Mark Hardiman

Biography

My research focuses on the investigation and reconstruction of past environments with particular emphasis on understanding abrupt climate change and Earth system response. I joined the University of Portsmouth as a Lecturer in 2013 and became a Senior Lecturer in 2015. As of 2025 I am the Associate Head (Academic) for the School of Environment and Life Sciences.

Research interests

I have two main research specialisms both within the field of Quaternary Science:

1) Geochronology – The key focus of my research is to augment the tephrostratigraphic framework of southern Europe during the Last Glacial Period and to test the synchronicity (or phasing) of the rapid environmental shifts which occurred during this timeframe. I also have a interest in using tephrochronology to test pre-existing age-depth models. I have expertise in detection of cryptotephra layers in sediment sequences, geochemical analysis and correlation of volcanic glass and the use of Bayesian statistics in integrating chronological datasets.

2) Wildfire in the Quaternary – My research assesses wildfires potential role in, and response to, rapid geomorphic and environmental events via charcoal analysis in both complex sediment sequences and high resolution palaeoenvironmental records. I have expertise in quantification, extraction and identification of charcoal fragments (both via optical microscopy and SEM).

Research supervision:

Dr Margarita Tsakiridou (PhD; 2016-2020): Refining our understanding of wildfire during the Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition in the British Isles, (first supervisor), University of Portsmouth.

Eve Horsfall (PhD; 2023-present). Revealing abrupt environmental changes in palaeoclimate records from the Isle of Wight during the Late Quaternary & Holocene (first supervisor), University of Portsmouth.

Dr Paul Lincoln (Senior Research Associate; 2017-2018): Understanding past wildfire regimes in Britain, University of Portsmouth.

Matthew Currie (MRes; 2017-2018): Transport, behavior and breakdown of charcoal, (first supervisor), University of Portsmouth.

Amy Webb (MRes; 2018-2019): The History of Fire on Dartmoor, (first supervisor), University of Portsmouth.

Roy Payne (MRes; 2019-2020): Using FTIR to understand past fire intensity, (first supervisor), University of Portsmouth.

Scarlett Wharram (MRes; 2019-2020): Understanding historical wildfire trends in the UK, (first supervisor), University of Portsmouth.

Elina Vainio (MRes; 2020-2021): Quantifying Post-Fire vegetation regrowth of UK heathlands using LiDAR scanning, (first supervisor), University of Portsmouth.

Nadege Khedun-burgoine (MRes; 2020-2021): Refining our understanding Holocene wildfire trends in the UK, (first supervisor), University of Portsmouth.

Jack Hughes (MRes; 2021-2022): Producing the first charcoal morphotypes record for the Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition in southern England, (first supervisor), University of Portsmouth.

Emilia Evans (MRes; 2023-2024): Augmenting the Late Quaternary stratigraphy and faunal assemblages of East Mersea, Mersea Island, Essex, UK, (First supervisor), University of Portsmouth

Research outputs

2025

Unprecedented burning in tropical peatlands during the 20th century compared to the previous two millennia: Tropical peatland burning through time

Wang, Y., Feldpausch , T., Swindles, G., Moss, P., McGowan, H., Sim, T., Morris, P., Benfield, A., Courtney-Mustaphi, C., Wahl, D., Montoya, E., Githumbi, E., Honorio Coronado, E., Augustijns, F., Verstraeten, G., O'Donnell (Roe), J., Tibby, J., Benavides, J., Hapsari, K. A., Schittek, K., Ramdzan, K. N. M., Bao, K., Cole, L., Anderson, L., Gałka, M., Emuobosa Akpo, O., Strobel, P., Ramya Bala, P., Dommain, R., Marchant, R., Sukumar, R., Chawchai, S., Pullyottum Kavil, S., Mooney, S., Kelly, T., Gao, Y., Voulgarakis, A., Boom, A., Burton, C., Carlos Berrio, J., Ribeiro, K., Anderson, L., Hardiman, M., Spater, M., Page, S., Gallego-Sala, A.

27 May 2025, In: Global Change Biology

Research output: Article

2024

Assessing changes in global fire regimes

Sayedi, S. S., Abbott, B. W., Vannière, B., Leys, B., Colombaroli, D., Romera, G. G., Słowiński, M., Aleman, J. C., Blarquez, O., Feurdean, A., Brown, K., Aakala, T., Alenius, T., Allen, K., Andric, M., Bergeron, Y., Biagioni, S., Bradshaw, R., Bremond, L., Brisset, E., Brooks, J., Brugger, S. O., Brussel, T., Cadd, H., Cagliero, E., Carcaillet, C., Carter, V., Catry, F. X., Champreux, A., Chaste, E., Chavardès, R. D., Chipman, M., Conedera, M., Connor, S., Constantine, M., Courtney Mustaphi, C., Dabengwa, A. N., Daniels, W., De Boer, E., Dietze, E., Estrany, J., Fernandes, P., Finsinger, W., Flantua, S. G. A., Fox-Hughes, P., Gaboriau, D. M., M.Gayo, E., Girardin, M. P., Glenn, J., Glückler, R., González-Arango, C., Groves, M., Hamilton, D. S., Hamilton, R. J., Hantson, S., Hapsari, K. A., Hardiman, M., Hawthorne, D., Hoffman, K., Inoue, J., Karp, A. T., Krebs, P., Kulkarni, C., Kuosmanen, N., Lacourse, T., Ledru, M., Lestienne, M., Long, C., López-Sáez, J. A., Loughlin, N., Niklasson, M., Madrigal, J., Maezumi, S. Y., Marcisz, K., Mariani, M., McWethy, D., Meyer, G., Molinari, C., Montoya, E., Mooney, S., Morales-Molino, C., Morris, J., Moss, P., Oliveras, I., Pereira, J. M., Pezzatti, G. B., Pickarski, N., Pini, R., Rehn, E., Remy, C. C., Revelles, J., Rius, D., Robin, V., Ruan, Y., Rudaya, N., Russell-Smith, J., Seppä, H., Shumilovskikh, L., T.Sommers, W., Tavşanoğlu, Ç., Umbanhowar, C., Urquiaga, E., Urrego, D., Vachula, R. S., Wallenius, T., You, C., Daniau, A.

8 Feb 2024, In: Fire Ecology. 20, 1, 22p., 18

Research output: Article