Jonathan Gordon

Postdoctoral Research Associate,
Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity

Palaeoecology

Email: jonny.gordon@york.ac.uk
X:  @jonathan_gdon

Biography

I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at LCAB, where I also did my PhD investigating human - biodiversity relationships over the Anthropocene. Prior to my PhD, I completed a BSc in Geography at the University of Liverpool and an MSc in Environmental Archaeology at University College London. 

Research

I investigate the impacts of human development on biodiversity over the last 130,000 years and think about how these past interactions affect present and future human-biodiversity relationships. I’ve worked primarily on past floristic diversity change until now, but I’m also very interested in how the diversity of mammals has changed since the last interglacial period, too. I’m working with some colleagues on contextualising the current (sixth mass?) extinction event and also thinking about how future biodiversity might change, based on what we can see from the fossil record.

Publication highlights

Gordon, J.D., Fagan, B., Milner, N. & Thomas, C.D. (2024) Floristic diversity and its relationships with human land use varied regionally during the Holocene. Nature Ecology & Evolution

Funder

• The Leverhulme Trust