Publications

Peer-reviewed journal articles

2026

Matuvhunye, T., Berman, D.M., Esterhuizen, N., Razafimanantsoa, A.H.I., et al. including Quick, L.J. (2026). Five years of national airborne pollen monitoring in South Africa: biome-specific calendars to inform allergy diagnosis and prevention. Aerobiologia 42(1), 23.

Wiener, K.D., Grenfell, S.E., Quick, L.J. and Manzano, S. (2026). Variability in geomorphic response to millennial-scale hydroclimatic shifts and fire-induced disturbance: a multi-proxy analysis of a peatland archive from South Africa’s Mediterranean biodiversity hotspot. Geomorphology, 110487.

Blackwood, A.F., Wilkins, J., Arnold, L.J., Demuro, M., Boschian, G., Caruana, M.V., et al. including Quick, L.J. (2026). Regional variability in the Acheulian to Middle Stone Age transition in southern Africa. Scientific Reports 16(1), 9529.

Mosher, S.G., Power, M.J., Quick, L.J., Chase, B.M., Haberzettl, T., Kasper, T., et al. (2026). Multi-millennial reconstruction of fire return intervals from a fynbos–Afrotemperate forest ecotone in the Cape Floristic Region, South Africa. Global and Planetary Change, 105307.

Humphries, M.S., Mey, R., Reimer, P.J. and Quick, L.J. (2026). Intensification of the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds during the last deglaciation (18.5–14.0 cal ka BP): evidence from Pearly Beach wetland on the southern Cape coast of South Africa. Journal of Quaternary Science 41(1), 25–35.

2025

Mosher, S.G., Power, M.J., Chase, B.M., Quick, L.J., Haberzettl, T., Kasper, T., et al. (2025). Evaluating climatic and anthropogenic drivers of fire activity over four millennia at Eilandvlei, southern Cape coast, South Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews 366, 109520.

Helm, C.W., Cawthra, H.C., De Vynck, J.C., Quick, L.J., Stear, W. and Stuart, M. (2025). The unusual, unique ichnology of the rock hyrax (Procavia capensis) and possible Pleistocene tracks and traces from South Africa. Ichnos 32(4), 328–341.

2024

Quick, L.J., Chase, B.M., Chevalier, M., Grobler, B.A. and Manzano, S. (2024). Fire drives major Holocene vegetation shifts between subtropical and Mediterranean-type ecosystems: a case study from a biodiversity hotspot in South Africa. Ecography 2024(12), e07485.

Chapman, E., Liddle, C.R., Williams, B., Hilmer, E., Quick, L.J., Garcia, A.G., et al. (2024). Airborne microplastic monitoring: developing a simplified outdoor sampling approach using pollen monitoring equipment. Journal of Hazardous Materials 480, 136129.

Gharbi, D., Berman, D., Neumann, F.H., Hill, T., Sidla, S., Cilliers, S.S., Staats, J., et al. including Quick, L.J. (2024). Ambrosia (ragweed) pollen: a growing aeroallergen of concern in South Africa. World Allergy Organization Journal 17(12), 101011.

Mosher, S.G., Power, M.J., Quick, L.J., Haberzettl, T., Kasper, T., Kirsten, K.L., et al. (2024). Examining the effects of climate change and human impacts on a high-resolution, late Holocene paleofire record from South Africa’s winter rainfall zone. Quaternary Science Advances 14, 100194.

2023

Manzano, S., Quick, L.J., Chase, B.M., Hoffman, M.T. and Gillson, L. (2023). Long-term vegetation response to rainfall seasonality and fire in the heathlands and shrublands of the Cape Floristic Region (SW South Africa). Global and Planetary Change 220, 104014.

Esterhuizen, N., Berman, D.M., Neumann, F.H., Ajikah, L., Quick, L.J., Hilmer, E., et al. (2023). The South African pollen monitoring network: insights from 2 years of national aerospora sampling (2019–2021). Clinical and Translational Allergy 13(11), e12304.

Helm, C.W., Bamford, M.K., Carr, A.S., Cawthra, H.C., De Vynck, J.C., Dixon, M.G., et al. including Quick, L.J. (2023). Coprolites in cemented Pleistocene deposits on the Cape south coast of South Africa. Journal of Coastal Research 39(2), 221–233.

2022

Quick, L.J., Chase, B.M., Carr, A.S., Chevalier, M., Grobler, B.A. and Meadows, M.E. (2022). A 25,000 year record of climate and vegetation change from the southwestern Cape coast, South Africa. Quaternary Research 105, 82–99.

