Dr Cesca McInerney
Senior Research Fellow
School of the Environment
Researcher biography
Dr. Cesca McInerney uses the isotopic and molecular signatures of plant materials to decipher how climate affects terrestrial ecosystems, both in the geologic past and today. Her work includes examining the global warming of the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (56 million years ago), Neogene expansion of grassland ecosystems (15-3 million years ago), tropical climate change from Quaternary lake cores and cave sediments (200,000 years to present), and modern variations in plants and soils. Her applied research focuses on isotopic provenancing of timber, wildlife and agricultural products in order to combat illegal trade.
Cesca received her Bachelors from Yale University and her Masters and PhD from the University of Chicago and then conducted postdoctoral research at the Smithsonian and Pennsylvania State University. She was an Assistant Professor at Northwestern University in Chicago for six years before relocating to Australia for an ARC Future Fellowship at the University of Adelaide. Cesca is now a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Queensland and a Visiting Scientist at CSIRO Agriculture and Food.
Journal Articles
McInerney, Francesca A., Gerber, Christoph, Dangerfield, Emma, Cernusak, Lucas A., Puccini, Athina, Szarvas, Steve, Singh, Tanoj and Welti, Nina (2023). Leaf water δ18 O , δ2 H and d ‐excess isoscapes for Australia using region‐specific plant parameters and non‐equilibrium vapour. Hydrological Processes, 37 (5) e14878, 1-18. doi: 10.1002/hyp.14878
Bunney, Ellyse, McInerney, Francesca A., Dormontt, Eleanor, Malik, Arif, Welti, Nina, Wilkins, David, Plant, Malcolm, Hettiarachchi, Dhanushka S., Thomas, Darren, Dowell, Ashley, Hamalton, Tresa and Lowe, Andrew J. (2022). Safeguarding sandalwood: a review of current and emerging tools to support sustainable and legal forestry. Plants, People, Planet, 5 (2), 190-202. doi: 10.1002/ppp3.10349
Munroe, Samantha E. M., McInerney, Francesca A., Guerin, Greg R., Andrae, Jake W., Welti, Nina, Caddy-Retalic, Stefan, Atkins, Rachel and Sparrow, Ben (2022). Plant families exhibit unique geographic trends in C-4 richness and cover in Australia. PLoS One, 17 (8) e0271603, 1-21. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0271603
McAllister, Meghan S., Morley, Mike W., Tyler, Jonathan J., McInerney, Francesca A. and Blyth, Alison J. (2022). Investigating the palaeoenvironmental context of Late Pleistocene human dispersals into Southeast Asia: a review of stable isotope applications. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 14 (5) 86. doi: 10.1007/s12520-022-01540-3
Munroe, Samantha E. M., Guerin, Greg R., McInerney, Francesca A., Martín-Forés, Irene, Welti, Nina, Farrell, Mark, Atkins, Rachel and Sparrow, Ben (2022). A vegetation carbon isoscape for Australia built by combining continental-scale field surveys with remote sensing. Landscape Ecology, 37 (8), 1987-2006. doi: 10.1007/s10980-022-01476-y
Denis, Elizabeth H., Maibauer, Bianca J., Bowen, Gabriel J., Jardine, Phillip E., Harrington, Guy J., Baczynski, Allison A., McInerney, Francesca A., Collinson, Margaret E., Belcher, Claire M., Wing, Scott L. and Freeman, Katherine H. (2021). Decreased soil carbon in a warming world: degraded pyrogenic carbon during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 566 116970, 116970. doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2021.116970
Munroe, Samantha E. M., McInerney, Francesca A., Andrae, Jake, Welti, Nina, Guerin, Greg R., Leitch, Emrys, Hall, Tony, Szarvas, Steve, Atkins, Rachel, Caddy-Retalic, Stefan and Sparrow, Ben (2021). The photosynthetic pathways of plant species surveyed in Australia’s national terrestrial monitoring network. Scientific Data, 8 (1) 97, 97. doi: 10.1038/s41597-021-00877-z
