Skip navigation to main content

You are here: UNE Home / Staff / John Paterson

Dr John Paterson

John Paterson

Associate Professor & Convener of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, School of Environmental and Rural Sciences

Qualifications

B.Sc. (Hons), Ph.D. (Macquarie)

Contact

Email:
Room: 213 (Level G), Earth Studies building (C02)
Phone: 02 6773 2101 (or +61 2 6773 2101 overseas)
Fax: 02 6773 3300


Other posts

2007-continuing: Honorary Research Associate, Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Macquarie University (Sydney)

2007-2009: Lecturer in Earth Sciences, Division of Earth Sciences, School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, NSW.

2006-2007: Research Fellow, Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Macquarie University (Sydney)

2005: Researcher, Ediacaran & Cambrian fossils, South Australian Museum & Lecturer (affiliate), School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide

2004: Geologist (fixed term), Department of Mineral Resources, New South Wales

2002-2005: Research Officer, Centre for Ecostratigraphy & Palaeobiology, Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Macquarie University

2002-2004: Casual Academic (Tutor), Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Macquarie University


Professional activities

2010-continuing: Member of the International Subcommission on Cambrian Stratigraphy (ISCS) Stage 3 Working Group.

2006-continuing: Corresponding member of the International Subcommission on Cambrian Stratigraphy (ISCS).

2006-2010: Secretary of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists (AAP); a specialist group of the Geological Society of Australia, Inc.

2005-continuing: Member of the editorial board for the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists (AAP) Memoirs series; a publication of the Geological Society of Australia, Inc.

 

Areas of Teaching

Unit coordinator for:

  • GEOL110 – Geology and the Environment I (Semester 1)
  • GEOL202 – Introductory Palaeontology  (Semester 1)
  • GEOL311 – Palaeontology and Stratigraphy (Semester 2)
  • GEOL400 – Honours in Geology

More information on studying Palaeontology at UNE

 

Research interests


General research interests include

  • Systematics (taxonomy & phylogeny), biostratigraphy, palaeobiology and palaeobiogeography of early Palaeozoic (Cambrian and Ordovician) trilobites from Australia
  • Early Cambrian arthropods (and other biota) from South Australia
  • ALL aspects of the Cambrian ‘explosion’ of life!!!


Current research programs

  • Exceptionally preserved fossils from the early Cambrian Emu Bay Shale Lagerstätte, Kangaroo Island, South Australia [in collaboration with Dr. Jim Gehling (South Australian Museum), Dr. Greg Edgecombe (Natural History Museum, London), Dr. Diego García-Bellido (Department of Palaeontology, CSIC-UCM, Spanish National Research Council, Madrid), A/Prof. Jim Jago (University of South Australia), and A/Prof. Mike Lee (University of Adelaide)]
  • Documenting the palaeobiodiversity of early Cambrian shelly faunas from South Australia [in collaboration with Dr. Glenn Brock (Macquarie University, Sydney) and Dr. Christian Skovsted (Swedish Natural History Museum, Stockholm)]
  • The organic geochemical record of metazoans during the Cambrian ‘explosion’ [in collaboration with Macquarie University colleagues: A/Prof. Simon George and Dr. Glenn Brock]


Research facilities

Palaeontological research facilities at the University of New England:

  • Digital macrophotography: Canon EOS 5D (12.8 megapixel SLR with 35 mm CMOS sensor) with Canon EF50mm f/2.5 and MP-E65mm f/2.8 1-5x macro lenses. Camera connected to a dedicated desktop computer (for direct transfer of images). Lighting includes fibre optic and fluorescent (maggy) lamps. (Other camera accessories include: Canon angle finder; Kenko extension tube set; remote switch [Canon RS-80N3]).
  • Macrofossil preparation lab: pneumatic airscribe (vibrotool) for fine-scale preparation; rotary tool kit for coarse removal of matrix; latex casting.
  • Acid lab: acid leaching of carbonate and siliceous rocks using acetic, hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acids.
  • Thin section facility (http://www.une.edu.au/earthsciences/facilities.php)
  • Other palaeo-related facilities within the university include: Dixson Library (with an extensive collection of palaeontological books, journals and monographs), microscope labs and a scanning electron microscope (SEM).