Davies, B., Power, M.J., Braun, D.R., Douglass, M.J., Mosher, S.G., Quick, L.J., et al. (2022). Fire and human management of late Holocene ecosystems in southern Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews 289, 107600.

Strobel, P., Bliedtner, M., Carr, A.S., Struck, J., Du Plessis, N., Glaser, B., et al. including Quick, L.J. (2022). Reconstructing Late Quaternary precipitation and its source on the southern Cape coast of South Africa: a multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental record from Vankervelsvlei. Quaternary Science Reviews 284, 107467.

2021

Chevalier, M., Chase, B.M., Quick, L.J., Dupont, L.M. and Johnson, T.C. (2021). Temperature change in subtropical southeastern Africa during the past 790,000 yr. Geology 49(1), 71–75.

Braun, D.R., Faith, J.T., Douglass, M.J., Davies, B., Power, M.J., Aldeias, V., et al. including Quick, L.J. (2021). Ecosystem engineering in the Quaternary of the West Coast of South Africa. Evolutionary Anthropology 30(1), 50–62.

2020

Du Plessis, N., Chase, B.M., Quick, L.J., Haberzettl, T., Kasper, T. and Meadows, M.E. (2020). Vegetation and climate change during the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age on the southern Cape coast of South Africa: pollen evidence from Bo Langvlei. The Holocene 30(12), 1716–1727.

Chase, B.M., Boom, A., Carr, A.S., Quick, L.J. and Reimer, P.J. (2020). High-resolution record of Holocene climate change dynamics from southern Africa’s temperate-tropical boundary, Baviaanskloof, South Africa. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 539, 109518.

Kirsten, K.L., Kasper, T., Cawthra, H.C., Strobel, P., Quick, L.J., Meadows, M.E., et al. (2020). Holocene variability in climate and oceanic conditions in the winter rainfall zone of South Africa, inferred from a high resolution diatom record from Verlorenvlei. Journal of Quaternary Science 35(4), 572–581.

Phelps, L.N., Chevalier, M., Shanahan, T.M., Aleman, J.C., et al. including Quick, L.J. (2020). Asymmetric response of forest and grassy biomes to climate variability across the African Humid Period: influenced by anthropogenic disturbance? Ecography 43(8), 1118–1142.

2019

Chase, B.M., Boom, A., Carr, A.S., Chevalier, M., Quick, L.J., Verboom, G.A., et al. (2019). Extreme hydroclimate response gradients within the western Cape Floristic Region of South Africa since the Last Glacial Maximum. Quaternary Science Reviews 219, 297–307.

Strobel, P., Kasper, T., Frenzel, P., Schittek, K., Quick, L.J., Meadows, M.E., et al. (2019). Late Quaternary palaeoenvironmental change in the year-round rainfall zone of South Africa derived from peat sediments from Vankervelsvlei. Quaternary Science Reviews 218, 200–214.

2018

Quick, L.J., Chase, B.M., Wündsch, M., Kirsten, K.L., Chevalier, M., et al. (2018). A high-resolution record of Holocene climate and vegetation dynamics from the southern Cape coast of South Africa: pollen and microcharcoal evidence from Eilandvlei. Journal of Quaternary Science 33(5), 487–500.

Chase, B.M. and Quick, L.J. (2018). Influence of Agulhas forcing of Holocene climate change in South Africa’s southern Cape. Quaternary Research 90(2), 303–309.

Wündsch, M., Haberzettl, T., Cawthra, H.C., Kirsten, K.L., Quick, L.J., Zabel, M., et al. (2018). Holocene environmental change along the southern Cape coast of South Africa: insights from the Eilandvlei sediment record spanning the last 8.9 kyr. Global and Planetary Change 163, 51–66.

Kirsten, K.L., Haberzettl, T., Wündsch, M., Frenzel, P., Meschner, S., Smit, A.J., et al. including Quick, L.J. (2018). A multiproxy study of the ocean-atmospheric forcing and the impact of sea-level changes on the southern Cape coast, South Africa during the Holocene. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 496, 282–291.

2016 and earlier

Quick, L.J., Meadows, M.E., Bateman, M.D., Kirsten, K.L., Mäusbacher, R., et al. (2016). Vegetation and climate dynamics during the last glacial period in the fynbos-afrotemperate forest ecotone, southern Cape, South Africa. Quaternary International 404, 136–149.

Quick, L.J., Carr, A.S., Meadows, M.E., Boom, A., Bateman, M.D., Roberts, D.L., et al. (2015). A late Pleistocene–Holocene multi-proxy record of palaeoenvironmental change from Still Bay, southern Cape coast, South Africa. Journal of Quaternary Science 30(8), 870–885.

