W/Prof Malcolm McCulloch

Premier's Research Fellow
School of Earth and Environment

Contact details

Address

School of Earth and Environment
The University of Western Australia (M004)
35 Stirling Highway
CRAWLEY WA 6009
Australia

Phone

6488 1921

Fax

6488 1037

Email

malcolm.mcculloch@uwa.edu.au

Biography

Malcolm McCulloch was appointed as a Western Australian Premier’s Fellow in mid 2009 and holds a Professorship in the School of Earth and Environment at The University of Western Australia.
He has been responsible for establishing a new node for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at The University of Western Australia, and heads the Centre’s research Program 1: Evolutionary and Environmental Change.
Malcolm received his PhD from the prestigious Californian Institute of Technology (Caltech), and in his early career was a leader is crustal and mantle evolution, and cosmochemistry. He is an ISI Highly Cited Researcher and has published over 250 scientific papers in leading international journals including 23 in Science and Nature.
Malcolm has received a number of prestigious awards including Fellowships of the American Geophysical Union (2002), the Australian Academy of Science (2004), the Geological Society of Australia (2007), and the Geochemical Society (2008) and was recently elected to The Royal Society (2010). He also holds an Honorary Doctorate from Curtin University (2007) and was awarded the Jaeger Medal for career excellence in the earth sciences by the Australian Academy of Sciences (2009).

Key research

Professor McCulloch is a world leader in the development and application of innovative geochemical approaches to quantify long-term climate and environmental changes in coral reef systems and a process based understanding of mechanisms driving change.

McCulloch led the first program to study longer-term anthropogenically driven changes in seawater pH from uptake of Greenhouse CO2. This ongoing research based on the boron isotope systematics in long-lived corals provides a quantitative means for determining longer term changes in seawater pH. Using this innovative approach, his group has shown both significant natural variability (Pelejero et al., Science, 309, 2005) during the pre-industrial period together with an unexpectedly rapidly decreasing trend of pH in the Great Barrier Reef lagoon (Gangjian et al., GCA, 73, 2009). This recent trend, of rapidly increasing ocean acidification is broadly correlated with enhanced CO2 emissions and has important implications for both long-term rates of coral calcification as well as the capacity of the oceans to continue to act as a major sink for CO2.

McCulloch (Nature, 421, 2003) also provided the first quantitative geochemical records from the carbonate skeletons of ~300 to 400 year old corals, giving unequivocal evidence for a five to tenfold increase in sediment flux entering the GBR since the arrival of European settlers. This new approach based on the barium geochemistry of coral skeletons is now being used by various agencies (eg. Productivity Commission Report on the GBR, 2003) to assist catchment management programs and is being extended to other coral reefs, such as those in Kenya (Fleitman, et al., GRL, 34, 2007). This approach has now also been extended into the deep oceans where his group (Montagna, et al, Science 2006) have shown that phosphorous concentrations in deep-sea corals provides a proxy for the nutrient levels in the deep oceans.

Publications

Publications (last five years) Professor M.T. McCulloch

[1]2007Aubert, M., O’Connor, S., M., McCulloch M.T., Mortimer, G., and Richer-LaFlèche, M. Uranium-series dating rock art in East Timor. Journal of Archaeological Science, 34: 991-996.

[2]2007Montagna, P., McCulloch, M., Mazzoli, C., Silenzi, S., Odorico, R. The non-tropical coral Cladocora caespitosa as the new climate archive for the Mediterranean: high-resolution (weekly) trace element systematics. Quaternary Science Reviews, 26, (3-4): 441-462.

[3]2007 Calvo, E., Marshall, J., Pelejero, C., McCulloch, M., Gagan, M., and Lough,J. Interdecadal climate variability in the Coral Sea since 1708 A.D. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 248 (1-2): 190-201.

[4]2007Morimoto, M., Kayanne, H., Abe, O., and McCulloch, M. Intensified mid-Holocene Asian monsoon recorded in corals from Kikai Island, subtropical northwestern Pacific. Quaternary Research, 67, (2): 204-214.

