Dr Larissa Schneider

I am an environmental scientist and geochemist working at the intersection of environmental history, geochemistry, palaeoecology and environmental science. My research investigates how human societies have transformed landscapes, ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles through time, with a particular focus on the environmental legacies of colonisation, resource exploitation, industrialisation and global environmental change. By combining historical records, sedimentary archives, elemental and isotope geochemistry, and ecological indicators, I reconstruct past environments and uncover environmental transformations that may otherwise remain undocumented.

A central theme of my research is understanding the environmental consequences of colonisation and industrial development, particularly across Australia, the Southern Hemisphere and developing regions that have historically received less scientific attention. I investigate how mining, industrial pollution, land-use change, introduced species and changing relationships between people and landscapes have altered ecosystems over decades, centuries and millennia. By integrating historical evidence with natural archives, my work examines not only when environmental transformations occurred, but also how they changed ecosystem functioning, biogeochemical processes and the capacity of environments to recover.

I have particular expertise in mercury (Hg) biogeochemistry and isotope geochemistry, which I use to reconstruct historical pollution, trace contaminant pathways and investigate interactions between the atmosphere, oceans, terrestrial ecosystems and food webs. My research increasingly extends the application of mercury isotopes beyond pollution tracing to understand ecological processes, including marine–terrestrial nutrient transfer, biological cycling and the effects of ecological disturbance on elemental pathways.

Another important dimension of my work is reconstructing environmental baselines and the emergence of the Anthropocene. Using palaeoenvironmental archives alongside historical accounts of human settlement, colonisation, resource exploitation and industrial development, I investigate how ecosystems functioned before major human disturbance, how successive human activities reorganised them, and which environmental changes have persisted into the present. This research contributes to broader debates about the timing, geography and environmental consequences of the Anthropocene, particularly from Southern Hemisphere perspectives.

My research also examines the relationships between environmental knowledge, governance and environmental justice. Historical patterns of resource exploitation and pollution have created environmental legacies that continue to affect ecosystems and communities today. Understanding these histories is essential for interpreting contemporary environmental conditions, identifying responsibilities for environmental degradation and informing more equitable approaches to restoration and environmental management.

I am committed to connecting fundamental research with environmental policy and international cooperation. As founder and convenor of Mercury Australia and a contributor to scientific initiatives under the United Nations Minamata Convention on Mercury, I work to translate environmental research into evidence that supports pollution prevention, management of contaminated environments and international environmental governance.

At the Australian National University, I have established an interdisciplinary research program connecting the natural sciences with environmental history and the study of human–environment relationships. Through collaborations with historians, archaeologists, palaeoecologists, atmospheric scientists and geochemists, my research aims to develop a more integrated understanding of how human societies have shaped environmental change, and how knowledge of the past can inform the protection and restoration of ecosystems in the future.