Karp, Allison T., Andrae, Jake W., McInerney, Francesca A., Polissar, Pratigya J. and Freeman, Katherine H. (2021). Soil carbon loss and weak fire feedbacks during Pliocene C4 grassland expansion in Australia. Geophysical Research Letters, 48 (2) e2020GL090964. doi: 10.1029/2020gl090964
Caddy-Retalic, S., Wardle, G. M., Leitch, E. J., McInerney, F. A. and Lowe, A. J. (2020). Vegetation change along a Mediterranean to arid zone bioclimatic gradient reveals scale-dependent ecotone patterning. Australian Journal of Botany, 68 (8), 574-586. doi: 10.1071/bt20036
Andrae, Jake W., McInerney, Francesca A. and Sniderman, J. M. Kale (2020). Carbon isotope systematics of leaf wax n-alkanes in a temperate lacustrine depositional environment. Organic Geochemistry, 150 104121, 104121. doi: 10.1016/j.orggeochem.2020.104121
Dong, Ning, Prentice, Iain Colin, Wright, Ian J., Evans, Bradley J., Togashi, Henrique F., Caddy‐Retalic, Stefan, McInerney, Francesca A., Sparrow, Ben, Leitch, Emrys and Lowe, Andrew J. (2020). Components of leaf‐trait variation along environmental gradients. New Phytologist, 228 (1), 82-94. doi: 10.1111/nph.16558
Cheesman, Alexander W., Duff, Heather, Hill, Kathryn, Cernusak, Lucas A. and McInerney, Francesca A. (2020). Isotopic and morphologic proxies for reconstructing light environment and leaf function of fossil leaves: a modern calibration in the Daintree Rainforest, Australia. American Journal of Botany, 107 (8), 1165-1176. doi: 10.1002/ajb2.1523
Hill, Katherine G. W., Nielson, Kristine E., Tyler, Jonathan J., McInerney, Francesca A., Doubleday, Zoe A., Frankham, Greta J., Johnson, Rebecca N., Gillanders, Bronwyn M., Delean, Steven and Cassey, Phillip (2020). Pet or pest? Stable isotope methods for determining the provenance of an invasive alien species. Neobiota, 59 (59), 21-37. doi: 10.3897/neobiota.59.53671
Currano, Ellen D., Jacobs, Bonnie F., Bush, Rosemary T., Novello, Alice, Feseha, Mulugeta, Grímsson, Friðgeir, McInerney, Francesca A., Michel, Lauren A., Pan, Aaron D., Phelps, Samuel R., Polissar, Pratigya, Strömberg, Caroline A.E. and Tabor, Neil J. (2020). Ecological dynamic equilibrium in an early Miocene (21.73 Ma) forest, Ethiopia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 539 109425, 109425. doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.109425
Laurin, Jiří, Barclay, Richard S., Sageman, Bradley B., Dawson, Robin R., Pagani, Mark, Schmitz, Mark, Eaton, Jeffrey, McInerney, Francesca A. and McElwain, Jennifer C. (2019). Terrestrial and marginal-marine record of the mid-Cretaceous Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE 2): high-resolution framework, carbon isotopes, CO2 and sea-level change. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 524, 118-136. doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.03.019
Baczynski, Allison A., McInerney, Francesca A., Freeman, Katherine H. and Wing, Scott L. (2019). Carbon isotope record of trace n-alkanes in a continental PETM section recovered by the Bighorn Basin Coring Project (BBCP). Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 34 (5), 853-865. doi: 10.1029/2019PA003579
Andrae, Jake W., McInerney, Francesca A., Tibby, John, Henderson, Andrew C.G., Hall, P. Anthony, Marshall, Jonathan C., McGregor, Glenn B., Barr, Cameron and Greenway, Margaret (2019). Variation in leaf wax n-alkane characteristics with climate in the broad-leaved paperbark (Melaleuca quinquenervia). Organic Geochemistry, 130, 33-42. doi: 10.1016/j.orggeochem.2019.02.004
Caddy-Retalic, Stefan, Hoffmann, Benjamin D., Guerin, Greg R., Andersen, Alan N., Wardle, Glenda M., McInerney, Francesca A. and Lowe, Andrew J. (2019). Plant and ant assemblages predicted to decouple under climate change. Diversity and Distributions, 25 (4), 551-567. doi: 10.1111/ddi.12858
Howard, S., McInerney, F. A., Caddy-Retalic, S., Hall, P. A. and Andrae, J. W. (2018). Modelling leaf wax n-alkane inputs to soils along a latitudinal transect across Australia. Organic Geochemistry, 121, 126-137. doi: 10.1016/j.orggeochem.2018.03.013
Andrae, J. W., McInerney, F. A., Polissar, P. J., Sniderman, J. M.K., Howard, S., Hall, P. A. and Phelps, S. R. (2018). Initial expansion of C4 vegetation in Australia during the late Pliocene. Geophysical Research Letters, 45 (10), 4831-4840. doi: 10.1029/2018GL077833
Greer, Jacinta S., McInerney, Francesca A., Vann, David R. and Song, Xin (2018). Evaluating methods for extraction of α-cellulose from leaves of Melaleuca quinquenervia for stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 32 (9), 711-720. doi: 10.1002/rcm.8085
Baruch, Zdravko, Jones, Alice R., Hill, Kathryn E., McInerney, Francesca A., Blyth, Colette, Caddy-Retalic, Stefan, Christmas, Matthew J., Gellie, Nicholas J.C., Lowe, Andrew J., Martin-Fores, Irene, Nielson, Kristine E. and Breed, Martin F. (2018). Functional acclimation across microgeographic scales in Dodonaea viscosa. AoB PLANTS, 10 (3) ply029. doi: 10.1093/aobpla/ply029
Bush, Rosemary T., Wallace, Jon, Currano, Ellen D., Jacobs, Bonnie F., McInerney, Francesca A., Dunn, Regan E. and Tabor, Neil J. (2017). Cell anatomy and leaf δ13C as proxies for shading and canopy structure in a Miocene forest from Ethiopia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 485, 593-604. doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.07.015
Caddy-Retalic, Stefan, Andersen, Alan N., Aspinwall, Michael J., Breed, Martin F., Byrne, Margaret, Christmas, Matthew J., Dong, Ning, Evans, Bradley J., Fordham, Damien A., Guerin, Greg R., Hoffmann, Ary A., Hughes, Alice C., van Leeuwen, Stephen J., McInerney, Francesca A., Prober, Suzanne M., Rossetto, Maurizio, Rymer, Paul D., Steane, Dorothy A., Wardle, Glenda M. and Lowe, Andrew J. (2017). Bioclimatic transect networks: powerful observatories of ecological change. Ecology and Evolution, 7 (13), 4607-4619. doi: 10.1002/ece3.2995
Baczynski, Allison A., McInerney, Francesca A., Wing, Scott L., Kraus, Mary J., Bloch, Jonathan I. and Secord, Ross (2017). Constraining paleohydrologic change during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum in the continental interior of North America. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 465, 237-246. doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.10.030
Tibby, John, Barr, Cameron, McInerney, Francesca A., Henderson, Andrew C. G., Leng, Melanie J., Greenway, Margaret, Marshall, Jonathan C., McGregor, Glenn B., Tyler, Jonathan J. and McNeil, Vivienne (2016). Carbon isotope discrimination in leaves of the broad-leaved paperbark tree, Melaleuca quinquenervia, as a tool for quantifying past tropical and subtropical rainfall. Global Change Biology, 22 (10), 3474-3486. doi: 10.1111/gcb.13277
Baczynski, Allison A., McInerney, Francesca A., Wing, Scott L., Kraus, Mary J., Morse, Paul E., Bloch, Jonathan I., Chung, Angela H. and Freeman, Katherine H. (2016). Distortion of carbon isotope excursion in bulk soil organic matter during the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 128 (9-10), 1352-1366. doi: 10.1130/B31389.1
Cernusak, Lucas A., Barbour, Margaret M., Arndt, Stefan K., Cheesman, Alexander W., English, Nathan B., Feild, Taylor S., Helliker, Brent R., Holloway-Phillips, Meisha M., Holtum, Joseph A.M., Kahmen, Ansgar, Mcinerney, Francesca A., Munksgaard, Niels C., Simonin, Kevin A., Song, Xin, Stuart-Williams, Hilary, West, Jason B. and Farquhar, Graham D. (2016). Stable isotopes in leaf water of terrestrial plants. Plant Cell and Environment, 39 (5), 1087-1102. doi: 10.1111/pce.12703
Bush, Rosemary T. and McInerney, Francesca A. (2015). Influence of temperature and C4 abundance on n-alkane chain length distributions across the central USA. Organic Geochemistry, 79, 65-73. doi: 10.1016/j.orggeochem.2014.12.003
Baczynski, Allison A., McInerney, Francesca A. and Wing, Scott L. (2014). n-Alkane PETM records from the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming: a core-outcrop comparison. Rendiconti Online Societa Geologica Italiana, 31, 19-20. doi: 10.3301/ROL.2014.24
Clyde, W. C., Gingerich, P. D., Wing, S. L., Röhl, U., Westerhold, T., Bowen, G., Johnson, K., Baczynski, A. A., Diefendorf, A., McInerney, F., Schnurrenberger, D., Noren, A., Brady, K., Acks, R., Baczynski, A., Belcher, C., Bowen, G., Brady, K., Clyde, W., Collinson, M., D'Ambrosia, A., Denis, E., Freeman, K., Gingerich, P., Harrington, G., Jardine, P., Johnson, K., Kraus, M., Maibauer, B. ... Wood, A. (2013). Bighorn Basin Coring Project (BBCP): a continental perspective on early Paleogene hyperthermals. Scientific Drilling, 16 (16), 21-31. doi: 10.5194/sd-16-21-2013
Baczynski, Allison A., McInerney, Francesca A., Wing, Scott L., Kraus, Mary J., Bloch, Jonathan I., Boyer, Doug M., Secord, Ross, Morse, Paul E. and Fricke, Henry C. (2013). Chemostratigraphic implications of spatial variation in the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum carbon isotope excursion, SE Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 14 (10), 4133-4152. doi: 10.1002/ggge.20265
Bush, Rosemary T. and McInerney, Francesca A. (2013). Leaf wax n-alkane distributions in and across modern plants: Implications for paleoecology and chemotaxonomy. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 117, 161-179. doi: 10.1016/j.gca.2013.04.016
Kraus, Mary J., McInerney, Francesca A., Wing, Scott L., Secord, Ross, Baczynski, Allison A. and Bloch, Jonathan I. (2013). Paleohydrologic response to continental warming during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, Bighorn Basin, Wyoming. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 370, 196-208. doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2012.12.008
Lynch, Douglas J., Mcinerney, Francesca A., Kouwenberg, Lenny L.R. and Gonzalez-Meler, Miquel A. (2012). Plasticity in bundle sheath extensions of heterobaric leaves. American Journal of Botany, 99 (7), 1197-1206. doi: 10.3732/ajb.1100525
Sachse, Dirk, Billault, Isabelle, Bowen, Gabriel J., Chikaraishi, Yoshito, Dawson, Todd E., Feakins, Sarah J., Freeman, Katherine H., Magill, Clayton R., McInerney, Francesca A., Van Der Meer, Marcel T.J., Polissar, Pratigya, Robins, Richard J., Sachs, Julian P., Schmidt, Hanns-Ludwig, Sessions, Alex L., White, James W.C., West, Jason B. and Kahmen, Ansgar (2012). Molecular paleohydrology: interpreting the hydrogen-isotopic composition of lipid biomarkers from photosynthesizing organisms. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 40 (1), 221-249. doi: 10.1146/annurev-earth-042711-105535
Secord, Ross, Bloch, Jonathan I., Chester, Stephen G. B., Boyer, Doug M., Wood, Aaron R., Wing, Scott L., Kraus, Mary J., McInerney, Francesca A. and Krigbaum, John (2012). Evolution of the earliest horses driven by climate change in the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum. Science, 335 (6071), 959-962. doi: 10.1126/science.1213859
McInerney, Francesca A., Strömberg, Caroline A. E. and White, James W. C. (2011). The Neogene transition from C3 to C4 grasslands in North America: stable carbon isotope ratios of fossil phytoliths. Paleobiology, 37 (1), 23-49. doi: 10.1666/09068.1