[5]2007Abram, N., Gagan, M., Liu, Z., Hantoro, W., McCulloch, M.T., and Suwargadi, B. Seasonal characteristics of the Indian Ocean Dipole during Holocene epoch. Nature, 445 (18): 299-302.

[6]2007Fleitmann, D., Dunbar, R., McCulloch, M.T., Mudelsee, M., Vuille, M., McClanahan, T., Cole, J., and Eggins, S. East African soil erosion recorded in a 300 year old coral colony from Kenya. Geophysical Research Letters, 34: L04401, doi:10.1029/2006GL028525.

[7]2007McFarlane, C., and McCulloch, M. Coupling of in-situ Sm-Nd systematic and U-Pb dating of monazite and allanite with applications to crustal evolution studies. Chemical Geology, 245: 45-60.

[8]2007 Pickering, R., Hancox, P.J., Lee-Thorp, J.A, Grün, R., Mortimer, GE, McCulloch, M.T., and Berger, L.R. Stratigraphy, U-Th chronology, and paleoenvironments at Gladysvale Cave: insights into the climatic control of South African hominin-bearing cave deposits. Journal of Human Evolution, 53: 602-619.

[9] 2007Hearty, P.J., Hollin, J.T., Neumann, A.C., O’Leary M.J., and McCulloch, M.T. Global sea-level fluctuations during the Last Interglaciation (MIS 5e). Quaternary Science Reviews. 26, 2090-2112.

[10] 2007Taviani, M., Corrrea, M.C., Zibrowius , H., Montagna, P., McCulloch, M.T, and Ligi, M. Last glacial deep-water corals from the Red Sea. Bulletin of Marine Science, 81(3), 361–370.

[11]2008Hendy, E.J., Gagan. M.K., Lough, J.m., McCulloch, M.T., deMenocal, P.B., Impact of skeletal dissolution and secondary aragonite on trace element and isotopic proxies in Porites corals. Palaeoceanography, 22, PA4101,doi:10.1029/2007PA001462.

[12]2008O’Leary, M.J., Hearty, P.J., McCulloch, M.T. U-series evidence for widespread reef development in Shark Bay during the last interglacial. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 259, 424–435.

[13] 2008McGregor, H.V., Gagan, M.K., McCulloch, M.T., Hodge E., and Mortimer G. Mid-Holocene variability in the marine 14C reservoir age for northern coastal Papua New Guinea. Quaternary Geochronology, 3, 213–225.

[14] 2008Andersen, M.B., Stirling, C.H., Potter E-K., Halliday, A.N., Blake, S.G., McCulloch, M.T., Ayling, B.F., O’Leary, M. High-precision U-series measurements of more than 500,000 year old fossil corals near the upper U-series dating limit. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 265, 229–245.

[15]2008Harrison, T.M., Schmitt, A.K., McCulloch, M.T., and Lovera, O.M. Early (4.5 Ga) formation of terrestrial crust: Lu-Hf, 18O/16O, and Ti thermometry results for Hadean zircons. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 268, 476-486.

[16] 2008Montagna, P., Silenzi, S.,Devoti, S., Mazzoli, C., McCulloch, M.T., Mazzoli, C., Scicchitano, G., and Taviani, M. Climate Reconstructions and Monitoring in the Mediterranean Sea: A Review on some Recently Discovered High-Resolution Marine Archives. Rendiconti Lincei- Scienze Fisiche e Naturali, 19,121-140.

[17] 2008Wassan, R., Juyal, N., Jaiswal, M., McCulloch, M.T., Sarin, M., Jain, V., Srivastava, P., and Singhvi, A. The Mountain-lowland debate: deforestation and sediment transport in the Upper Ganga catchment. Journal of Environmental Management, 88, 53-61.

[18] 2008McCulloch, M.T., and Mortimer, G.,E., Applications of the 238U-230Th decay series to dating of fossil and modern corals using MC-ICPMS. Australian Journal of Earth Science, 55:6, 955-965.

[19] 2008Jupiter, S., Roff, G., Marion G., Henderson, M., Schrameyer, V., McCulloch, M.T. and Hoegh-Guldberg O. Linkages between coral assemblages and coral proxies of terrestrial exposure along a cross-shelf gradient on the southern Great Barrier Reef. Coral Reefs, 27, 887-903.

