Assoc Prof Jeffrey Stilwell - Researcher Profile

Biography

Jeff works in the School of Geosciences at Monash University as a Senior Lecturer

Jeff’s research areas of interest are:

• Evolutionary Patterns of Invertebrates Through the Phanerozoic and the Characteristics of Those Who Survive Major Crises in Earth History
What is it that makes certain groups of animals (or for that matter any life forms) robust enough to survive a major crisis in Earth history – such as those that managed to continue living across the Permo-Triassic catastrophe about 250 million years ago, when upwards of 80-90% of all life expire? This is one of the major research interests of Jeffrey Stilwell, whose specialty is the Phylum Mollusca – bivalves, snails, and their kin. Stilwell has either led or participated in a number of remote area expeditions – to such places as Antarctica and India and most recently led a National Geographic Expedition to the Chatham Islands where another “crisis assemblage” is being studied by him and his collegues and students, in detail – a Cretaceous/Tertiary shallow marine assemblage of vertebrates, invertebrates, and associated flora – in an attempt to understand the climatic nd palaeoenvironmental conditions across this boundary in the SW Pacific Basin at a time when the eastern part of Gondwana was still intact and movement of fauna between New Zealand, Australia and Antarctica was still possible. Stilwell is also interested in the history of geology and in public outreach, his editing and reproduction of the first shell book ever published, John Mawe’s The Shell Collector’s Pilot, is just one example

 

Keywords

Evolutionary patterns, Invertebrates, Phanerozoic

Qualifications

GEOLOGY

Institution: University of Otago, Dunedin, NZ

Year awarded: 1995

GEOLOGY

Institution: Purdue University, Indianna, US

Year awarded: 1988

GEOLOGY

Institution: Purdue University, Indianna, US

Year awarded: 1984

Publications

Books

Stilwell, J., Long, J., 2011, Frozen in Time: Prehistoric Life in Antarctica, CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood Vic Australia.

Stilwell, J.D., Zinsmeister, W.J., Oleinik, A., 2004, Early Paleocene Mollusks of Antarctica: Systematics, Paleoecology and Paleobiogeographic significance, Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence USA.

Stilwell, J.D., 2003, The Voyager's Companion or Shell Collector's Pilot: The World's First Shell Collecting Guide, Western Australian Museum, Perth WA Australia.

Stilwell, J.D., Feldmann, R.M., 2000, Paleobiology and Paleoenvironments of Eocene Rocks: McMurdo Sound, East Antarctica, American Geophysical Union, USA.

Book Chapters

Stilwell, J.D., Hakansson, E., 2012, Survival, but...! New tales of 'Dead Clade Walking' from Austral and Boreal Post-K-T assemblages, in Earth and Life: Global Biodiversity, Extinction Intervals and Biogeographic Perturbations Through Time, eds John A Talent, Springer Science+Business Media, New York USA, pp. 795-810.

Spencer, H., Marshall, B., Maxwell, P., Grant-Mackie, J., Stilwell, J.D., Willian, R., Campbell, H., Crampton, J., Henderson, R., Bradshaw, M., Waterhouse, B., Jr, J.P., 2009, Phylum Mollusca: Chitons, clams, tusk shells, snails, squids and kin, in New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity, eds Dennis Gordon, Canterbury University Press, Christchurch, New Zealand, pp. 161-254.

Henderson, R.A., Crampton, J.S., Dettmann, M.E., Douglas, J.G., Haig, D., Shafik, S., Stilwell, J.D., Thulborn, R.A., 2000, Biogeographical observations on the Cretaceous Biota of Australasia, in Palaeobiogeography of Australasian faunas and floras, eds A. J. Wright, J. A. Talent, G. C. Young, and J. R. Laurie, Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, pp. 355-398.

Stilwell, J.D., Crampton, J.S., 2000, Cretaceous Bivalvia, Gastropoda and Scaphopoda (Mollusca) of Australasia and their palaeobiogeographic significance,, in Palaeobiogeography of Australasian faunas and floras, eds A. J. Wright, J. A. Talent, G. C. Young, and J. R. Laurie, Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, pp. 399-404.

Journal Articles

Feldman, R., Stilwell, J., 2012, A new glypheid lobster from the Late Cretaceous of Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, Journal of Paleontology [P], vol 86, issue 1, The Paleontological Society, Boulder USA, pp. 1146-1148.