Research grants

2010-2012: Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation grant CGL2009-07073 BTE (to D. García-Bellido, E. Moreno, A. Perejón, A. Pieren, J. Paterson, P. Kruse, S. Menéndez, M. Rodríguez, T. Sánchez); PROJECT: Palaeobiogeographical study of the Perigondwanan Margin during the Ediacaran and Cambrian: sedimentological, biostratigraphical, biogeographical and geochemical analyses in areas of the Iberian Peninsula and SE Australia

2007-2009: Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project LP0774959 (to M.S.Y. Lee, J.R. Paterson, J.G. Gehling, G.D. Edgecombe & J.B. Jago); PROJECT: The Cambrian Explosion of arthropods in Australia: Ediacaran origins, evolution and biodiversity

2006-2009: (non-continuing as of 2007): Macquarie University Research Fellowship; ‘Australia’s oldest fossil trilobites: documenting their biodiversity and evolution during the Cambrian radiation of animal life’

2005-2006: National Geographic Society Research & Exploration Grant (to G.A. Brock, J.B. Jago, J.R. Paterson & C.B. Skovsted); PROJECT: The Cambrian Explosion Down Under: documenting the oldest shelly fossils from Australia


Media coverage

  • 2010: The Science Show (presented by Robyn Williams) on ABC Radio National – Interviewed about the exceptionally preserved fossils of the early Cambrian (515 million-year-old) Emu Bay Shale biota, Kangaroo Island, South Australia
  • 2008: Catalyst on ABC TV – Story on our discoveries from the early Cambrian Emu Bay Shale biota, Kangaroo Island, South Australia

 

Select Publications

[* PDF available on request]

In press

Gehling, J.G., Jago, J.B., Paterson, J.R., García-Bellido, D.C. & Edgecombe, G.D., in press. The geological context of the lower Cambrian (Series 2) Emu Bay Shale Lagerstätte and adjacent stratigraphic units, Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences.

Wilson, G.D.F., Paterson, J.R. & Kear, B.P., in press. Fossil isopods associated with a fish skeleton from the Lower Cretaceous of Queensland, Australia – direct evidence of a scavenging lifestyle in Mesozoic Cymothoida. Palaeontology.

Álvaro, J.J., Ahlberg, P., Babcock, L.E., Bordonaro, O.L., Choi, D.K., Cooper, R.A., Ergaliev, G.Kh., Gapp, I.W., Ghobadi Pour, M., Hughes, N.C., Jago, J.B., Korovnikov, I., Laurie, J.R., Lieberman, B.S., Paterson, J.R., Pegel, T.V., Popov, L.E., Rushton, A.W.A., Sukhov, S.S., Tortello, M.F., Zhou, Z. & Żylińska, A., in press. Global Cambrian trilobite palaeobiogeography assessed using parsimony analysis of endemicity. Geological Society of America, Special Paper.

Topper, T.P., Brock, G.A., Skovsted, C.B. & Paterson, J.R., in press. Microdictyon plates from the lower Cambrian Ajax Limestone of South Australia: Implications for species taxonomy and diversity. Alcheringa.

Skovsted, C.B., Brock, G.A., Topper, T.P., Paterson, J.R. & Holmer, L.E., in press. Scleritome construction, biofacies, biostratigraphy and systematics of the tommotiid Eccentrotheca helenia sp. nov. from the early Cambrian of South Australia. Palaeontology.

*Topper, T.P., Skovsted, C.B., Brock, G.A. & Paterson, J.R., in press. The oldest bivalved arthropods from the early Cambrian of East Gondwana: systematics, biostratigraphy and biogeography. Gondwana Research.

 

2010

*Paterson, J.R., Edgecombe, G.D., García-Bellido, D.C., Jago, J.B. & Gehling, J.G., 2010. Nektaspid arthropods from the lower Cambrian Emu Bay Shale Lagerstätte, South Australia, with a reassessment of lamellipedian relationships. Palaeontology, 53(2): 377-402.