Haberzettl, T., Baade, J., Compton, J., Daut, G., Dupont, L., Finch, J., Frenzel, P., et al. including Quick, L.J. (2014). Paleoenvironmental investigations using a combination of terrestrial and marine sediments from South Africa: the RAIN (Regional Archives for Integrated iNvestigations) approach. Zentralblatt für Geologie und Paläontologie, Teil I, 55–73.

Valsecchi, V., Chase, B.M., Slingsby, J.A., Carr, A.S., Quick, L.J., Meadows, M.E., et al. (2013). A high resolution 15,600-year pollen and microcharcoal record from the Cederberg Mountains, South Africa. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 387, 6–16.

Reinwarth, B., Franz, S., Baade, J., Haberzettl, T., Kasper, T., Daut, G., et al. including Quick, L.J. (2013). A 700-year record on the effects of climate and human impact on the southern Cape coast inferred from lake sediments of Eilandvlei, Wilderness Embayment, South Africa. Geografiska Annaler: Series A 95(4), 345–360.

Chase, B.M., Scott, L., Meadows, M.E., Gil-Romera, G., Boom, A., Carr, A.S., et al. including Quick, L.J. (2012). Rock hyrax middens: a palaeoenvironmental archive for southern African drylands. Quaternary Science Reviews 56, 107–125.

Quick, L.J., Chase, B.M., Meadows, M.E., Scott, L. and Reimer, P.J. (2011). A 19.5 kyr vegetation history from the central Cederberg Mountains, South Africa: palynological evidence from rock hyrax middens. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 309(3–4), 253–270.

Chase, B.M., Quick, L.J., Meadows, M.E., Scott, L., Thomas, D.S.G. and Reimer, P.J. (2011). Late glacial interhemispheric climate dynamics revealed in South African hyrax middens. Geology 39(1), 19–22.

Book chapters

Quick, L.J. (2021). Future directions of palaeoecological research in the hyper-diverse Cape Floristic Region: the role of palynological studies. In: Quaternary Vegetation Dynamics, pp. 225–238.

Du Plessis, N., Chase, B.M., Quick, L.J., Strobel, P., Haberzettl, T. and Meadows, M.E. (2021). A c. 650 year pollen and microcharcoal record from Vankervelsvlei, South Africa. Palaeoecology of Africa, pp. 301–308.

Du Plessis, N., Chase, B.M., Quick, L.J. and Meadows, M.E. (2021). A Late Holocene pollen and microcharcoal record from Eilandvlei, southern Cape coast, South Africa. Palaeoecology of Africa, pp. 293–300.

Chevalier, M., Chase, B.M., Quick, L.J. and Scott, L. (2021). An atlas of southern African pollen types and their climatic affinities. Palaeoecology of Africa, pp. 239–258.

Meadows, M.E. and Quick, L.J. (2016). Terrestrial ecosystem changes in the late Quaternary. In: Knight, J. and Grab, S.W. (eds), Quaternary Environmental Change in Southern Africa: Physical and Human Dimensions. Cambridge University Press, pp. 269–283.

Quick, L.J. and Eckardt, F.D. (2015). The Cederberg: a rugged sandstone topography. In: Grab, S.W. and Knight, J. (eds), Landscapes and Landforms of South Africa. World Geomorphological Landscapes series, pp. 85–93.

Popular writing, editorials and conference outputs

Chevalier, M., Colarossi, D., Hare, V.J., Henselowsky, F., Martin-Jones, C., Moorhouse, H., Omuombo, C., Quick, L.J., Razanatsoa, E. and Ssemulende, R. (2018). Quaternary studies in Africa: a perspective from early-career researchers. Past Global Changes Magazine 26(2), 81.

Chase, B.M., Quick, L.J. and Kirsten, K.L. (2016). The African Quaternary: environments, ecology and humans, inaugural AFQUA conference (editorial for the special issue). Quaternary International 404 (Part B), 1.

Fitchett, J.M., Knight, J., Bamford, M.K., Cawthra, H., Esterhuysen, A., Quick, L.J. and Thackeray, J.F. (2017). Discussion on the Last Glacial Maximum in southern Africa, 21st Biennial Conference of the Southern African Society for Quaternary Research (SASQUA). Palaeontologia africana 52.

Guest blog post on Ecology of the Past: “Palaeoecology out on the frontier: the transition from Early Career Researcher (ECR) to head of a new laboratory”, 18 February 2020.