Mays, C., Stilwell, J.D., 2012, Judging an acritarch by its cover: the taxonomic implications of Introvertocystis rangiaotea gen. et sp nov from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) of the Chatham Islands, New Zealand, Palynology [P], vol 36, issue 2, Taylor and Francis Ltd, Philadelphia USA, pp. 180-190.

Stilwell, J., Guilty, P., Mantle, D., 2012, Paleontology of Early Cretaceous deep-water samples dredged from the Wallaby Plateau: new perspectives of Gondwana break-up along the Western Australian margin, AGSO Journal of Australian Geology and Geophysics [E], vol 59, issue 1, Taylor and Francis, Bathurst NSW Australia, pp. 29-49.

Stilwell, J., Consoli, C., 2012, Tectono-stratigraphic history of the Chatham Islands, SW Pacific-The emergence, flooding and reappearance of eastern 'Zealandia', Proceedings of the Geologists' Association [P], vol 123, issue 1, Elsevier, London UK, pp. 170-181.

Sorrentino-Mariconda, L., Cas, R., Stilwell, J., 2011, Evolution and facies architecture of Paleogene Surtseyan volcanoes on Chatham Islands, New Zealand, Southwest Pacific Ocean, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research [P], vol 202, issue 1-2, Elsevier Science BV, Netherlands, pp. 1-21.

Stilwell, J., Dixon, M., Lehner, B., Gamarra, S., 2011, Jurassic-cretaceous boundary ammonite blanfordiceras (Mollusca: Cephalopoda) from Fortissimo-1 wildcat well, Browse Basin, northwest shelf, Australia, Journal of Paleontology [P], vol 85, issue 3, Paleontological Society, USA, pp. 549-552.

Consoli, C., Stilwell, J., 2011, Palaeontology of the Chatham Islands, SW Pacifica review, Alcheringa [P], vol 35, issue 2, Taylor & Francis, Oxon UK, pp. 285-301.

Thompson, D., Stilwell, J., 2010, Early Aptian (Early Cretaceous) freshwater bivalves from the Australian-Antarctic rift, southeast Victoria, Alcheringa [P], vol 34, issue 3, Taylor and Francis, Oxon UK, pp. 345-357.

Stilwell, J.D., Gallagher, S., 2009, Biostratigraphy and macroinvertebrate palaeontology of the petroleum-rich Belfast Mudstone (Sherbrook Group, uppermost Turonian to mid-Santonian), Otway Basin, southeastern Australia, Cretaceous Research [P], vol 30, issue 4, Elsevier Science Ltd, London, UK, pp. 873-884.

Consoli, C., Stilwell, J.D., 2009, Late Cretaceous marine reptiles (Elasmosauridae and Mosasauridae) of the Chatham Islands, New Zealand, Cretaceous Research [P], vol 30, issue 4, Elsevier Science Ltd, London, UK, pp. 991-999.

Consoli, C.P., Pisera, A., Stilwell, J.D., 2009, Siliceous sponges of the Takatika Grit (Cretaceous-Paleogene), Chatham Islands, South Pacific, Journal of Paleontology [P], vol 83, issue 5, Paleontological Society, Lawrence, USA, pp. 811-819.

Trusler, P., Stilwell, J.D., Rich, P.V., 2007, Comment: Future research directions for further analysis of kimberella, Geological Society Special Publication [P], vol 286, Geological Society of London, Special Publication, London UK, pp. 181-185.

Buchanan, L.A., Consoli, C., Stilwell, J.D., 2007, Early paleocene marine vertebrates from the Wangaloa Formation, South Island, New Zealand, New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, vol 50, issue 1, The Royal Society of New Zealand, New Zealand, pp. 33-37.

Stilwell, J.D., 2007, First record of late cretaceous gastropoda (Mollusca) from the Takatika grit, Chatham Islands, Southwest Pacific, New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, vol 50, issue 1, The Royal Society of New Zealand, New Zealand, pp. 21-25.

Stilwell, J.D., 2007, Fossil treasures of the Chatham Islands, New Zealand Science Teacher, vol 116, New Zealand Association of Science Educators, NZ, pp. 28-29.

Rio, C.J., Martinez, S.A., Stilwell, J.D., Concheyro, A., 2007, Palaeontology of the Cerros Bayos section, Roca formation (Danian), La Pampa Province, Argentina, Alcheringa, vol 31, issue 3, Association of Australiasian Palaeontologist, Australia, pp. 241-269.

Stilwell, J.D., 2007, The lost world of Rekohu: unlocking ancient secrets of the Chatham Islands, New Zealand Geographic magazine, vol 87, Kowhai Publishing ltd, Auckland, pp. 8-12.

Stilwell, J.D., Consoli, C., Sutherland, R., Salisbury, S., Rich, T.H., Rich, P.V., Currie, P.J., Wilson, G., 2006, Dinosaur sanctuary on the Chatham Islands, Southwest Pacific: First record of theropods from the K-T boundary Takatika Grit, Palaeogrography, Paleoclimatology, Palaeoecology, vol 230, issue 3-Apr, Elseiver B.V., Netherlands, pp. 243-250.

Stilwell, J.D., 2006, Trilobites and Linnaeus: the first fossil reconstruction from 1759, Archives of Natural History, vol 33, issue 1, The Society for the History of Natural History, London UK, pp. 101-108.

Stilwell, J.D., 2005, A rare, late Paleocene molluscan faunule from the Kings Park Formation, Perth Basin, Western Australia, Alcheringa, vol 29, issue 2, Geological Society of Australia Inc, Australia, pp. 331-340.

Cook, A., Stilwell, J.D., 2005, Fossil limpet from the Cretaceous of North Queensland, Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, vol 51, issue 2, Queensland Museum, Brisbane Qld Australia, p. 398.

Consoli, C.P., Stilwell, J.D., 2005, Late Cretaceous Cephalopoda (Mollusca) from the Takatika Grit, Chatham Islands, Southwest Pacific, New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, vol 48, issue 2, Royal Society of New Zealand, New Zealand, pp. 389-393.

Gallagher, S., Taylor, D.H., Apthorpe, M., Stilwell, J.D., Boreham, C.J., Holdgate, G.R., Wallace, M., Quilty, P.G., 2005, Late Cretaceous dysoxia in a southern high latitude siliciclastic succession, the Otway Basin, southeastern Australia, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, vol 223, issue 3-Apr, Elsevier B. V., Netherland, pp. 317-348.

Stilwell, J.D., Zinsmeister, W.J., 2003, A new gastropod mollusc, Antarctissitys austrodema gen. et sp. nov., from the upper Maastrichtian of Antarctica and its evolutionary significance, Cretaceous Research, vol 24, Elsevier Ltd, London England, pp. 111-118.

Stilwell, J.D., 2003, Diversity, distribution, and evolutionary history of the Austral, Late Cretaceous to Eocene, gastropod Struthioptera (Stromboidea: Aporrhaidae), Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, vol 33, issue 1, SIR Publishing, Wellington New Zealand, pp. 315-340.

Stilwell, J.D., 2003, Macropalaeontology of the Trochocyathus-Trematotrochus band (Paleocene/Eocene boundary), Dilwyn Formation, Otway Basin, Victoria, Alcheringa, vol 27, issue 3-Apr, Geological Society Australia, Sydney NSW Australia, pp. 245-275.

Stilwell, J.D., 2003, Patterns of biodiversity and faunal rebound following the K-T boundary extinction event in Austral Palaeocene molluscan faunas, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, vol 195, issue 3-Apr, Elsevier Science B. V., Amsterdam The Netherlands, pp. 319-356.

Stilwell, J.D., Zinsmeister, W.J., 2002, A new, large acteonid gastropod (Mollusca) from the latest Cretaceous of Antarctica, Journal of Paleontology,, vol 76, issue 6, pp. 1098-1101.

Stilwell, J.D., Henderson, R.A., 2002, Description and paleobiogeographic significance of a rare Cenomanian molluscan faunule from Bathurst Island, northern Australia, Journal of Paleontology,, vol 76, issue 3, pp. 447-471.

Stilwell, J.D., 2002, History of the geological exploration of Cockburn Island, Antarctic Peninsula, Polish Polar Research,, vol 23, issue 1, pp. 47-73.

Stilwell, J.D., Harwood, D.M., Whitehead, J.M., 2002, Mid-Tertiary mollusc-rich clasts from the Battye Glacier Formation, Prince Charles Mountains, East Antarctica, Antarctic Science,, vol 14, issue 1, pp. 69-73.

Sunderam, S., Ayyasami, K., Henderson, R.A., Stilwell, J.D., 2001, A lithostratigraphic revision and palaeoenvironmental assessment of the Cretaceous System developed in the onshore Cauvery Basin, Southern India, Cretaceous Research, vol 22, pp. 743-762.