*Topper, T.P., Brock, G.A., Skovsted, C.B. & Paterson, J.R., 2010. Palaeoscolecid scleritome fragments with Hadimopanella plates from the early Cambrian of South Australia. Geological Magazine, 147(1): 86-97.

 

2009

*Topper, T.P., Brock, G.A., Skovsted, C.B. & Paterson, J.R., 2009. Shelly fossils from the lower Cambrian Pararaia bunyerooensis Zone, Flinders Ranges, South Australia. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, 37: 199-246.

Laurie, J.R., Brock, G.A. & Paterson, J.R. (eds) 2009. Cambro-Ordovician Studies III. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, 37: 1-716.

*Paterson, J.R. & Jago, J.B., 2009. The Emu Bay Shale biota, Kangaroo Island: Australia’s unique window into the Cambrian world. The Australian Geologist, 153: 24-26.

*García-Bellido, D.C., Paterson, J.R., Edgecombe, G.D., Jago, J.B., Gehling, J.G. & Lee, M.S.Y., 2009. The bivalved arthropods Isoxys and Tuzoia with soft-part preservation from the lower Cambrian Emu Bay Shale Lagerstätte (Kangaroo Island, Australia). Palaeontology, 52(6): 1221-1241.

*Skovsted, C.B., Balthasar, U., Brock, G.A. & Paterson, J.R., 2009. The tommotiid Camenella reticulosa from the early Cambrian of South Australia: morphology, scleritome reconstruction and phylogeny. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 54(3): 525-540.

*Skovsted, C.B., Brock, G.A., Holmer, L.E. & Paterson, J.R., 2009. First report of the early Cambrian stem group brachiopod Mickwitzia from East Gondwana. Gondwana Research, 16(1): 145-150.

*Paterson, J.R., Brock, G.A. & Skovsted, C.B., 2009. Oikozetetes from the early Cambrian of South Australia: implications for halkieriid affinities and functional morphology. Lethaia, 42(2): 199-203.

*Skovsted, C.B., Holmer, L.E., Larsson, C.M., Högström, A.E.S., Brock, G.A., Topper, T.P., Balthasar, U., Pettersson Stolk, S., & Paterson, J.R., 2009. The scleritome of Paterimitra: an early Cambrian stem group brachiopod from South Australia. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 276(1662): 1651-1656.

 

2008

*Paterson, J.R., Jago, J.B., Gehling, J.G., García-Bellido, D.C., Edgecombe, G.D. & Lee, M.S.Y., 2008. Early Cambrian arthropods from the Emu Bay Shale Lagerstätte, South Australia. In: Rábano, I., Gozalo, R. & García-Bellido, D. (eds), Advances in Trilobite Research, Cuadernos del Museo Geominero 9, Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Madrid, 319-325.

*Paterson, J.R., Hughes, N.C. & Chatterton, B.D.E., 2008. Trilobite clusters: what do they tell us? A preliminary investigation. In: Rábano, I., Gozalo, R. & García-Bellido, D. (eds), Advances in Trilobite Research, Cuadernos del Museo Geominero 9, Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Madrid, 313-318.

*Holmer, L.E., Skovsted, C.B., Brock, G.A., Valentine, J.L. & Paterson, J.R., 2008. The Early Cambrian tommotiid Micrina, a sessile bivalved stem group brachiopod. Biology Letters, 4(6): 724-728.

*Skovsted, C.B., Brock, G.A., Paterson, J.R., Holmer, L.E. & Budd, G., 2008. The scleritome of Eccentrotheca from the Lower Cambrian of South Australia: Lophophorate affinities and implications for tommotiid phylogeny. Geology, 36(2): 171-174.

 

2007

*Paterson, J.R., Skovsted, C.B., Brock, G.A. & Jago, J.B., 2007. An early Cambrian faunule from the Koolywurtie Limestone Member (Parara Limestone), Yorke Peninsula, South Australia, and its biostratigraphic significance. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, 34: 131-146.

