Peter Gell - Research

Publications/conferences

  • Herbert, E.R., Neubauer, S.C., Burgin, A.J., Ardon, M., Gell, P., Hopfesburger, K. & Boon, P. (accepted). Salinization of freshwater wetlands: A cross-ecosystem synthesis. Ecosphere.
  • Newall, P., Lloyd, L., Gell, P. & Walker, K. (accepted) Implications of environmental trajectories on limits of acceptable change at the Riverland Ramsar Site. Marine & Freshwater Research.
  • Pearson, S., Lynch, A.J.J., Plant, R., Cork, S., Taffs, K., Dodson, J., Maynard, S., Gergis, J., Gell, P., Thackway, R., Sealie, L. & Donaldson, J. (2015). Increasing the understanding and use of natural archives of ecosystem services, resilience and thresholds to improve policy, science and practice. The Holocene. DOI: 10.1177/0959683614558650.
  • Capon, S.J., Lynch, A.J.J., Bond, N., Chessman, B., Davis, J., Davidson, N., Finlayson, M., Gell, P., Hohnberg, D., Humphrey, C., Kingsford, R., Nielsen, D., & Ward, K. Thomson, J. & Mac Nally, R. (2015). Regime shifts, thresholds and multiple stable states in freshwater ecosystems; a critical appraisal of the evidence. Science of the Total Environment. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.02.045
  • Davis, J.A., O'Grady, A.P., Dale, A., Arthington, A.H., Gell, P., Driver, P., Bond, N., Casanova, M., Finlayson, M., Watts, R., Capon, S., Nagelkerken, I., Tingley, R., Fry, B., Page, T.J., Specht, A., (2015). When trends collide: the challenge of protecting freshwater ecosystems under multiple land use and hydrological intensification scenarios. Science of the Total Environment. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenc.2015.03.127
  • Dearing, J.A., Acma, B., Bub, S., Chambers, F., Chen X., Cooper, J., Crook, D., Dong X.H., Dotterweich, M., Edwards, M.E., Foster, T.H., Gaillard, M.-J., Galop, D., Gell, P., Gil, A., Jeffers, E., Jones, R.T., Anupama, K., Langdon, P.G., Marchant, R., Mazier, F., McLean, C.E., Nunes, L.H., Umer, M., Yang X.D., Wang R. & Zhang, K. (2015) Socio-ecological systems in the Anthropocene: The need for integrating social and biophysical records at regional scales. The Anthropocene Review. doi: 10.1177/2053019615579128.
  • Tyler, J., Mills, K., Barr, C., Sniderman, K., Gell, P. & Karoly, D. (2014). Identifying coherent patterns of environmental change between multiple multivariate records: an application to four 1000 year diatom records from Victoria, Australia. Quaternary Science Reviews. doi: 10/1016/j.quascirev.2015.04.010
  • Gell, P. & Reid, M. (2014) Assessing change in floodplain wetland condition in the Murray Darling Basin. The Anthropocene, doi:10.1016/j.ancene.2014.12.002.
  • Kattel, G., Gell, P., Perga, M., Jeppesen, E., Grundell, R., Weller, S., Zawadzki, A. & Barry, L. (2014). Tracking a century of change in trophic structure and dynamics in a floodplain wetland: integrating paleo-ecological, and paleo-isotopic, evidence. Freshwater Biology. doi:10.1111/fwb.12521.
  • Reeves, J.M., Haynes, D., Garcia, A. & Gell, P.A. (2014). Hydrological change in the Coorong Estuary, Australia, Past and Present: Evidence from fossil invertebrate and algal assemblages. Estuaries and Coasts. DOI 10.1007/s12237-014-9920-4
  • Barr, C., Tibby, J., Gell, P. Tyler, J., Zawadzki, A. & Jacobsen, G. (2014).Climatic variability in southeastern Australia over the last 1500 years inferred from the fossil diatom records of two crater lakes. Quaternary Science Reviews, 95: 115-131.
  • Seddon, A.W.R., ….. Gell, P. , et al., (2014) Looking forward through the past. Identification of fifty priority research questions in paleoecology. Journal of Ecology, 102: 256-267.