Strömberg, Caroline A. E. and McInerney, Francesca A. (2011). The Neogene transition from C3 to C4 grasslands in North America: Assemblage analysis of fossil phytoliths. Paleobiology, 37 (1), 50-71. doi: 10.1666/09067.1
McInerney, Francesca A. and Wing, Scott L. (2011). The paleocene-eocene thermal maximum: a perturbation of carbon cycle, climate, and biosphere with implications for the future. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 39 (1), 489-516. doi: 10.1146/annurev-earth-040610-133431
McInerney, Francesca A., Helliker, Brent R. and Freeman, Katherine H. (2011). Hydrogen isotope ratios of leaf wax n-alkanes in grasses are insensitive to transpiration. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 75 (2), 541-554. doi: 10.1016/j.gca.2010.10.022
Polissar, Pratigya J., Freeman, Katherine H., Rowley, David B., McInerney, Francesca A. and Currie, Brian S. (2009). Paleoaltimetry of the Tibetan Plateau from D/H ratios of lipid biomarkers. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 287 (1-2), 64-76. doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2009.07.037
Smith, Francesca A., Wing, Scott L. and Freeman, Katherine H. (2007). Magnitude of the carbon isotope excursion at the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum: the role of plant community change. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 262 (1-2), 50-65. doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2007.07.021
Smith, Francesca A. and Freeman, Katherine H. (2006). Influence of physiology and climate on δD of leaf wax n-alkanes from C3 and C4 grasses. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 70 (5), 1172-1187. doi: 10.1016/j.gca.2005.11.006
Wing, Scott L., Harrington, Guy J., Smith, Francesca A., Bloch, Jonathan I., Boyer, Douglas M. and Freeman, Katherine H. (2005). Paleontology: transient floral change and rapid global warming at the Paleocene-Eocene boundary. Science, 310 (5750), 993-996. doi: 10.1126/science.1116913
Smith, Francesca A. and White, James W.C. (2004). Modern calibration of phytolith carbon isotope signatures for C3/C4 paleograssland reconstruction. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 207 (3-4), 277-304. doi: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2003.09.029
Conference Papers
Wing, Scott L., Bloch, Jonathan I., Bowen, Gabriel J., Boyer, Douglas M., Chester, Stephen, Diefendorf, Aaron F., Harrington, Guy J., Kraus, Mary J., Secord, Ross and McInerney, Francesca A. (2009). Coordinated sedimentary and biotic change during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum in the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, USA. Climatic and Biotic Events of the Paleogene (CBEP 2009), Wellington, New Zealand, 12-15 January 2009. Wellington, New Zealand: Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Limited.
Smith, F.A. and Anderson, K.B. (2001). Characterization of organic compounds in phytoliths: Improving the resolving power of phytolith delta C-13 as a tool for paleoecological reconstruction of C3 and C4 grasses. 2nd International Meeting on Phytolith Research, Aix Provence, France, August 1998. Leiden, Netherlands: A A Balkema Publishers.
Data Collections
McInerney, Francesca A , Gerber, Christoph , Dangerfield, Emma , Cernusak, Lucas A , Puccini, Athina , Szarvas, Steve, Singh, Tanoj and Welti, Nina (2022). Australian Leaf Water Isoscapes (ALWI) portal. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/f15ea0a
McInerney, Francesca A. (2022). PETM CIE Data compilation for the publication by McInerney and Wing, 2011.. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/fb006d6