Laurie, J.R. & Paterson, J.R. (eds) 2007. Papers in honour of John H. Shergold 1938-2006. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, 34: 1-562.

*Topper, T.P., Skovsted, C.B., Brock, G.A. & Paterson, J.R., 2007. New bradoriids from the lower Cambrian Mernmerna Formation, South Australia: systematics, biostratigraphy and biogeography. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, 33: 67-100.

Laurie, J.R., Paterson, J.R. & Jago, J.B. (eds) 2007. South Australia 2006: Papers from the XI International Conference of the Cambrian Stage Subdivision Working Group. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, 33: 1-189.

*Paterson, J.R., Jago, J.B., Brock, G.A. & Gehling, J.G., 2007. Taphonomy and palaeoecology of the emuellid trilobite Balcoracania dailyi (early Cambrian, South Australia). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 249(3-4): 302-321.

*Skovsted, C.B., Brock, G.A., Lindström, A., Peel, J.S., Paterson, J.R. & Fuller, M., 2007. Early Cambrian record of failed durophagy and shell repair in an epibenthic mollusc. Biology Letters, 3: 314-317.

Paterson, J.R. & Brock, G.A., 2007. Early Cambrian trilobites from Angorichina, Flinders Ranges, South Australia, with a new assemblage from the Pararaia bunyerooensis Zone. Journal of Paleontology, 81(1): 116-142.

 

2006

*Jago, J.B., Zang, W.-L., Sun, X.-W., Brock, G.A., Paterson, J.R. & Skovsted, C.B., 2006. A review of the Cambrian biostratigraphy of South Australia. Palaeoworld, 15(3-4): 406-423.

*Paterson, J.R., 2006. Prosopiscus (Ordovician; Trilobita) from the Rowena Formation, western New South Wales. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, 32: 347-352.

*Paterson, J.R. & Jago, J.B., 2006. New trilobites from the Lower Cambrian Emu Bay Shale Lagerstätte at Big Gully, Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, 32: 43-57.

*Skovsted, C.B., Brock, G.A. & Paterson, J.R., 2006. Bivalved arthropods from the Lower Cambrian Mernmerna Formation of South Australia and their implications for the identification of Cambrian “small shelly fossils”. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, 32: 7-41.

Paterson, J.R. & Laurie, J.R. (eds) 2006. Cambro-Ordovician Studies II. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, 32: 1-422.

*Paterson, J.R. & Edgecombe, G.D., 2006. The Early Cambrian trilobite family Emuellidae Pocock, 1970: systematic position and revision of Australian species. Journal of Paleontology, 80(3): 496-513.

 

2005

*Paterson, J.R., 2005. Systematics of the Cambrian trilobite family Nepeidae, with revision of Australian species. Palaeontology, 48(3): 479-517.

*Paterson, J.R., 2005. Revision of Discomesites and Estaingia (Trilobita) from the Lower Cambrian Cymbric Vale Formation, western New South Wales: taxonomic, biostratigraphic and biogeographic implications. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 126: 81-93.

 

2004 and earlier

*Brock, G.A. & Paterson, J.R., 2004. A new species of Tannuella (Helcionellida, Mollusca) from the Early Cambrian of South Australia. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, 30: 133-143.

*Paterson, J.R. & Laurie, J.R., 2004. Late Cambrian trilobites from the Dolodrook River limestones, eastern Victoria, Australia. Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, 30: 83-111.

*Paterson, J.R., 2004. Palaeobiogeography of the Ordovician trilobite Prosopiscus, with a new species from western New South Wales. Alcheringa, 28: 65-76.

*Paterson, J.R. & Brock, G.A., 2003. Early Ordovician orthide brachiopods from Mount Arrowsmith, northwestern New South Wales, Australia. Records of the Australian Museum, 55: 221-230.

*Paterson, J.R., 2001. First occurrence of Janospira from the Early Ordovician of Australia. Alcheringa, 25: 129-130.