[20]2008Harris, P.,T., Heap, A.D., Marshall, J.F., and McCulloch M.T. A new coral reef province in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia: Colonisation, growth and submergence during the early Holocene. Marine Geology, 251, 85-97.

[21]2008M.J. O’Leary, P.J. Hearty, M.T. McCulloch. Geomorphic evidence of major sea-level fluctuations during marine isotope substage-5e, Cape Cuvier, Western Australia Geomorphology 102(2008) 595-602

[22]2009Dutton, A., Scicchitano, G., Monaco, C., Desmarchelier J.M., Antonioli, F., Lambeck, K., Esat, T.M., Fifield, McCulloch M.T., Mortimer, G. Uplift rates defined by U-series and 14C ages of serpulid-encrusted speleothems from submerged caves near Siracusa, Sicily (Italy). Quaternary Geochronology 4, 2–10.

[23]2009Magee, J., W., Miller, G.H., Spooner, N.A., Questiaux, D.G., McCulloch, M.T., Clark, P.A. Evaluating Quaternary dating methods: Radiocarbon, U-series, luminescence, and amino acid racemization dates of a late Pleistocene emu egg. Quaternary Geochronology 4, 84–92

[24]2009Morton, S.R., Hoegh-Guldberg, O., Lindenmayer, D. B., Harriss Olson, M., Hughes, L., McCulloch, M.T., McIntyre, S., Nix, H. A., Prober, S. M., Saunders, D. A., Andersen, A. N., Burgman, M. A., Lefroy, E. C., Lonsdale, W. M., Lowe, I., McMichael, A. J., Parslow, J. S., Steffen, W., Williams J. E., and. Woinarski, J. C. Z. The big ecological questions inhibiting effective environmental management in Australia. Austral Ecology, 34, 1–9.

[25]2009 Andrea Dutton, Edouard Bard, Fabrizio Antonioly, Tezer M.Esat,
Kurt Lambeck and Malcolm T.McCulloch Phasing and amplitude of
Sea-level and climate change during the penultimate interglacial.
Nature geosciences 6 April 2009 DOI: 10.1038/NGE0470

[26]2009Wei G., McCulloch M.T., Mortimer G., Deng, W., and Luhua X. Evidence for ocean acidification in the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (2009) 73, 2332–2346.

[27]2009 Correa, M.L., Montagna, P., Vendrell, B., McCulloch, M.T., and Taviani, M. Stable isotopes (δ18O & δ13C), trace and minor element compositions of Recent scleractinians and Last Glacial bivalves at Santa Maria di Leuca deep-water coral province, Ionian Sea. Deep Sea Research II. doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2009.08.016.

[28] 2009Burgess, S.N., McCulloch, M.T., Mortimer, G., and Ward, T. M., Structure and growth rates of the high-latitude coral: Plesiatrea versipora.. Coral Reefs. (2009) 28:1005-1015 DOI 10.1007/s00338-009-0533-5

[29]2009Nancy G. Prouty, Stacy D. Jupiter, Michael E. Field and Malcolm T. McCulloch Coral proxy record of decadal-scale reduction in base flow from Moloka’i, Hawaii. Geochemsitry Geophysics Geosystems Volume 10, Number 12 31 December 2009. Doi: 10.1029/2009GC002714

[30]2010 Tsuyoshi Iizuka, Malcolm T. McCulloch, Tsuyoshi Komiya, Takazo Shibuya, Kenji Ohta, Haruka Ozawa, Emiko Sugimura, Kenneth D. Collerson
Monazite geochronology and geochemistry of meta-sediments in the Narryer Gneiss Complex, Western Australia: constraints on the tectonothermal history and provenance. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, 160:803–823. DOI: 10.1007/s00410-010-0508-0

[31]2010 Fanny Houlbreque, Malcolm McCulloch, Brendan Roark, Tom Guilderson Anders Meibom, Justine Kimball, Graham Mortimer, Jean-Pierre Cuif, Robert Dunbar. Uranium-series dating and growth characteristics of the deep-sea Scleractinian coral: Enallopsammia rostrata from the Equatorial Pacific. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. DOI: 10.1016/j.gca.2010.01.017

