Rowan Whittle, Author at British Antarctic Survey

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Rowan Whittle

Palaeobiologist

I am an interdisciplinary scientist, with a first class undergraduate masters degree in Geoscience, a postgraduate masters degree in Biological Science and a PhD in Palaeontology.

UKRI Future Leaders Fellow 2022-present ‘The past, present and future of unique coldwater benthic (sea floor) ecosystems in the Southern Ocean’
Palaeobiologist British Antarctic Survey, 2009 to present
Molluscan Palaeontologist, British Antarctic Survey, 2007 to 2009
Research Associate of Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge, 2017 – present
Honorary Secretary The Malacological Society of London 2016-present
Membership Secretary The Malacological Society of London 2014-2016
NERC funded PhD ‘Systematics, taphonomy and palaeoecology of selected invertebrates from the Late Ordovician Soom Shale Lagerstätte, South Africa’ University of Leicester, 2003-2007
NERC funded MSc ‘Advanced methods in taxonomy and biodiversity’ Natural History Museum, London and Imperial College, 2002-2003
MSci Hons. Geoscience, Royal Holloway, University of London, 1998-2002.

Research interests

As a palaeobiologist at the British Antarctic Survey, my recent research has focussed on the evolution of polar ecosystems on several different levels, from tracing the history of individual taxa through time to looking at the interaction of taxa and the community structure as a whole. These studies have also examined the interaction and evolution of biota through changing climatic and tectonic regimes.

Publications from NERC Open Research Archive

2025

Khan, Tasnuva Ming . Whittle, Rowan J. . Witts, James D. Griffiths, Huw . Manica, Andrea. Mitchell, Emily G. (2025) Metacommunity structural changes of Antarctic benthic invertebrates over the late Maastrichtian.

Khan, Tasnuva Ming . Griffiths, Huw J. . Stephenson, Nile P. Whittle, Rowan J. . Purser, Autun. Manica, Andrea. Mitchell, Emily G. (2025) Competition drives the dispersal dynamics of two cup coral morphs in populations on the Powell Basin slopes, Weddell Sea, Antarctica.

Trotter, Cameron . Griffiths, Huw J. . Whittle, Rowan J. . (2025) Surveying the deep: A review of computer vision in the benthos.

2024

Griffiths, Huw J. . Cummings, Vonda J. Van de Putte, Anton. Whittle, Rowan J. . Waller, Catherine L. (2024) Antarctic benthic ecological change.

Khan, Tasnuva Ming . Griffiths, Huw J. . Whittle, Rowan J. . Stephenson, Nile P. Delahooke, Katie M. Purser, Autun. Manica, Andrea. Mitchell, Emily G. (2024) Network analyses on photographic surveys reveal that invertebrate predators do not structure epibenthos in the deep (~2000m) rocky Powell Basin, Weddell Sea, Antarctica.

2023

Ineson, Jon R. Bowman, Vanessa C. Crame, J. Alistair . Francis, Jane E. Whittle, Rowan J. . (2023) Sequence stratigraphy of a wave-dominated, tidally influenced delta in the Danian of Seymour Island, Antarctica: An integrated sedimentological–palaeoecological approach.

Foster, William J. Allen, Bethany J. Kitzmann, Niklas H. Münchmeyer, Jannes. Rettelbach, Tabea. Witts, James D. Whittle, Rowan J. . Larina, Ekaterina. Clapham, Matthew E. Dunhill, Alexander M. (2023) How predictable are mass extinction events?.

2022

Griffiths, Huw . Whittle, Rowan J. . Mitchell, Emily G. (2022) Animal survival strategies in Neoproterozoic ice worlds.

2021

Smellie, John L. McIntosh, William C. Whittle, Rowan . Troedson, Alexa. Hunt, Richard J. (2021) A lithostratigraphical and chronological study of Oligocene-Miocene sequences on eastern King George Island, South Shetland Islands (Antarctica) and correlation of glacial episodes with global isotope events.

Almond, Peter M. Linse, Katrin . Dreutter, Simon. Grant, Susie M. Griffiths, Huw J. . Whittle, Rowan J. . Mackenzie, Melanie. Reid, William D. K. (2021) In-situ image analysis of habitat heterogeneity and benthic biodiversity in the Prince Gustav Channel, Eastern Antarctic Peninsula..

Witts, James D. Whittle, Rowan J. . Wignall, Paul B. Crame, J. Alistair . Francis, Jane E. Newton, Robert J. Bowman, Vanessa C. (2016) Macrofossil evidence for a rapid and severe Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction in Antarctica.

Bowman, V. Ineson, J. Riding, J. . Crame, J. . Francis, J. Condon, D. Whittle, R. . Ferraccioli, F. . (2016) The Paleocene of Antarctica: dinoflagellate cyst biostratigraphy, chronostratigraphy and implications for the palaeo-Pacific margin of Gondwana.

2015

Jackson, Jennifer A. . Linse, Katrin . Whittle, Rowan . Griffiths, Huw J. . (2015) The evolutionary origins of the Southern Ocean philobryid bivalves: hidden biodiversity, ancient persistence.

2014

Crame, J. Alistair . Beu, Alain G. Ineson, Jon R. Francis, Jane E. Whittle, Rowan J. . Bowman, Vanessa C. (2014) The early origin of the Antarctic Marine Fauna and its evolutionary implications.