Stilwell, J.D., 2001, Early evolutionary history of Monalaria (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Struthiolariidae) from the Palaeogene of New Zealand, Alcheringa, vol 25, pp. 395-405.

Stilwell, J.D., Crampton, J.S., 2001, Unusual belemnite-inoceramid bivalve association from the Albian (late Early Cretaceous) of Queensland, Australia, Alcheringa,, vol 25, pp. 391-394.

Willis, P.M., Stilwell, J.D., 2000, A probable piscivorous crocodile from Eocene deposits of McMurdo Sound, East Antarctica, American Geophysical Union Antarctic Research Series, vol 67, pp. 355-358.

Stilwell, J.D., 2000, Eocene Mollusca (Bivalvia, Gastropoda and Scaphopoda) from McMurdo Sound: systematics and paleoecologic significance, American Geophysical Union Antarctic Research Series, vol 67, pp. 261-320.

Long, D.J., Stilwell, J.D., 2000, Fish remains from the Eocene of Mount Discovery, East Antarctica, American Geophysical Union Antarctic Research Series, vol 67, pp. 349-353.

Stilwell, J.D., Zinsmeister, W.J., 2000, Paleobiogeographic synthesis of Eocene fauna and flora, McMurdo Sound, American Geophysical Union Antarctic Research Series, vol 67, pp. 365-372.

Stilwell, J.D., Feldmann, R.M., 2000, Paleobiology and Paleoenvironments of Eocene Rocks, McMurdo Sound, East Antarctica, American Geophysical Union Antarctic Research Series, vol 67, p. 372.

Lee, D., Stilwell, J.D., 2000, Rynchonellide brachiopods from Late Eocene erratics in the McMurdo Sound region, Antarctica, American Geophysical Union Antarctic Research Series, vol 67, pp. 325-327.

Other

Stilwell, J.D., Rich, P.V., 2008, Phanerozoic Invertebrates, when the world radically changed: The Precambrian-Cambrian, Permian-Triassic and Cretaceous-tertiary boundry revolutions, Laboratory manual, Monash University, Monash Science Centre, Melbourne Vic Australia.

Rich, P.V., Stilwell, J.D., 2008, How to write and present a scientific paper, Laboratory manual, Monash University, Monash Science Centre, Melbourne, Australia.

Stilwell, J.D., Rich, P.V., 2008, Processes of fossilisation and preservation styles, Laboratory manual, Monash University, Monash Sciences Centre, Melbourne, Australia.

Postgraduate Research Supervisions

Current Supervision

Program of Study:

(MASTER'S BY RESEARCH).

Thesis Title:

Eruption, erosion and post-volcanic marine faunal colonization, the red bluff tuff formation, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.

Supervisors:

Stilwell, J (Main), Cas, R (Associate), Mays, C (Associate).

Program of Study:

(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).

Thesis Title:

Evaluating ostracod response to the Late Cretaceous thermal maximum using faunal dive.

Supervisors:

Stilwell, J (Main), Hall, W (Associate), Mays, C (Associate).

Program of Study:

(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).

Thesis Title:

Increasing the predictability of coquina facies as prospective petroleum reservoirs in the South Atlantic.

Supervisors:

Hall, W (Joint), Stilwell, J (Joint-co).

Program of Study:

(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).

Thesis Title:

The effects of a transitional tectonic environment on sedimentation processes.

Supervisors:

Hall, W (Main), Stilwell, J (Associate), Tait, A (Associate).

Completed Supervision

Student:

Consoli, C.

Program of Study:

Cretaceous-Paleogene Palaeonvironments and ecosystems of eastern Zealandia: the sedimentology and palaeontology of the Takatika Grit, Chatham Islands, New Zealand. (PHD) 2007.

Supervisors:

Stilwell, J (Main), Rich, P (Associate).

Student:

Mays, C.

Program of Study:

Mid-cretaceous greenhouse environments and floral ecosystems of the South Polar region (75-80 degrees South): the Tupuangi Formation, Chatham Islands, Zealandia. (PHD) 2011.

Supervisors:

Stilwell, J (Main), Hall, W (Associate).

Student:

Poropat, S.

Program of Study:

Early cretaceous Ostracoda of the Santos Basin, Brazil: biostratigraphic analysis and palaeoenvironmental interpretation of the pre-salt strata. (PHD) 2011.

Supervisors:

Stilwell, J (Main), Hall, W (Associate).