[32]2010Nancy G.Prouty, Michael E. Field, Jonathan D.Stock, Stacy D. Jupiter,
Malcolm McCulloch. Coral Ba/Ca records of sediment input to the fringing reef of the southshore of Moloka’i. Hawai’I over the last several decades
Marine Pollution Bulletin DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2010.05.024

[33]2010Malcolm McCulloch, Marco Taviani, Paolo Montagna, Matthias Lopez, Correa, Alessandro Remia, Graham Mortimer. Proliferation and demise of deep-sea corals in the Mediterranean during the Younger Dryas. Earth and Planetary Science Letters EPSL-10509 DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2010.07.036

[34]2010Grove, C.A., Nagtegaal, R., Zinke, J., Scheufen, T., Koster, B., Kaspoer, S., McCulloch, M.T., van den Bergh, G., Brummer, GJ.A. River runoff reconstructions from novel spectral luminescence scanning of massive coral skeleteons Coral Reefs (2010) 29: 579-591 DOi 10.1007/s00338-010-0629-y

[35] 2010Gulson, B., McCall, M., Korsch,M., Gomez, L., Casey, P., Oytam, Y., Taylor, A., McCulloch, M., Trotter, J., Kinsley, L., Greenoak, G., Small Amounts of Zinc from Zinc Oxide Particles in Sunscreens Applied Outdoors Are Absorbed through Human Skin Toxicological Sciences 118(1) 140-149(2010) doi: 10.1093/toxsci/kfq243 Advance Access publication August 12 2010

[36]2010Walther, B.D., Kingsford, M.J., O’Callaghan, M.D., McCulloch M.T. Interactive effects of ontogeny, food ration and temperature on elemental incorporation in otoliths of a coral reef fish. Environ Biol Fish (2010) 89: 441-451 DOI 10.1007/s10641-010-9661-6

[37]2010Morten B. Andersen, Claudine H. Stirling, Emma-Kate Potter, Alex N. Halliday, Steve G. Blake, Malcolm T. McCulloch, Bridget F. Ayling and Michael J. O’Leary The timing of sea-level high-stands during Marine Isotope Stages 7.5 and 9: Constraints from the uranium-series dating of fossil corals from Henderson Island. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. DOI:10.1016/j.gca.2010.03.020

