region: Zooarchaeological evidence from south-western Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2012
Fossil avian eggshell preserves ancient DNA
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 10-03-2010
Abstract: Owing to exceptional biomolecule preservation, fossil avian eggshell has been used extensively in geochronology and palaeodietary studies. Here, we show, to our knowledge, for the first time that fossil eggshell is a previously unrecognized source of ancient DNA (aDNA). We describe the successful isolation and lification of DNA from fossil eggshell up to 19 ka old. aDNA was successfully characterized from eggshell obtained from New Zealand (extinct moa and ducks), Madagascar (extinct elephant birds) and Australia (emu and owl). Our data demonstrate excellent preservation of the nucleic acids, evidenced by retrieval of both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA from many of the s les. Using confocal microscopy and quantitative PCR, this study critically evaluates approaches to maximize DNA recovery from powdered eggshell. Our quantitative PCR experiments also demonstrate that moa eggshell has approximately 125 times lower bacterial load than bone, making it a highly suitable substrate for high-throughput sequencing approaches. Importantly, the preservation of DNA in Pleistocene eggshell from Australia and Holocene deposits from Madagascar indicates that eggshell is an excellent substrate for the long-term preservation of DNA in warmer climates. The successful recovery of DNA from this substrate has implications in a number of scientific disciplines most notably archaeology and palaeontology, where genotypes and/or DNA-based species identifications can add significantly to our understanding of diets, environments, past bio ersity and evolutionary processes.
The Mermaid? Re-envisaging the 1818 exploration of Enderby Island, Murujuga, Western Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 13-05-2020
Late Quaternary vegetation change and the extinction of Black-flanked Rock-wallaby (Petrogale lateralis) at Tunnel Cave, southwestern Australia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2004
The Role of Habitus in the Maintenance of Traditional Noongar Plant Knowledge in Southwest Western Australia
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-08-2011
Charlie Dortch: History and archaeology across three continents
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 12-2014
Related Organisations
University Of Southampton
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Related Funding Activities
Ancient DNA From Cave Sediments: A New Horizon In The Archaeology Of Aboriginal Australia
Start Date: 2012
End Date: 2014
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityLate Pleistocene Faunal Change And The Formation Of Fossil Deposits: A Taphonomic Approach
Start Date: 2003
End Date: 2005
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityAboriginal Landscape Transformations In South-west Australia
Start Date: 2006
End Date: 2009
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityDiscovery Projects - Grant ID: DP120103725
Start Date: 2012
End Date: 12-2015
Amount: $152,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityDiscovery Projects - Grant ID: DP0342843
Start Date: 2003
End Date: 12-2005
Amount: $262,400.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity