Dr Nannan Li
Biography
Nannan is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Irish Climate Analysis and Research UnitS (ICARUS) and the Department of Geography at Maynooth University. He is a palaeoclimatologist who employs a wide variety of techniques to deduce ancient climates during the past. Like the way archaeologists study fossils and other physical clues to gain insight into the prehistoric past, his research focuses on geological evidence to understand what Earth’s past climate was like and why.
Nannan has a background studying past climate and environmental change recorded by peatlands, lakes, and aeolian sediments. He is an expert in phytoliths (micro silica particles that formed in plants) but also using cutting-edge geochemistry approaches, to infer past climate conditions and to discover past human activity.
Nannan joined the Department of Geography and ICARUS the at Maynooth University as a postdoctoral researcher in 2023. Funded by the PCARB (Past CARbon accumulation by Irish Blanket bogs) project, he is collecting and analysing peat cores extensively in Ireland to investigate the past climate influence on the carbon accumulation rates of Irish blanket bogs. Prior to that he has worked at Xiamen University (2020-2023) as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, with a Ph.D. in Physical Geography (2020) and a BA in Geography (2014) at the Northeast Normal University, China.
Research Interests
Instrumental data extend the climate record back in time by perhaps a couple of centuries but Paleoclimatology can provide insight into the climate system over thousands to millions of years sampling conditions very different from the present day, and in some cases similar to model projections for the future. My research interests stem from my desire to understand the Earth's climate from a geological perspective. These fundamental aspects include the reconstructions of past climate and the assessment of the ecological consequences of climate change.
Using imprints created during past climate, known as proxies, I analyze sediment cores for phytolith, pollen, and plant macrofossils, to interpret paleoclimate. Abrupt climate change and warm intervals are of particular interest to me.
Peer Reviewed Journal
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Li, N.; Yu, F.; Chambers, F.M.; Huang, Z.; Lin, W.; Zhu, Z.; Yang, H.; Lin, J. (2023) 'A humification-based method toward refining Holocene radiocarbon chronologies: Wetland records from southeastern China'. Holocene, 33 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2022 | Li, N; Yu, F; Sack, D; Huang, Z; Tian, G; Liu, S (2022) 'Phytolith Assemblages as a Promising Tool for Quantitative Canopy Coverage Reconstruction in Subtropical Forests, China'. Frontiers in Plant Science, 13 . [DOI] | |
| 2022 | Li, N.; Song, L.; Sack, D.; Lu, Z.; Yu, F.; Gao, G.; Li, D.; Li, M.; Yang, Y.; Zong, Y.; Jie, D. (2022) 'Phytolith and simulation evidence for precipitation-modulated vegetation dynamics along the East Asian monsoon margin'. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 590 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2021 |
Li, N.; Xie, M.; Sack, D.; Dubois, N.; Yang, X.; Gao, G.; Li, D.; Liu, L.; Liu, H.; Leng, C.; Wang, J.; Liu, B.; Jie, D. (2021) 'Continuous aridification since the mid-Holocene as the main cause of C | |
| 2021 | Li, N.; Sharifi, A.; Chambers, F.M.; Ge, Y.; Dubois, N.; Gao, G.; Li, D.; Liu, L.; Liu, H.; Wang, J.; Niu, H.; Meng, M.; Liu, Y.; Zhang, G.; Jie, D. (2021) 'Linking Holocene East Asian monsoon variability to solar forcing and ENSO activity: Multi-proxy evidence from a peatland in Northeastern China'. Holocene, 31 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2019 | Li, N; Li, M; Sack, D; Kang, W; Song, L; Yang, Y; Zong, Y; Jie, D (2019) 'Diatom evidence for mid-Holocene peatland water-table variations and their possible link to solar forcing'. The Science of the total environment, 725 . [DOI] | |
| 2018 | Li, N.; Sack, D.; Gao, G.; Liu, L.; Li, D.; Yang, X.; Jie, D.; Liu, H.; Shi, J.; Leng, C. (2018) 'Holocene Artemisia-Chenopodiaceae-dominated grassland in North China: Real or imaginary?'. Holocene, 28 . [Link] [DOI] | |
| 2017 | Li, N.; Chambers, F.M.; Yang, J.; Jie, D.; Liu, L.; Liu, H.; Gao, G.; Gao, Z.; Li, D.; Shi, J.; Feng, Y.; Qiao, Z. (2017) 'Records of East Asian monsoon activities in Northeastern China since 15.6 ka, based on grain size analysis of peaty sediments in the Changbai Mountains'. QUATERNARY INTERNATIONAL, 447 . [Link] [DOI] |