[38] 2011 Julie Trotter, Paolo Montagna, Malcolm McCulloch, Sergio Silenzi, Stephanie Reynaud, Graham Mortimer, Sophie Martin, Christine Ferrier-Pages, Jean-Pierre Gattuso, Riccardo Rodolfo-Metalpa. Quantifying the pH ‘vital effect’ in the temperate zooxanthellate coral Cladocora caespitose: Validation of the boron seawater pH proxy. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 303 (2011) 163-73 DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2011.01.030
[39] 2011Benjamin D. Walther, Tim Dempster, Mike Letnic, Malcolm McCulloch. Movements of Diadromous Fish in Large Unregulated Tropical Rivers Inferred from Geochemical Tracers. PLoS ONE April 2011 Vol 6 Issue 4 e18351.
[40]2011Iizuka, T., Eggins, S.M., McCulloch, M.T., Kinsley, L.P.J., Mortimer, G. Precise and accurate determination of 14Sm/144Nd and 143Nd/144Nd in monazite using laser ablation-MC-ICPMS. Chemical Geology [Chem. Geol.]. Vol. 282, no. 1-2, pp. 45-57. 7 Mar 2011.
[41]2011Tsuyoshi Iizuka, Oliver Nebel, Malcolm T. McCulloch. Tracing the provenance and recrystallization processes of the Earth's oldest detritus at Mt. Narryer and Jack Hills, Western Australia: An in situ Sm–Nd isotopic study of monazite. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 308 (2011) 350–358
[42] 2011Mason, H.E., Montagna, P., Kubista, L., Taviani, M., McCulloch, M., Phillips, B.L., Phosphate defects and apatite inclusions in coral skeletal aragonite revealed by solid-state NMR spectroscopy. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta DOI: 10.1016/j.gca.2011.10.002
[43] 2011Hernández-Mendiola, E, Bernal, J.P., Lounejeva, E, Mortimer, G.E., McCulloch, M.T.. U-series dating of carbonates using inductively coupled plasma-quadrupole mass spectrometry. Quaternary Geochronology (2011) 1-10. DOI:10.1016/j.quageo.2011.09.001
[44] 2011S.E. Lewis, J.E. Brodie, M.T. McCulloch, J. Mallela, S.D. Jupiter, H. Stuart Williams, J.M. Lough, E.G. Matson. An assessment of an environmental gradient using coral geochemical records,Whitsunday Islands, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Marine Pollution Bulletin (2011), doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.09.030
[45]2012Brian Gulson, Herbert Wong, Michael Korsch, Laura Gomez, Philip Casey, Maxine McCall, Malcolm McCulloch, Julie Trotter, Jenny Stauber, Gavin Greenoak. Comparison of dermal absorption of zinc from different sunscreen formulations and differing UV exposure based on stable isotope tracing. Science of the Total Environment (2012), 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.12.046
[46]2012C. A. Grove, J. Zinke, F. Peeters, W. Park, T. Scheufen, S. Kasper, B. Randriamanantsoa, M. T. McCulloch, and G-J. A. Brummer. Madagascar corals reveal Pacific multidecadal modulation of rainfall since 1708. Climate of the Past Discuss., 8, 787–817, 2012. doi:10.5194/cpd-8-787-2012
[47]2012Malcolm McCulloch, Julie Trotter, Paolo Montagna, Jim Falter, Robert Dunbar, Andre Freiwald, Günter Försterra, Matthias López Correa, Cornelia Maier, Andres Rüggeberg, and Marco Taviani. Resilience of Cold-Water Scleractinian Corals to Ocean Acidification: Boron Isotopic Systematics of pH and Saturation State Up-Regulation. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, DOI: 10.1016/j.gca.2012.03.027
[48]2012Malcolm McCulloch, Jim Falter, Julie Trotter and Paolo Montagna. Coral resilience to ocean acidification and global warming through pH up-regulation. Nature Climate Change, DOI: 10.1038/NCLIMATE1473

Roles, responsibilities and expertise

Professor McCulloch research achievements are broadly based and most recently have focused on the relatively younger part of the geologic timescale, addressing important contemporary issues such as the impacts of climate change and direct anthropogenic activities coral reefs. His research is characterized by the development and application of new sets of quantitative tools utilizing changes in the geochemistry of corals as proxies for determining sediment discharge into reefs, changes in freshwater river runoff, ocean temperatures, sea-levels, and most recently ocean acidification from rising CO2 emissions.
Recent achievements include:
1. Coral Reefs and Global Change
Quantifying increasing anthropogenic sediment and nutrient fluxes into coral reefs:
Although it had long been suspected that since European settlement the influx of land-based sediment and nutrients into the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) has increased, the magnitude and scale of these anthropogenic induced changes and most importantly their impact on the GBR, has been highly contentious. McCulloch (Nature #178) provided the first quantitative geochemical records from the carbonate skeletons of ~300 to 400 year old corals, giving unequivocal evidence for a five to tenfold increase in sediment flux entering the GBR since the arrival of European settlers. This new approach based on the barium geochemistry of coral skeletons is now being used by various agencies (eg. Productivity Commission Report on the GBR, 2003) to assist catchment management programs and is being extended to other coral reefs, such as those in Kenya ( # 220). This approach has now also been extended into the deep oceans where his group (Science # 209) have shown that phosphorous concentrations in deep-sea corals provides a proxy for the nutrient levels in the deep oceans. The work sowed that the nutrient status of large ocean basins such as the Mediterranean, plays a key role in the sustainability of deep-sea corals.

