From Sep. 12th to 18th, 2025, Prof. John Dodson from University of New South Wales, Australia, was invited to visit College of Earth Sciences, Jilin University (JLU-CES). During his visit, Prof. Dodson delivered a series of academic lectures to the teachers and students of JLU-CES, including Quaternary paleoecology, biodiversity, environmental changes, and Pliocene paleoclimatic researches.
Prof. Dodson covered a wide range of perspectives from various proxies in paleovegetation and paleoclimate research to fire evolution studies, paleoecology, and human-environment interactions, emphasized the importance of Quaternary vegetation and environmental studies for understanding the coupling between humans and nature during the stages of human civilization. In his lecture on forest fire research, he systematically analyzed the natural and human factors in Australia's fire history, including long-term ecological drivers, human impact dimensions, scientific evidence collection, and management insights derived from natural fire cycles. His palynology lecture vividly illustrated pollen morphology, differences in pollen production, case studies in agricultural history, and their application prospects in China. In a report on the formation mechanisms of biodiversity in Central China, he pointed out that plant taxa in different biogeographic regions have followed divergent evolutionary paths. Prof. Dodson systematically reviewed the impact of population dynamics since the Neolithic period on China's ecology, while also highlighting the importance of Pliocene paleoclimate research for future climate studies. Invited to participate in the 19th “Jing Ge” Academic Salon hosted by College of Earth Sciences, he provided detailed comments on the students' phased research outcomes, which broadened their scientific horizons and deepened their reflection on cutting-edge scientific issues.
Prof. Dodson has served as a member of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (Past Global Changes, IGBP-PAGES) Scientific Committee and as Chairman of the Climate Change Group of the UNESCO International Geological Congress. He has worked at Brunel University (UK), University of Canterbury (New Zealand), University of Western Australia, University of Wollongong, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), and University of New South Wales. He is currently a guesting professor at the Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and serves on the editorial boards of Quaternary Research, The Holocene, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, and as an Editorial Advisor for the Springer Climate Change Series. He has published over 180 papers in international journals, several monographs. His interdisciplinary research has made significant contributions to the Global Changes Research.
