Professor Jens Zinke

I received my undergraduate degree (BSc) in Geology (1994) as well as his Master degree in Geology and Paleontology (1996) from Freie Universität Berlin (Germany). In 2000 I obtained my PhD degree (Magna Cum Laude) from Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel (Germany). I have worked in four countries as postdoc and Assistant Professor before joining Leicester as Professor in 2018. I have been awarded over six million Euro in funding for research projects in the UK Germany Australia and the Netherlands committed to carrying out cutting-edge research using quantitative field and laboratory methods for sedimentological paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatological reconstructions of coral reef and island systems as well as land-ocean coupling mechanisms in the Indian Ocean region the tropical Atlantic and Southeast Asia.

My research involves the geochemical study of marine biological (massive corals) and sedimentary archives from the tropical oceans as recorders of environmental and climate change from the present contemporary climate back to the Holocene. For most of my career I have worked on Indian Ocean and Pacific coral and sediment records. This work is motivated by the need to produce reliable long-term baseline data of sea surface temperature, ocean currents and the hydrological cycle over the tropical/subtropical oceans and how they shape patterns of biodiversity in our oceans and adjacent coasts. Such data are developed to feed into IPCC assessments and large-scale data assimilation products to characterize climate change in the Common Era all they way to present day. My current position enabled me to expand my international research network focussed on tropical palaeoclimate research around flagship research areas where climate variability and change is of global and regional significance with the impetus on gaining more robust research output for the benefit of society. The latter include research on deforestation impacts from peatland derived rivers in the Tropics on coral reefs, carbon export from black water rivers to the nearshore ocean and 20th/21st century sea level, temperature and salinity change driven by anthropogenic warming. A Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship, a NERC Discovery Grant and a German DFG research grant support my current Professorship at the University of Leicester and my team of PhDs and PDRAs.

McClanahan, T. R., Darling, E. S., Beger, M., Fox, H. E., Grantham, H. S., Jupiter, S. D., Logan, C. A., McLeod, E., McManus, L. C., Oddenyo, R. M., Surya, G. S., Wenger, A. S., Zinke, J., Maina, J. M. (2023) Diversification of refugia types needed to secure the future of coral reefs subject to climate change. Conservation Biology, doi:10.1111/cobi.14108

Naciri, W. A. Boom, M. Payne, N. Browne, N. J. Evans, P. Holdship, K. Rankenburg, R. Nagarajan, B. J. McDonald, J. McIlwain, Zinke, J. (2023) Massive corals record deforestation in Malaysian Borneo through sediments in river discharge. Biogeosciences 20, 1587-1604

Leupold, M, Pfeiffer, M., Watanabe, T.K., Nakamura, N., Reuning, L., Blume, A., McClanahan, T., Mohammed, M., Kiriama, H., Garbe-Schönberg, D., Schröder Ritzrau, A., Zinke, J. (2023) Mid-Holocene expansion of the Indian Ocean Warm Pool documented in coral Sr/Ca records from Kenya. Scientific Reports 13, 777, doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-28017-0.

Zinke, J., N. E. Cantin, K. DeLong, K. Palmer, A. Boom, I. Hajdas, N. Duprey, A. Martínez-García, N. L. Rose, S. L. Roberts, H. Yang, L. R. Roberts, A. B. Cundy, P. Gaca, J. A. Milton, G. Frank, A. Cox, S. Sampson^a, G. Tyrrell, M. Agg and S. D. Turner (2023) North Flinders Reef (Coral Sea, Australia) Porites sp. corals as a candidate Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene Series. The Anthropocene Review, 1-24, doi:10.1177/20530196221142

Neo, V. H. F., Zinke, J., Fung, T., Merchant, C. J., Zawada, K. J. A., Krawczyk, H., & Maina, J. M. (2023). Inconsistent coral bleaching risk indicators between temperature data sources. Earth and Space Science,10, e2022EA002688.

Zinke, J., Watanabe, T. K., Rühs, S., Pfeiffer, M., Grab, S., Garbe-Schönberg, D., Biastoch, A. (2022) 334-year coral record of surface temperature and salinity variability in the greater Agulhas Current region. Climate of the Past, doi.org/10.5194/cp-2021-120

Waters, C. N., M. Williams, J. Zalasiewicz, Turner S. D., Barnosky A. D., Head M. J., Wing S. L., Wagreich M., Steffen W., Summerhayes C. P., Cundy A. B., Zinke J., Fiałkiewicz-Kozieł B., Leinfelder R., Haff P. K., McNeill J.R, Rose N. L., Hajdas I., McCarthy F. M.G., Cearreta A., Gałuszka A., Syvitski J., Han Y., An Z., Fairchild I. J., Ivar do Sul J. A., Jeandel C. (2022) Epochs, events and episodes: Marking the geological impact of humans. Earth Science Reviews, 104171, doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2022.104171

Williams, M., Leinfelder, R., Barnosky, A. D., Head, M. J., Mccarthy, F. M. G., Cearreta, A., Himson, S., Holmes, R., Waters, C. N., Zalasiewicz, J., Turner, S., Mcgann, M., Hadly, E. A., Allison Stegner, M., Pilkington, P. M., Kaiser, J., Berrio, J. C., Wilkinson, I. P., Zinke, J., and Delong, K. L. (2022) Planetary-scale change to the biosphere signalled by global species translocations can be used to identify the Anthropocene. Palaeontology, e12618, doi:10.1111/pala.12618

Zinke, J., Browning, S., Hoell, A., Goodwin, I. (2021) The West Pacific Gradient tracks ENSO and the zonal Pacific sea surface temperature gradient during the last Millennium. Scientific Reports 11, 20395, doi:10.1038/s41598-021-99738-3

Krawczyk, H., Zinke, J., Browne, N., Struck, U., McIlwain, J., O'Leary, M., Garbe-Schoenberg, D. (2020) Corals reveal ENSO-driven synchrony of climate impacts on both terrestrial and marine ecosystems in northern Borneo. Scientific Reports, 10, 3678, doi:10.1039/s41598-020-60525-1.

Zinke, J., Gilmour, J.P., Fisher, R., Maina, J., Darling, E., Stat, M., Puotinen, M., Richards, Z., Mcclanahan, T.R., Beger, M., Moore, C., Graham, N.A.J., Feng, M., Hobbs, J.P.A., Evans, S., Field, S., Shedrawi, G., Babcock, R., Wilson, S.K. (2018) Gradients of disturbance and environmental conditions shape coral community structure for south-eastern Indian Ocean reefs. Diversity & Distributions, doi:10.1111/ddi.12714.

Hennekam, R., Zinke, J., ten Have, M., Brummer, G.J.A. and Reichart, G.-J. (2018) Cocos (Keeling) corals reveal 200 years of multi-decadal modulation of southeast Indian Ocean hydrology by Indonesian Throughflow. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 33, DOI: 10.1002/2017PA003181.

Pfeiffer, M., Zinke, J., Dullo, W.-C., Timm, O., Cahyarini, S.Y., Latif, M. and Weber, M. E. (2017) Indian Ocean corals reveal crucial role of World War II bias for twentieth century warming estimates. Scientific Reports 7, 14434, doi:10.1038/s41598-017-14352-6.

Ong, JJL, Rountrey, AN, Zinke, J, Meeuwig, JJ, Grierson, PF, O'Donnell, AJ, Newman, SJ, Lough, JM, Trougan, M and Meekan, MG (2016) Evidence for climate-driven synchrony of marine and terrestrial ecosystems in northwest Australia. Global Change Biology, doi: 10.1111/gcb.13239.

Abram, N.A., McGregor, H.V., Tierney, J.E., Evans, M.N., McKay, N.P., Kaufman, D.S. and the PAGES 2k Consortium (Thirumalai, K., Martrat, B., Goosse, H., Phipps, S.J.,  Steig, E.J. Halimeda Kilbourne, K., Saenger, C.P., Zinke, J., Leduc, G., Addison, J.A., Mortyn, P.G., Seidenkrantz, M.-S., Sicre, M.-A., Selvaraj, K., Filipsson, H.L., Neukom, R., Gergis, J., Curran, M.A.J., von Gunten, L. (2016) Early onset of Industrial-era warming across the oceans and continents. Nature 536, 411-418.

Zinke, J., Hoell, A., Lough, J., Feng, M., Kuret, A., Clarke, H., Ricca, V., McCulloch, M.T. (2015) Coral record of southeastern Indian Ocean marine heatwaves with intensified Western Pacific temperature gradient. Nature Communications 6, doi: 10.1038/ncomms9562.

Neukom, R., J. Gergis, D. Karoly, H. Wanner, M. Curran, J. Elbert, F. Gonzalez-Rouco, B. Linsley, A. Moy, I. Mundo, C. Raible, E. Steig, Tas van Ommen, T. Vance, R. Villalba, J. Zinke and D. Frank (2014) Inter-hemispheric temperature variability over the last millennium. Nature Climate Change 4, doi:10.1038/nclimate2174.

Zinke, J., Rountrey, A., Feng, M., Xie, S.P., Dissard, D., Rankenburg, K., Lough, J. and McCulloch, M.T. (2014) Corals record long-term Leeuwin Current variability during Ningaloo Niño/Niña since 1795. Nature Communications 5, 3607, doi:10.1038/ncomms4607.

Maina, J., de Moel, H., Zinke, J., Madin, J., McClanahan, T. and Vermaat, J.E. (2013) Human deforestation outweighs future climate change impacts of sedimentation on coral reefs. Nature Communications 4:1986, doi:10.1039/ncomms2986.

1. NERC CENTA PhD 2024-2028: Carbon Dynamics in the Baram River: Tracing Land-to-Ocean Dissolved Organic Carbon Fluxes from catchment to coral reefs
2. NERC CENTA PhD 2023-2027: Improving thermal stress prediction for coral reefs from observational, modelled and proxy datasets across the Tropics
3. NERC Discovery project 2023-2026 postdoc project: Transforming our Understanding of the Indonesian Throughflow.
4. Funder Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt Berlin: Anthropogenic impacts on the Coral Sea (Australia) from multi-proxy coral geochemistry (2018-2023).
5. CSE funded PhD 2021-2024: North Madagascar coral records as climate archives.
6. Royal Society Wolfson PhD 2019-2023: River discharge dynamics and long-term changes from climatic and anthropogenic drivers in Malaysian Borneo.
7. TAAF France: Sea surface temperature and salinity variations from fossil corals in the Mozambique Channel.
8. DFG Germany PhD 2019-2023: NW Australian shelf coral records of Indo-Pacific climate connectivity.

• Year 0: Foundation Year Principles of Earth Science and Earth Systems
• Year 1: Palaeobiology and the Stratigraphic Record
• Year 1: Arran field course
• Year 2: Stable isotopes in the Environment
• Year 2: Climate Change: Impacts Vulnerability and Adaptation
• Year 2: Major Events in the History of Life
• Year 3: Hot Topics
• Year 3: Dissertation Geology
• Year 4: Masters research project in Geology

Expert in tropical climatology and palaeoclimatology, current coral bleaching and thermal stress in coral reefs, current ocean warming and hydrological cycle changes, deforestation and its affect on coral reefs, carbon and sediment export from rivers to coral reefs.

I am a member of the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) funded by Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt Berlin. The AWG assessed several geological archives for signatures of human impacts and submitted a proposal for a new geological epoch 'The Anthropocene'.

I have been interviewed on many occasions by local TV (ABC Australia NPO/VRT Dutch/Belgium) and various radio programs. Also been filmed for a BBC/Discovery Channel documentary (‘BBC Oceans’). Have delivered numerous talks seminars and speeches for conferences seminars and acted as session convener. Delivered high-profile invited talks at The Royal Society London The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Amsterdam.

A track record of several years of university classroom communication. Participated in forum discussions open to the general public on topics within or close to my research field (e.g. Plastic pollution Marine Conservation Climate Policy). Attendance of and participation in Open-day activities at the university and research centres.

I have been an Observer during COP26 in Glasgow as member of the International Coral Reef Society delegation in the Blue Room. We co-organised several sessions for policy makers and practitioners in coral reef ecosystem management to safeguard reefs from climate change and local human impacts. 

Twitter: coralmannie

• Editorial Board Member (since March 2014) for Nature Scientific Reports for Earth and Environmental change and Coral Reefs studies.
• Member of the Anthropocene Working Group of the International Commission for Stratigraphy (since 2018).  
• PAGES2k (since 2013) member of the high-resolution archives working group Panel Reviewer for the NSF United States
• Reviewer for Earth and Planetary Science Letters Geology Scientific Reports Geophysical Research Letters Paleoceanography G-cubded International Journal of Earth Sciences Paleo3 Coral Reefs Quarternary Research Nature Communications Nature Climate Change etc.

• 2022-2025 - NERC Discovery Grant
• 2020 - Fellow of the International Coral Reef Society
• 2019-2024 - HkW Berlin Earth Indices project
• 2018-2021 - Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship
• 2017-2018 - DFG SIOPACT (Germany) grant
• 2016-17 - DAAD-PPP Australia-Germany Exchange
• 2016 - Curtin University Visiting Professor Fellowship
• 2015 - Curtin University Adjunct Senior Fellow
• 2014 - Honorary Research Fellow of the Wits University South Africa
• 2014 - Curtin Senior Research Fellowship
• Collaboration Award with University of Queensland ARC CoE CEED
• 2011 - Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre Fellowship University of Western Australia
• 2007 - KNAW Training and mobility fellowship for research in Indonesia
• 2005 - KNAW Schure-Beijerinck Popping Fund scholarship for fieldwork
• 2003 - EU postdoctoral Fellowship EU-research and training network STOPFEN 

Climate change, Anthropocene, ocean chemistry, marine chemistry, geochemistry, stable isotopes, trace metals, corals, coral reefs, ecosystems, biodiversity

My latest outreach activities relate to several articles in the Conversation around publications on deforestation impacts in Malaysian Borneo to ocean temperature cycles in the SW Pacific and Indian Ocean. I contributed to the Anthropocene Working Group Curriculum and the associated exhibition 'Unearthing the Present' at HkW Berlin in May 2022. I have contributed to live demonstrations of reading geological archives and wrote essays for the online Anthropocene Curriculum series.

I have been interviewed on many occasions by local TV (ABC Australia NPO/VRT Dutch/Belgium) and various radio programs. Also been filmed for a BBC/Discovery Channel documentary (‘BBC Oceans’). Have delivered numerous talks seminars and speeches for conferences seminars and acted as session convener. Delivered high-profile invited talks at The Royal Society London The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Amsterdam. A track record of several years of university classroom communication. Participated in forum discussions open to the general public on topics within or close to my research field (e.g. Plastic pollution Marine Conservation Climate Policy). Attendance of and participation in Open-day activities at the university and research centres.

• Habilitation 2019 FU Berlin (Germany)
• PhD year 2000 Marine Geology