Coral reefs and ocean acidification:
McCulloch led the first program to study longer-term changes in seawater pH from uptake of anthropogenic CO2. This ongoing research based on the boron isotope proxy in corals provides the only means of determining longer term changes in seawater pH. He group has shown both significant natural variability (Science # 201) during the pre-industrial period together with an unexpectedly trend of rapidly decreasing reef water pH in the GBR (#238). This recent trend is broadly correlated with enhanced greenhouse CO2 has important implications for both long-term rates of coral calcification as well as the capacity of the oceans to continue to act as a major sink for CO2.

Sea level changes and past ocean temperatures:
McCulloch undertook some of first high precision, mass-spectrometric U-series dating of coral reefs in Australia and the Huon Peninsula of Papua New Guinea to address key problems such as the timing and magnitude of past changes in sea-levels, and their relationship to ocean temperatures (Science # 151,153,167). He determined the precise timing and duration of the Last Interglacial period showing a rapid sea level rise of +3 to +4 m above present-day heights and significantly warmer ocean temperatures resulting in the southward migration of corals along the Western Australian coastline. The timing of these events has important implications for ice sheet instabilities and the role of Southern Hemisphere forcing for initiating climate change.
His group undertook high precision, mass-spectrometric U-Th dating into Australia (eg. #119,147), combined with Sr/Ca and 18O systematics (# 108) to address key problems such as the precise timing and duration of the Last Interglacial period and the role of El Nino during glacial periods.

Development of an ultra-short wavelength (157 and 193nm) UV laser ablation system for in-situ trace element determinations in corals, carbonates and geological materials:
Under his leadership, ANU undertook the development of a world leading laser ablation ICP-MS system. His group demonstrated the attributes of a short wavelength (193 nm and now 157 nm), laser systems combined with large depth of field. The laser system is coupled to a unique in-house built large sample cell that provides highly efficient sample extraction and a rapid signal response time. This innovative in-situ based methodology is now widely utilized in applications ranging from fish otoliths, to diamonds inclusions. Using this system we have shown, for example, that it is possible to undertake in-situ analyses of individual chambers of foram tests, measure Ba and the LREE’s in long lived coral skeletons, as well as other applications ranging from fish otoliths, speleothems, conodonts etc.

Other achievements
His earlier career achievements mainly had a solid Earth focus and include:
•Developing Sm-Nd crustal formation ages as a key tool in continental evolution studies (Science # 7) providing new insights on the time of formation of continental crust and the provenance of sediments.
•Showing how Nd-Sr-Pb isotope systematics can be used to characterize the source region of granites (#14)and lower crustal xenoliths (Nature, # 15) distinguishing sedimentary from igneous protoliths (S & I-types).
•Providing the first evidence of an early Archaean depleted mantle generated by major early Earth crustal extraction events (Nature, # 11) .
•Making fundamental contributions in the fields of island-arc and ophiolite magma genesis and crust-mantle recycling generally.
•Identifying a unique enriched lithospheric mantle source for kimberlites, the host rocks for Argyle and Ellendale diamonds of Australia (Nature, #18).
•Discovering heavy element (Ba, Nd, Sm) isotopic anomalies in the early Solar Nebula, showing the significance of late stage r-process nucleosynthesis.
•With archaeological colleagues, determining the timing of first human occupation of the Australian continent (# 155), their impact on mega-faunal extinctions (Science # 154), and in Europe the provenance of the ‘Iceman’ (Science # 182).
•Undertaking the first high precision U-series dating and geochemical studies of carbonate cave deposits (speleothems) from Australia and New Zealand (# 143, 160, 161, 163) showing how the hydrological balance responded to glacial/interglacial climate.

Funding received

Year 2011
Professor Malcolm McCulloch, Professor Gregory Ivey, Associate Professor Ryan Lowe, Assistant Professor James Falter, Dr. Ross J. Jones, ‘Indian Ocean Climate Change: Ningaloo Reef, a litmus test for the survival of coral reefs.’, Super Science Fellowships Scheme, Funds Approved: $556,800.00.