Griffiths, Huw J. . Whittle, Rowan J. . Roberts, Stephen J. . Belchier, Mark . Linse, Katrin . Thatje, Sven. Editors: De Broyer, Claude. Koubbi, Philippe. Griffiths, Huw . Raymond, Ben. d'Udekem d'Acoz, Cedric. Van de Putte, Anton. Danis, Bruno. David, Bruno. Grant, Susie . Gutt, Julian. Held, Christoph. Hosie, Graham. Huettmann, Falk. Post, Alexandra. Ropert-Coudert, Yan (2014) Decapoda: crabs and lobsters.

Kemp, David B. Robinson, Stuart A. Crame, J. Alistair . Francis, Jane E. Ineson, Jon. Whittle, Rowan J. . Bowman, Vanessa. O'Brien, Charlotte. (2014) A cool temperate climate on the Antarctic Peninsula during the latest Cretaceous and early Paleogene.

Whittle, Rowan . Quaglio, Fernanda. Griffiths, Huw . Linse, Katrin . Crame, J. Alistair . (2014) The Early Miocene Cape Melville Formation fossil assemblage and the evolution of modern Antarctic marine communities.

2013

Griffiths, H.J. . Whittle, R.J. . Roberts, S.J. . Belchier, M. . Linse, K. . (2013) Antarctic crabs: invasion or endurance?.

2012

Whittle, Rowan J. . Quaglio, Fernanda. Crame, J. Alistair . Linse, Katrin . (2012) Nuculidae (Bivalvia) in the Cape Melville Formation, King George Island, Antarctica, with an overview of the bivalve fauna.

2011

Whittle, Rowan J. . Linse, Katrin . Griffiths, Huw J. . (2011) The fossil record of Limopsis (Bivalvia: Limopsidae) in Antarctica and the southern high latitudes.

Quaglio, Fernanda. Whittle, Rowan Jane . Gaździcki, Andrzej. Simões, Marcello Guimarães. (2011) A new fossil Adamussium (Bivalvia: Pectinidae) from Antarctica.

Whittle, Rowan . Gabbott, Sarah. Aldridge, Richard. Theron, Johannes. (2011) Late Ordovician (Hirnantian) scolecodont clusters from the Soom Shale Lagerstatte, South Africa.

2010

Whittle, Rowan J. . Gabbott, Sarah E. Aldridge, Richard J. Theron, Johannes. (2010) An Ordovician lobopodian from the Soom Shale Lagerstatte, South Africa.

Trotter, C., Griffiths, H., Khan, T., Purser, A., & Whittle, R. (2025). The Weddell Sea Benthic Dataset: A computer vision-ready object detection dataset for in situ benthic biodiversity monitoring model development (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/1ba97e4b-efb7-460b-9f2d-90437e33ce09
Khan, T., Griffiths, H., Whittle, R., Stephenson, N., Delahooke, K., Purser, A., Manica, A., & Mitchell, E. (2025). Organisms identified from OFOBS images from PS118 Profiles 6_9 (Weddell Sea) and 69 (Powell Basin), April – May 2019 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/7fb2f0c1-413c-4cd6-84ab-a504bf431290
Khan, T., Whittle, R., Witts, J., Griffiths, H., Manica, A., & Mitchell, E. (2025). Invertebrate fossil occurrences from the Cretaceous Lopez de Bertodano Formation (Maastrichtian), Seymour Island, housed in the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI), Ithaca, NY (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/c1252fb5-8075-431c-a78b-1c1d8da37c5e
Trotter, C., Griffiths, H., Khan, T., & Whittle, R. (2025). Automated detection of Antarctic benthic organisms in high-resolution in situ imagery to aid biodiversity monitoring: optimal model weights (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/b2874f3f-285d-4ae6-9bb4-6bfe3eacbfff
Linse, K., Grant, S., Whittle, R., Reid, W., McKenzie, M., Federwisch, L., Polfrey, S., & Apeland, B. (2020). Benthic seafloor images from Prince Gustav Channel and Duse Bay, Eastern Antarctic Peninsula, March 2018 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation. https://doi.org/10.5285/48dcef16-6719-45e5-a335-3a97f099e451

The evolution and ecology of Antarctic sea floor communities

Antarctic seafloor ecosystems are both unique and fragile. Studying their past and present gives us valuable insights into how climate change may reshape them.

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Larsen-C Benthos

The Larsen-C Benthos project studied benthic biodiversity on the seabed exposed by the 2017 calving of the Larsen-C Ice Shelf.

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Managing South Orkney’s seafloor communities

SO-AntEco was a British Antarctic Survey (BAS) led expedition undertaken in conjunction with an international team of scientists from the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR) AntEco research programme.

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Impact of global disturbances on evolution of polar life

Why does global biodiversity show such a steep increase just as climates were deteriorating?

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SCIENCE IN THE SEA: The adventure begins

British Antarctic Survey (BAS) palaeobiologist Dr Rowan Whittle is a member of the Larsen C Benthos research cruise onboard the RRS James Clark Ross. Rowan’s primary role is to assist […]

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Learning about the first animals from life at the poles

The amazing survival strategies of polar marine creatures might help to explain how the first animals on Earth could have evolved earlier than the oldest fossils suggest according to new […]

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Marine life recovery following the dinosaurs’ extinction

A new study shows how marine life around Antarctica returned after the extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs. A team led by British Antarctic Survey studied just under 3000 […]

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Major shift in marine life occurred 33 million years later

A new study of marine fossils from Antarctica, Australia, New Zealand and South America reveals that one of the greatest changes to the evolution of life in our oceans occurred […]

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Antarctic fossils show creatures wiped out by asteroid

A study of more than 6,000 marine fossils from the Antarctic shows that the mass extinction event that killed the dinosaurs was sudden and just as deadly to life in the polar regions.

Read more of: Antarctic fossils show creatures wiped out by asteroid