  • Mills, K., Gell, P. & Kershaw, P. 2013. The Recent Victorian Drought and its Impact: Without Precedent? Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation Publication 12/040. 77pp.
  • Finlayson, M., Davis, J., Gell, P. , Kingsford, R., Parton, K. & Smith, P. (2013). The status of wetlands and the predicted effect of global climate change: the situation in Australia. Aquatic Sciences,75, 73-93.
  • Gell, P. , Mills, K. & Grundell, R. (2013). The legacy of climate and catchment change: the real challenge for wetland management. Hydrobiologia, 708: 133-144.
  • Mills, K., Gell, P. , Hesse, P., Mills, K., Jones, R., Kershaw, P., Drysdale, R. & McDonald, J. (2013) Paleoclimate studies and natural-resource management in the Murray-Darling Basin I: past, present and future climates. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 60, 547-560.
  • Mills, K., Gell, P. , Gergis, J., Baker, P., Finlayson, M., Hesse, P., Jones, R., Kershaw, P., Pearson, S., Treble, P., Barr, C., Brookhouse, M., Drysdale, R., McDonald, J., Haberle, S., Reid, M., Thoms, M. & Tibby, J. (2013) Paleoclimate studies and natural-resource management in the Murray-Darling Basin II. Unravelling human impacts and climate variability. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 60, 561-571.
  • Battarbee, R., Bennion, H., Rose, N. & Gell. P. (2012). Human Impact on Freshwater ecosystems. In Matthews (ed). Handbook of Environmental Change. Chapter 27.
  • Grundell, R., Gell, P. , Zawadzki, A. & Mills, K. (2012). Interaction between a river and its wetland: evidence from spatial variability in diatom and radioisotope records. Journal of Paleolimnology. 47: 205-219.
  • Dick, J., Haynes, D., Tibby, J., Garcia, A. & Gell, P. (2011). A history of aquatic plants in the Ramsar-listed Coorong wetland, South Australia. Journal of Paleolimnology. 46: 623-635.
  • Soepbrowati, T., Hadisusanto, S., Gell, P. & Zawadzki, A. (2012). The diatom stratigraphy of Rawapening Lake, implying eutrophication history. American Journal of Environmental Science. 8(3): 334-344.
  • Fluin, J., Tibby, J. & Gell, P. (2010). Testing the efficacy of electrical conductivity (EC)reconstructions from the lower Murray River (SE Australia): a comparison between measured and inferred EC. Journal of Paleolimnology. 43: 309-322.
  • Fritz, S.C. & Gell, P. A. (2010). Past, Recent, and Future Climate-Change Impacts on Hydrologic and Environmental Variability in Selected Regions of Asia. Quaternary International., 212: 1.
  • Tibby, J., Gell, P. A, Hancock, G., and Clark, M. (2010) Core correlation and sediment chronology from Kangaroo Creek Reservoir, South Australia: some lessons for reservoir paleolimnology. Journal of Paleolimnology, 43: 535-549.
  • Gell, P. (2010). With the Benefit of Hindsight: The utility of paleoecology in wetland condition assessment and identification of restoration targets. In: Batty, L., Hallberg, K. (Eds). Ecology of Industrial Pollution. Ecological Review Series, CUP & the British Ecological Society: 162-188.
  • Gell, P. , Fluin, J., Tibby, J., Hancock, G., Harrison, J., Zawadzki, A., Haynes, D., Khanum, S., Little, F. & Walsh, B. (2009). Anthropogenic Acceleration of Sediment Accretion in Lowland Floodplain Wetlands, Murray-Darling Basin, Australia. Geomorphology, 108: 122-126.
  • Krull, E., Haynes, D., Lamontagne, S., Gell, P. , McKirdy, D., Hancock, G., McGowan, J. & Smernik, R. (2009) Changes in the chemistry of sedimentary organic matter within the Coorong over space and time. Biogeochemistry, 92: 9-25.
  • Bickford, S., Gell, P. & Hancock, G.J. (2008). Wetland and terrestrial vegetation change since European settlement on the Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia. The Holocene, 18: 425-436.
  • Fitzsimmons, K.E, Gell, P. A., Bickford, S., Barrows, T.T., Mooney, S.P., Denham, T.P. & OZPACS contributors. (2008). The OZPACS database: a resource for understanding recent impacts on Australian ecosystems. Quaternary Australasia, 24: 2-6.
  • Tibby, J., Lane, M. & Gell, P. A. (2008). Local knowledge as a basis for environmental management: a cautionary tale from Lake Ainsworth, northern New South Wales. Environmental Conservation, 34: 334-341.
  • Chessman, B., Newall, P., Gell, P. & Bate, N. (2007). Development of diatom-based tools for assessing stream water quality in south-eastern Australia: A new species-level biotic index. Hydrobiologia, 58(6): 542-557.
  • Fluin, J., Gell, P. , Haynes, D. & Tibby, J. (2007). Paleolimnological evidence for the independent evolution of neighbouring terminal lakes, the Murray Darling Basin, Australia. Hydrobiologia, 591: 117-134.
  • Gell, P. , Baldwin, D., Little, F. & Tibby, J. & Hancock, G. (2007). The impact of regulation and salinisation on floodplain lakes: the lower River Murray, Australia. Hydrobiologia, 591: 135-146.
  • Haynes, D., Gell, P. , Tibby, J., Hancock, G. & Goonan, P. (2007). Against the tide: the freshening of naturally saline coastal lakes, south east South Australia. Hydrobiologia, 591: 165-183.
  • Tibby, J., Gell, P. A., Fluin, J. & Sluiter, I.R.K. (2007). Diatom-salinity relationships in wetlands: assessing the influence of salinity variability and site effects, with particular reference to the development of inference models. Hydrobiologia, 591: 207-218.
  • Gell, P. Fluin, J., Tibby, J., Haynes, D., Khanum, S., Walsh, B., Hancock, G., Harrison, J. Zawecki, A. & Little, F. (2006). Changing Fluxes of Sediments and Salts as Recorded in lower River Murray wetlands, Australia. In Rowan, J., Duck, R. & Werrity, A. (Eds). Proceedings of the IAHS conference, Dundee, UK, July 2006. International Associated of Hydrological Sciences, 306: 416-424.
  • Philibert, A., Gell, P. Newall, P., Chessman, B. & Bate, N. (2006). Development of diatom-based tools for assessing stream water quality in south eastern Australia: Assessment of environmental transfer functions. Hydrobiologia 572:103-114.
  • Townsend, S.A. & Gell, P. A. (2005). Diatom assemblages on river substrates in tropical Australia: evidence for the similarity of epilithic and epidendric flora. Hydrobiologia 548: 101-115.
  • Gell, P. , Bulpin, S., Wallbrink, P., Bickford, S. & Hancock, G. (2005). Tareena Billabong - A paleolimnological history of an ever changing wetland, Chowilla Floodplain, lower Murray-Darling Basin. Marine and Freshwater Research 56: 441-456.
  • Bickford, S. & Gell, P. (2005). Human impact on Holocene environments: Vegetation History and Aboriginal wetland use as recorded in a microfossil profile from a wetland in the Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia. The Holocene 15(1): 200-215.
  • Gell, P. , Tibby, J., Fluin, J., Leahy, P, Reid, M., Adamson, K., Bulpin, S., MacGregor, A., Wallbrink, P., Hancock, G. & Walsh, B. (2005). Accessing limnological change and variability using fossil diatom assemblages, south-east Australia. River Research and Applications 21: 257-269.
  • MacGregor, A.J., Gell, P. A., Wallbrink, P.J. & Hancock, G. (2005). Natural and post-disturbance variability in water quality of the lower Snowy River floodplain, Eastern Victoria, Australia. River Research and Applications 21: 201-213.

Research interests

Peter Gell is a paleoecologist who examines change in the condition of wetlands over culturally relevant timelines. He has a particular interest in contributing to a better understanding of natural ecological character under the Ramsar Convention. He specialises in the use of diatoms as indicators of present, and past, river and lake condition, particularly in coastal systems and across Australia's Murray Darling Basin. An emerging interest is the use of paleoecological approaches to reveal past instances of regimes shifts and tipping points in wetland ecosystems. He also continues his interests in the use of birds as indicators of ecosystem health.