Year 2010
Professor Malcolm McCulloch, Dr. James Falter, Associate Professor Ryan Lowe, Assistant Professor Julie Trotter, 'Ocean Acidification and Environmental Change Across a Widening Tropical-Subtropical Gradient.', CSIRO Flagship Collaboration Fund Projects, Funds Approved: $199,000.00.
Year 2009
Professor Malcolm McCulloch, Assistant Professor Julie Trotter, 'Ocean Acidification in a Rapidly Increasing CO2 World', ARC Discovery Projects, Funds Approved: $651,058.00.
Professor Malcolm McCulloch, Winthrop Professor Peter Cawood, A/Professor Mervyn Lynch, Professor Robert Wasson, Prof Paul Lavery, Associate Professor Anya Waite, Associate Professor Ryan Lowe, Associate Professor Matt Kilburn, Dr Julie Trotter, Associate Professor Peta Clode, Dr James Falter, Prof Neal McNaughton, Dr Karl Wyrwoll, Professor Neil Loneragan, 'Advanced Facility for Climate & Environmental Change Research in Australias Indian Ocean Region', Curtin University of Technology, Funds Approved: $150,000.00.
Professor Malcolm McCulloch, Winthrop Professor Peter Cawood, A/Professor Mervyn Lynch, Professor Robert Wasson, Prof Paul Lavery, Associate Professor Anya Waite, Associate Professor Ryan Lowe, Associate Professor Matt Kilburn, Dr Julie Trotter, Associate Professor Peta Clode, Dr James Falter, Prof Neal McNaughton, Dr Karl Wyrwoll, Professor Neil Loneragan, 'Advanced Facility for Climate & Environmental Change Research in Australias Indian Ocean Region', Murdoch University, Funds Approved: $50,000.00.
Professor Malcolm McCulloch, Winthrop Professor Peter Cawood, A/Professor Mervyn Lynch, Professor Robert Wasson, Prof Paul Lavery, Associate Professor Anya Waite, Associate Professor Ryan Lowe, Associate Professor Matt Kilburn, Dr Julie Trotter, Associate Professor Peta Clode, Dr James Falter, Prof Neal McNaughton, Dr Karl Wyrwoll, Professor Neil Loneragan, 'Advanced Facility for Climate & Environmental Change Research in Australias Indian Ocean Region', Edith Cowan University, Funds Approved: $80,000.00.
Professor Malcolm McCulloch, Winthrop Professor Peter Cawood, A/Professor Mervyn Lynch, Professor Robert Wasson, Prof Paul Lavery, Associate Professor Anya Waite, Associate Professor Ryan Lowe, Associate Professor Matt Kilburn, Dr Julie Trotter, Associate Professor Peta Clode, Dr James Falter, Prof Neal McNaughton, Dr Karl Wyrwoll, Professor Neil Loneragan, 'Advanced Facility for Climate & Environmental Change Research in Australias Indian Ocean Region', Charles Darwin University, Funds Approved: $70,000.00.

Professor Malcolm McCulloch, Winthrop Professor Peter Cawood, A/Professor Mervyn Lynch, Professor Robert Wasson, Prof Paul Lavery, Associate Professor Anya Waite, Associate Professor Ryan Lowe, Associate Professor Matt Kilburn, Dr Julie Trotter, Associate Professor Peta Clode, Dr James Falter, Prof Neal McNaughton, Dr Karl Wyrwoll, Professor Neil Loneragan, 'Advanced Facility for Climate & Environmental Change Research in Australias Indian Ocean Region', John De Laeter Centre of Mass Spectrometry, Funds Approved: $750,000.00.
Professor Malcolm McCulloch, Winthrop Professor Peter Cawood, A/Professor Mervyn Lynch, Professor Robert Wasson, Prof Paul Lavery, Associate Professor Anya Waite, Associate Professor Ryan Lowe, Associate Professor Matt Kilburn, Dr Julie Trotter, Associate Professor Peta Clode, Dr James Falter, Prof Neal McNaughton, Dr Karl Wyrwoll, A/Prof Lindsay Collins, Professor Neil Loneragan, Dr Brent McInnes, 'Advanced Facility for Climate & Environmental Change Research in Australias Indian Ocean Region', ARC Linkage Infrastructure Equipment Facilities, Funds Approved: $3,150,000.00.
Professor Malcolm McCulloch, Winthrop Professor Gregory Ivey, Associate Professor Ryan Lowe, Dr James Falter, Dr Ross Jones, 'Indian Ocean Climate Change: Ningaloo Reef, a litmus test for the survival of coral reefs', ARC Super Science Fellowships, Funds Approved: $556,800.00.
Professor Malcolm McCulloch, 'Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies', James Cook University ex ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, Funds Approved: $460,000.00.
Year 2008
Professor Malcolm McCulloch, 'WA Premiers Research Fellowship Program - Professor Malcolm McCulloch', WA Department of Premier & Cabinet, Funds Approved: $1,000,000.00.

