Dr James Bendle MSc, PhD

Dr James Bendle

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Reader (Associate Professor) in Organic Geochemistry

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 6156
Email
j.bendle@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@DrBendleJ
View my research portal
Address
School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

James is an organic geochemist specialising in paleoclimatology. His research develops and uses molecular tools to reconstruct past environmental conditions and addresses two key themes: (1) Developing new quantitative paleoclimate proxies; (2) Holocene and Cenozoic climate evolution.

For more information visit his personal website.

Orcid ID: 0000-0002-6826-8658

Qualifications

2010 – PGCHE, University of Glasgow
2003 – PhD, University of Durham
1999 – MSc in Quaternary Science, RHUL and UCL (University of London)

Teaching

He undertakes ca. 80 hours of campus-based and 2 to 3 wks (50-150 hrs) of field based teaching per year.  Including:

  • Palaeoclimates (3rd year UG and M-level)
  • Advanced Field Skills II: Assynt, NW Scotland Field course (2nd year UG)
  • Geog/Geol Final year projects (3rd year)
  • Research Skills (1st Year)
  • Advanced Projects (MSci)
  • Earth Systems (1st year)

Postgraduate supervision

James Bendle uses molecular biomarkers to study modern and past environmental processes and conditions. Organic carbon compounds are ubiquitous, abundant and sometimes overlooked components of oceans, lakes, sedimentary rocks and even atmospheric aerosols. Directly, or indirectly, they fuel all biogeochemical processes. As a paleoclimatologist, trained in molecular biogeochemistry, Dr Bendle is interested in the source, structure, and distribution of such naturally occurring compounds (biomarkers). His research is focused on the development of biomarker proxies of environmental parameters (eg, terrestrial and sea-surface temperatures, relative humidity, C3/C4 plant distribution, wetland extent) and their application to answer questions about past climatic and environmental changes.

Dr Bendle is interested in supervising doctoral researchers in all his areas of interest.

Other activities

  • Doctorial Researcher (DR) tutor for school of Earth Sciences (currently)
  • Director of the NERC CENTA Doctoral Training Partnership (2013-2019)
  • Senior DR tutor for school of GEES and Director of International Recruitment (2012-2013)
  • Membership of the American Geophysical Union, Quaternary Research Association
  • Reviewer for various journals and funding agencies, including: NERC (the UK Natural Environmental Research Council), the NSF, the Research Grant Council (RGC) of Hong Kong and the NWO (the Dutch research council), Nature, PNAS, Geology, Paleoceanography, Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta, Geophysical Research Letters, Paleogeography Paleoclimatology and Paleoecology, Quaternary Science Reviews, Special Publications of The Geological Society of London.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Ling, Y, Zeng, F, Bendle, J, Cheng, J, Zhang, L, Wang, Y & Tian, L 2025, 'Hydroclimatic evolution of the southwestern Tibetan Plateau since the last glacial maximum inferred from multi-proxy data in Lake Zabuye', Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, vol. 664, 112809. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.112809

Warren, B, Seki, O, Greene, SE, Yamoah, KA, Eley, Y, MacKenzie, AR & Bendle, J 2025, 'Impact of elevated CO2 on the δ13C of n-alkane biomarkers', Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, vol. 391, pp. 16-30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2024.11.025

Taylor, J, Selby, D, Lloyd, JM, Smeaton, C, Bendle, J, Allison, M, Ling, Y, Podrecca, L, Sageman, BB, Austin, W & Szidat, S 2025, 'Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of a fjord catchment NW Scotland, UK since the Last Glacial Maximum: A multi-geochemical approach', Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 356, 109311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109311

White, E, van Melik, R & Bendle, J 2024, 'Perceived Impacts of Tourism on Community Identity: Perspectives of Two Scottish Highland Communities', Tourism Planning and Development, vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 917-939. https://doi.org/10.1080/21568316.2024.2398465

Zeng, T, Wang, C, Li, Z, Bendle, J, Yang, Y & Xie, S 2024, 'The influence of Gram-negative bacterial community on the distribution of 3-OH-FAs in soils', Chemical Geology, vol. 667, 122309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2024.122309

Dong, Z, Yang, Y, Wang, C, Bendle, JA, Ruan, X, Lü, X & Xie, S 2023, 'Development of a novel sea surface temperature proxy based on bacterial 3-hydroxy fatty acids', Frontiers in Marine Science, vol. 9, 1050269. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1050269

Thorpe, AC, Mackay, EB, Goodall, T, Bendle, JA, Thackeray, SJ, Maberly, SC & Read, DS 2023, 'Evaluating the use of lake sedimentary DNA in palaeolimnology: A comparison with long‐term microscopy‐based monitoring of the phytoplankton community', Molecular ecology resources. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.13903

De Lira Mota, M, Dunkley Jones, T, Sulaiman, N, Edgar, K, Yamaguchi, T, Leng, MJ, Adloff, M, Greene, S, Norris, R, Warren, B, Duffy, G, Farrant, J, Murayama, M, Hall, J & Bendle, J 2023, 'Multi-proxy evidence for sea level fall at the onset of the Eocene-Oligocene transition', Nature Communications, vol. 14, no. 1, 4748. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-39806-6

Duncan, B, McKay, R, Levy, R, Naish, T, Prebble, JG, Sangiorgi, F, Krishnan, S, Hoem, F, Clowes, C, Jones, TD, Gasson, E, Kraus, C, Kulhanek, DK, Meyers, SR, Moossen, H, Warren, C, Willmott, V, Ventura, GT & Bendle, J 2022, 'Climatic and tectonic drivers of late Oligocene Antarctic ice volume', Nature Geoscience, vol. 15, no. 10, pp. 819–825. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-01025-x

Inglis, GN, Toney, JL, Zhu, J, Poulsen, CJ, Röhl, U, Jamieson, SSR, Pross, J, Cramwinckel, MJ, Krishnan, S, Pagani, M, Bijl, PK & Bendle, J 2022, 'Enhanced Terrestrial Carbon Export From East Antarctica During the Early Eocene', Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, vol. 37, no. 2, e2021PA004348. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021PA004348

Thorpe, AC, Anderson, A, Goodall, T, Thackeray, SJ, Maberly, SC, Bendle, JA, Gweon, HS & Read, DS 2022, 'Sedimentary DNA records long-term changes in a lake bacterial community in response to varying nutrient availability', Environmental DNA, vol. 4, no. 6, pp. 1340-1355. https://doi.org/10.1002/edn3.344

Yang, Y, Wang, C, Bendle, J, Luo, Z, Dang, X, Xue, J, Xiang, X & Xie, S 2021, 'Appraisal of paleoclimate indices based on bacterial 3-hydroxy fatty acids in 20 Chinese alkaline lakes', Organic Geochemistry, vol. 160, 104277. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orggeochem.2021.104277

Ashley, KE, Crosta, X, Etourneau, J, Campagne, P, Gilchrist, H, Ibraheem, U, Greene, SE, Schmidt, S, Eley, Y, Massé, G & Bendle, J 2021, 'Exploring the use of compound-specific carbon isotopes as a palaeoproductivity proxy off the coast of Adélie Land, East Antarctica', Biogeosciences, vol. 18, no. 19, pp. 5555-5571. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-5555-2021

Wang, C, Bendle, JA, Yang, H, Yang, Y, Hardman, A, Yamoah, A, Thorpe, A, Mandel, I, Greene, SE, Huang, J & Xie, S 2021, 'Global calibration of novel 3-hydroxy fatty acid based temperature and pH proxies', Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, vol. 302, pp. 101-119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2021.03.010

Abstract

Baker, G, Bendle, J, Yamoah, K, Greene, L, Allison, M & Greene, S 2025, 'Faecal n-alkanes differ significantly between two lemur species reflecting differences in consumed diet', Organic Geochemistry.

View all publications in research portal