Palaeoecology researcher and manager of ancient DNA laboratory 2009-2022

Jamie started as a post-doctoral fellow at Manaaki Whenua in 2009 working with Janet Wilmshurst on a Marsden Funded project reconstructing the diets of the extinct moa. Jamie pioneered the application of ancient DNA analysis of coprolites in New Zealand, and vastly expanded what we now know about the diets and ecology of moa. Following his post-doc he joined the Long Term Ecology Laboratory as a palaeoecologist until 2022. During this time, Jamie helped design a specialised purpose-built ancient DNA laboratory for Manaaki Whenua which he managed, and used to work on a number of different projects extracting ancient DNA from coprolites, sediments from caves, lakes and swamps, and from other ancient faunal and floral remains to help reconstruct various aspects of past ecosystems and ecologies.

You can now find Jamie at the University of Adelaide