Memberships

Elected Fellow of the Royal Society 2010
Elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science 2009
Elected Fellow. American Geophysical Union 2002
Editorial Board Earth and Planetary Science Letters since 2001
Quaternary Science Reviews since 2000
Chemical Geol, 195-2000
Member of RSES Fac. Bd since 1992

Honours and awards

Recipient of Jaeger Medal Australian Academy of Science, 2009
Awarded ISI Honors for Excellence in Australian Research, 2001
Bachelor of Applied Science
Master of Applied Science (WA INst.Tech)
PhD (CALTECH)

Previous positions

Senior Fellow Research School of Earth Sciences ANU, 1990-1996
(Research) Fellowship, 1980-1990
Grad/Res.Asst. and PhD-Candidate Div.Geo. and Planetary Scs Calif.Inst.Tech., 1974-1980
Snr Tutor and Master degree candidate Physics Dept Wa Inst.Tech 1972-74,
Science Teacher at Governor Stirling Senior High School (WA) 1972

New and noteworthy

MEDIA STATEMENTTuesday, May 25, 2010


UWA SCIENTIST AND PREMIER’S FELLOW ELECTED TO THE ROYAL SOCIETY

Coral reef expert, Premier’s Fellow and research leader at The University of Western Australia’s Oceans Institute, Professor Malcolm McCulloch, has been elected to the prestigious Royal Society.

Professor McCulloch is one of 44 new Fellows to join the ranks of the UK and Commonwealth’s leading scientists as the Royal Society celebrates its 350th Anniversary.

UWA Vice-Chancellor Professor Alan Robson said Professor McCulloch’s election to the Society put him alongside the leading scientists of his generation.

“Professor McCulloch is a world-class researcher working in a world-class Oceans Institute at our University,” Professor Robson said. “His research is helping people to recognise and confront the impact of climate change – one of the biggest challenges of our time.”

The Royal Society is the world's oldest scientific academy in continuous existence, and has been at the forefront of enquiry and discovery since its foundation in 1660. The backbone of the Society is its Fellowship of the most eminent scientists of the day, elected by peer review for life and entitled to use FRS after their name.

Professor McCulloch is a distinguished isotope geochemist who, over many years, has made highly original contributions to our understanding of the Earth and early solar systems.

Over the past decade he has been a trailblazer in developing innovative new indicators of climate change preserved in coral skeletons. He has demonstrated a direct link between the degradation of the Great Barrier Reef and the build up of human activity in Australia following colonisation, examining the effects of river runoff on inshore reefs, and of climate change and ocean acidification on coral reefs.

He is one of two Deputy Directors at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Coral Reef Studies and in 2009 was responsible for establishing a new node for the at UWA. He has received a number of prestigious awards, including Fellowships of the Australian Academy of Science (2004), the Geological Society of Australia (2007), the Geochemical Society (2008) and the American Geophysical Union (2002). In 2009, he was awarded the Jaeger Medal in Earth Sciences by the Australian Academy of Sciences.

Martin Rees, President of the Royal Society said: “I am delighted to welcome these new Fellows to the Royal Society in what is a hugely important year for us. These scientists follow in the footsteps of early Fellows such as Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle and Robert Hooke. The new Fellows embody the spirit of enquiry, dedicated to ‘the relief of man’s estate’ on which the Royal Society was founded. That spirit is as alive today as it was 350 years ago.”


MEDIA REFERENCE

Professor Malcolm McCulloch FRS (School of Earth and Environment)(+61 8) 6488 1921
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs)