I trained as a geologist at the University of Sydney and the Australian National University, obtaining a PhD in isotope geochemistry in 1988. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, I returned to Australia as research Fellow, ARC Queen Elizabeth II Fellow and Fellow at the Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University.

In 2000 I took up an Associate Professorship in Singapore and in 2004 moved to the Chair in Environmental Change at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. I returned  to Australia to take up an ARC Federation Fellowship in the School of Earth and Environmental Science at James Cook University (Cairns campus) in February 2009. I was awarded an ARC Laureate Fellowship form 2014-2019 and am now Distinguished Professor in the College of Science and Engineering.

My research interests include the terrestrial carbon cycle, biochar, geoarchaeology and understanding the trajectory of past and future environmental change in the tropics.

Teaching

• EA1110: Evolution of the Earth (Level 1; CNS)
• EA2220: Minerals and Magmas (Level 2; CNS)
• EA2404: From Icehouse to Greenhouse (Level 2; CNS)
• EA3210: Structural Geology and Tectonics (Level 3; CNS & TSV)
• EA3800: Earth and Environmental Geochemistry (Level 3; CNS & TSV)
• EA5330: Field Techniques (Level 5; TSV)
• EA5404: From Icehouse to Greenhouse (Level 5; CNS)

Interests

Research

• isotope geochemistry
• quaternary science
• carbon cycle science
• biochar
• geoarchaeology

Experience

• 2019 to present - JCU Distinguished Professor, James Cook University (Cairns, Australia)
• 2014 to 2019 - JCU Distinguished Professor and ARC Laureate Fellow, James Cook University (Cairns, Australia)
• 2009 to 2014 - JCU Distinguished Professor and ARC Federation Fellow, James Cook University (Cairns, Australia)
• 2004 to 2008 - Professor and Chair In Environmental Change, University of St Andrews (St. Andrews, Scotland)
• 2000 to 2003 - Associate Professor, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)
• 1990 to 2000 - Fellow and QEII Fellow, Australian National University (Canberra, Australia)
• 1989 to 1990 - Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario, Canada)

Fellowships

• 2014 - ARC Laureate Fellow
• 2007 - Royal Society of Edinburgh
• 2009 to 2014 - ARC Federation Fellow
• 1995 to 2000 - ARC Queen Elizabeth II Fellow

Other

• 2010 - JCU Distinguished Professor

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Rehn E, Rowe C, Ulm S, Woodward C and Bird M (in press) A late-Holocene multiproxy fire record from a tropical savanna, eastern Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. The Holocene, , DOI:10.1177/0959683620988030.
• Duvert C, Hutley L, Beringer J, Bird M, Birkel C, Maher D, Northwood M, Rudge M, Setterfield S and Wynn J (in press) Net landscape carbon balance of a tropical savanna: relative importance of fire and aquatic export in offsetting terrestrial production. Global Change Biology, , DOI:10.1111/gcb.15287.
• Duvert C, Hutley L, Birkel C, Rudge M, Munksgaard N, Wynn J, Setterfield S, Cendon D and Bird M (2020) Seasonal shift from biogenic to geogenic fluvial carbon caused by changing water sources in the wet-dry tropics. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 125 (2), Article: e2019JG005384, DOI:10.1029/2019JG005384.
• Fogwill C, Turney C, Menviel L, Baker A, Weber M, Ellis B, Thomas Z, Golledge N, Etheridge D, Rubino M, Thornton D, van Ommen T, Moy A, Curran M, Davies S, Bird M, Munksgaard N, Rootes C, Millman H, Vohra J, Rivera A, Mackintosh A, Pike J, Hall I, Bagshaw E, Rainsley E, Bronk-Ramsey C, Montenari M, Cage A, Harris M, Jones R, Power A, Love J, Young J, Weyrich L and Cooper A (2020) Southern Ocean carbon sink enhanced by sea-ice feedbacks at the Antarctic Cold Reversal. Nature Geoscience, 13, pp. 489-497, DOI:10.1038/s41561-020-0587-0.
• Forbes M, Jankowski N, Cohen T, Hopf F, Mueller D, Bird M, Haberle S and Jacobs Z (2020) Palaeochannels of Australia's Riverine Plain - reconstructing past vegetation environments across the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 545, Article: 109533, DOI:10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.109533.
• Munksgaard N, Zwart C, Haig J, Cernusak L and Bird M (2020) Coupled rainfall and water vapour stable isotope time series reveal tropical atmospheric processes on multiple timescales. Hydrological Processes, 34 (1), pp. 111-124, DOI:10.1002/hyp.13576.
• Rowe C, Wurster C, Zwart C, Brand M, Hutley L, Levchenko V and Bird M (in press) Vegetation over the last glacial maximum at Girraween Lagoon, monsoonal northern Australia. Quaternary Research, .
• Sun W, Zhang E, Chang J, Shulmeister J, Bird M, Zhao C, Jiang Q and Shen J (2020) Archaeal lipid-inferred paleohydrology and paleotemperature of Lake Chenghai during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. Climate of the Past, 16 (3), pp. 833-845, DOI:10.5194/cp-16-833-2020.
• Thomas Z, Jones R, Turney C, Golledge N, Fogwill C, Bradshaw C, Menviel L, McKay N, Bird M, Palmer J, Kershaw P, Wilmshurst J and Muscheler R (2020) Tipping elements and amplified polar warming during the Last Interglacial. Quaternary Science Reviews, 233, Article: 106222, DOI:10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106222.
• Turney C, Fogwill C, Golledge N, McKay N, van Sebille E, Jones R, Etheridge D, Rubino M, Thornton D, Davies S, Ramsey C, Thomas Z, Bird M, Munksgaard N, Kohno M, Woodward J, Winter K, Weyrich L, Rootes C, Millman H, Albert P, Rivera A, van Ommen T, Curran M, Moy A, Rahmstorf S, Kawamura K, Hillenbrand C, Weber M, Manning C, Young J and Cooper A (2020) Early Last Interglacial ocean warming drove substantial ice mass loss from Antarctica. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117 (8), pp. 3996-4006, DOI:10.1073/pnas.1902469117.
• Wynn J, Duvert C, Bird M, Munksgaard N, Setterfield S and Hutley L (in press) Land transformation in tropical savannas preferentially decomposes newly added biomass, whether C(3)or C(4)derived. Ecological Applications, , Article: e02192, DOI:10.1002/eap.2192.
• Bird M, Condie S, O'Connor S, O'Grady D, Reepmeyer C, Ulm S, Zega M, Saltré F and Bradshaw C (2019) Early human settlement of Sahul was not an accident. Scientific Reports, 9, Article: 8220, DOI:10.1038/s41598-019-42946-9.

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 188+ research outputs authored by Prof Michael Bird from 2002 onwards.

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current

• Paleoenvironmental and Paleoclimatic Analysis of Selected Cretaceous, Oligocene and Miocene Palesols from the Rukwa Rift Basin, Tanzania (PhD , Secondary Advisor/AM)
• Climate Change Effects on Tropical Trees: Phenology, Eco-Physiology and Stable Isotopes of Amazon Forest Species under Increasing CO2 (PhD , Secondary Advisor/AM)
• A reconstruction of the Holocene fire and environmental history from Kinrara Swamp North Queensland (Masters , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• A Deeper Understanding of Isoscapes in the Tropics (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Neotectonics and the Demise of Pleistocene Mega-Lake Eyre (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Multi-proxy evidence of long-term environmental change in Northern Australia’s tropical savannas.;; (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Quaternary Environmental Change in Wet-dry Tropics of Northern Australia (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Paleoclimate Reconstruction of Northern Australia: What is Natural? Interactions between Humans, Maga Fauna and Climate (PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Understanding Kwokkunum Shell Mounds as Landscape Engineering: A Spatial and Temporal Archaeological approach (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Applying Chronometric Quality Standards to Evaluate the Precision and Accuracy of Data from Archaeological Sites in Torres Strait (PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Late Quaternary Environmental Change in Northern Australia (PhD , Secondary Advisor/AM)
• Deep sand time capsules: past environmental records from sediments surrounding Gledswood Shelter 1, Northwest Queensland, Australia (PhD , Secondary Advisor/AM)

Completed

• A novel application of sclerochronology: forging new understandings of Aboriginal occupation in the South Wellesley Archipelago, Gulf of Carpentaria (2016, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Patterns of secondary forest recovery in two soil types (2016, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Managing mangrove dominated muddy coasts through intergration of local and scientific knowledge in Kien Giang, Vietnam and Brebes, Indonesia (2016, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Carbon cycle processes in tropical savannas of far North Queensland, Australia (2017, PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Biochar, compost and biochar-compost: effects on crop performance, soil quality and greenhouse gas emissions in tropical agricultural soils (2017, PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Cloud to coast: assessing, monitoring and managing forest carbon in Papua New Guinea (2016, PhD , Primary Advisor)
• Soil carbon dynamics under oil palm plantations (2018, PhD , Secondary Advisor)
• Nitrous oxide emissions from soil in mango and banana fields: effects of nitrogen rate, fertiliser type, and ground cover practices (2019, Masters , Secondary Advisor)
• Millennial-scale rates of erosion and change in relief in north Queensland using cosmogenic nuclide ¹⁰Be (2019, PhD , Secondary Advisor/AM)
• Fire and environmental change in Northern Australian savannas during the holocene (2020, PhD , Primary Advisor/AM/Adv)
• Modelling of the nitrogen budget of oil palm plantations to help reduce losses to the environment. Case study in Sumatra, Indonesia (2017, PhD , Secondary Advisor)

These are the most recent metadata records associated with this researcher. To see a detailed description of all dataset records, visit Research Data Australia.

• Twaddle, R. (2016) Temperature data from Mirdidingki Creek, Bentinck Island, June 2013 - July 2014. James Cook University
• Davies, K. (2015) Soil respiration measurements for savanna and forest vegetation types in the Wet Tropics and Atherton Tablelands region. James Cook University
• Bird, M. (2012) Algal biochar: effects and applications data. James Cook University
• Bird, M. (2012) Maps of the evolution of the Irrawaddy delta region, Myanmar, since 1850. James Cook University
• Bird, M. (2012) Forest contraction in north equatorial Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Sarawak, Palawan, Borneo and the Philippines) during the Last Glacial Period from stable carbon isotope data. James Cook University

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.