Dr. Chris J. Cleal
Curriculum Vitae
I started work on late Carboniferous palaeobotany
in 1972, studying for a PhD with Bob Wagner at the University of
Sheffield. My initial interests were a combination of biostratigraphy
and the taxonomy of the Medullosales, based mainly around the Saar-Lorraine
floras, and these have stayed with me most of my working life. After
leaving Sheffield in 1975, I spent two years in the Geology Department
of the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, where I helped curate
the Emily Dix and other collections of Carboniferous plant fossils
held there. I returned to Sheffield for a year to do more work with
Bob Wagner, and then in 1978 joined the Nature Conservancy Council
(NCC), whose geological offices were based in Newbury, Berkshire
(where I still live).
The NCC was then undertaking a complete review of the protected
geological sites in Britain, and I was responsible for the upper
Carboniferous stratigraphical and all palaeobotanical sites. I was
required to visit all sites in Britain showing these interests,
to assess their scientific importance in a national and international
context, ultimately selecting the most important as proposed Sites
of Special Scientific Interest. I also was responsible for organising
excavations and site cleaning work, which included digs on dinosaur
sites on the Isle of Wight, Devonian fish sites in Shropshire, and
Carboniferous palaeobotany sites in the Forest of Dean, north Wales,
Lancashire and Berwickshire.
The NCC work finished in 1988 and I spent two years as a ‘house
husband’ caring for our eldest daughter, Helen. However, in
1990 I was invited by Barry Thomas to join the Botany Department
of the National Museum of Wales, where I have been ever since. Initially
I acted as a research assistant to Barry but, when the department
was later merged with Zoology (to for the Department of Biodiversity
& Systematic Biology) I was appointed Assistant Keeper in charge
of Vegetation History. During this time I have continued to develop
my interest in Carboniferous palaeobotany and terrestrial environments,
including the development of a number of international collaborative
projects, of which IGC 575 is the most recent.
Current research interests
Taxonomy of Palaeozoic Medullosales, Marattiales and Sphenophyta
Biostratigraphy, biogeography and biodiversity of Palaeozoic floras
The interaction of climate and vegetation in Palaeozoic times
Palaeobotanical taxonomic nomenclature
The history of palaeobotany in Britain
Projects and organisations
Late Variscan terrestrial biotas and palaeoenvironments (IGCP 469):
Senior Co-ordinator
Climatic and vegetational changes in the Late Carboniferous tropical
belt (Supported by NATO Science Programme): Project Co-ordinator
Bibliography of European Palaeobotany and Palynology: co-editor
International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT), Fossil Plant
Committee
IUGS Subcommission on Carboniferous Stratigraphy: Corresponding
Member
European Association for the Conservation of Earth Heritage (ProGeo):
British Delegate
British Institute for Geological Conservation: Secretary
Fellow of the Linnean Society and the Geological Society, London
Former editor and Council Member of the Palaeontological Association
Publications (Books)
Cleal, C. J (ed.) 1991. Plant fossils in geological investigation:
the Palaeozoic. Ellis Horwood, Chichester, 233 pp.
Cleal, C. J. & Thomas, B. A. 1995. Palaeozoic palaeobotany of
Great Britain. Chapman & Hall, London, Geological Conservation
Review Series, No. 9, xii + 295 pp.
Cleal, C. J. & Thomas, B. A. 1995. British Upper Carboniferous
stratigraphy. Chapman & Hall, London, xii + 295 pp. (Geological
Conservation Review Series, No. 11)
Cleal, C. J. & Thomas, B. A. 1994. Plant fossils of the British
Coal Measures. Palaeontological Association, London, 222 pp. (Field
Guide to Fossils).
Cleal, C. J. & Thomas, B. A. 1999. Plant fossils. Boydell Press,
Woodbridge, ix + 188 pp., 128 pls. (Fossils Illustrated, Volume
2).
Cleal, C. J., Thomas, B. A., Batten, D. J. & Collinson, M. E.
2001. Mesozoic and Tertiary palaeobotany of Great Britain. Joint
Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough, xviii + 335 pp. (Geological
Conservation Review Series, No. 22)
Anderson, J. M., Anderson, H. M. & Cleal, C. J. 2007. Brief
history of the gymnosperms: classification, biodiversity, phytogeography
and ecology. South Africa National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria,
x + 279 pp (Strelitzia, 20).
Cleal, C. J. & Thomas, B. A. 2009. Introduction to plant fossils.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, viii +237 pp.
Selected recent papers
Thomas, B. A. & Cleal, C. J. 2001. A new early Westphalian D
flora from Aberdulais Falls, South Wales. Proceedings of the Geologists'
Association, 112, 373-377.
Šimunek, Z. & Cleal, C. J. 2002. The taxonomy of middle
Westphalian medullosalean foliage known as 'Alethopteris grandinioides
early form' from the Central and Western Bohemian Basin. Bulletin
of the Czech Geological Survey, 77, 61-64.
Shute, C. H. & Cleal, C. J. 2002. Ecology and growth habit of
Laveineopteris: a gymnosperm from the Late Carboniferous tropical
rain forests. Palaeontology, 45, 943-972.
Cleal, C. J. & Wang Ziqiang. 2002. A new and diverse plant fossil
assemblage from the upper Westphalian Benxi Formation, Shanxi, China,
and its palaeofloristic significance. Geological Magazine, 139,
107-130.
Cleal, C. J. 2002. Two new late Carboniferous Neuropteris species
(Medullosales) from Saarland, Germany and their palaeogeographical
significance. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 139, 193-205.
Evans, B. G., Cleal, C. J., Thomas, B. A. & Wimbledon, W. A.
P. 2003. The Westphalian succession of the Glyn-neath area, South
Wales: an internationally important geological resource. Proceedings
of the Geologists' Association, 114, 291-305.
Pšenicka, J., Bek, J., Zodrow, E. L., Cleal, C. J., & Hemsley,
A. 2003. A new late Westphalian fossil marattialean fern from Nova
Scotia. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 142, 199-212.
Cleal, C. J., Dimitrova, T. Kh. & Zodrow, E. L. 2003. Macrofloral
and palynological criteria for recognising the Westphalian - Stephanian
boundary. Newsletters on Stratigraphy, 39, 181-208.
Cleal, C. J. & Shute, C. H. 2003. Systematics of the Late Carboniferous
medullosalean pteridosperm Laveineopteris and its associated Cyclopteris
leaves. Palaeontology, 46, 353-411.
Šimunek, Z. & Cleal, C. J. 2004. Small-pinnuled odontopterid
medullosaleans from the middle and upper Stephanian of Central Bohemia
and Saar-Lorraine. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 129, 21-38.
Cleal, C. J. & Thomas, B. A. 2004. Late Carboniferous palaeobotany
of the upper Bideford Formation, north Devon: a coastal setting
for a Coal Measures flora. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association,
115, 267-281.
Cleal, C. J. 2004. IGCP 469 Late Westphalian terrestrial biotas
and environments of the Variscan Foreland and adjacent intramontane
basins. Geologica Balcanica, 34, 3-10.
Cleal, C. J., Tenchov, Y. & Zodrow, E. L. 2004. Review of the
late Westphalian early Stephanian macrofloras of the Dobrudzha Coalfield,
Bulgaria. Geologica Balcanica, 34, 11-20.
Cleal, C. J. & Thomas, B. A. 2005. Palaeozoic tropical rainforests
and their effect on global climates: is the past the key to the
present? Geobiology, 3, 13-31.
Cleal, C. J. 2005. The Westphalian macrofloral record from the cratonic
central Pennines Basin, UK. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Gesellschaft
für Geowissenschaften, 156, 387-410.
Cleal, C. J., Lazarus, M. & Townsend, A. 2005. Illustrations
and illustrators during the 'Golden Age' of palaeobotany: 1800-1840.
In: Bowden, A. J., Burek, C. V. & Wilding, R (ed.) History of
palaeobotany: selected essays. Geological Society of London, Special
Publication, 241, 41-61.
Burek, C. V. & Cleal, C. J. 2005. The life and work of Emily
Dix (1904-1972). In: Bowden, A. J., Burek, C. V. & Wilding,
R (ed.) History of palaeobotany: selected essays. Geological Society
of London, Special Publication, 241, 181-196.
Dimitrova, T. Kh., Cleal, C. J. & Thomas, B. A. 2005. Palynology
of late Westphalian early Stephanian coal-bearing deposits in the
eastern South Wales Coalfield. Geological Magazine, 142, 809-821.
Zodrow, E. L., Cleal, C. J. & Tenchov, Y. G. 2006. The Pennsylvanian-aged
Linopteris obliqua tree from the Sydney Coalfield, Nova Scotia.
Canadian Palaeobiology, 13, 5-8.
Zodrow, E. L., Šimunek, Z., Cleal, C. J., Bek, J. & Pšenicka,
J. 2006. Taxonomic revision of the Palaeozoic marattialean fern
Acitheca. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 138, 239-280.
Cleal, C. J. & Shute, C. H. 2007. The effect of drying on epidermal
cell parameters preserved on plant cuticles. Acta Palaeobotanica,
47, 315-326.
Zodrow, E. L., Tenchov, E. L. & Cleal, C. J. 2007. The arborescent
Linopteris obliqua plant (Medullosales, Pennsylvanian). Bulletin
of Geosciences, 82, 51-84.
Dimitrova, T. Kh. & Cleal, C. J. 2007. Palynological evidence
for late Westphalian–early Stephanian vegetation change in
the Dobrudzha Coalfield, NE Bulgaria. Geological Magazine, 144,
513-524.
Cleal, C. J., Tenchov, Y. G., Dimitrova, T. Kh., Thomas, B. A. &
Zodrow, E. L. 2007. Late Westphalian-Early Stephanian vegetational
changes across the Variscan Foreland. In Wong, Th. E (ed.) Proceedings
of the XVth International Congress on Carboniferous and Permian
Stratigraphy. Utrecht, the Netherlands, 10-16 August 2003. Royal
Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam, pp. 367-377.
Cleal, C. J., Zodrow, E. L. & Šimunek, Z.. 2007. Leaf cuticles
from the Pennsylvanian-aged medullosalean Odontopteris cantabrica
Wagner. Acta Palaeobotanica, 47, 327-337.
Cleal, C. J. 2007. The Westphalian-Stephanian macrofloral record
from the South Wales Coalfield. Geological Magazine, 144, 465-486.
Opluštil, S. & Cleal, C. J. 2007. A comparative analysis
of some Late Carboniferous basins of Variscan Europe. Geological
Magazine, 144, 417-448.
Hilton, J. & Cleal C. J. 2007. The relationship between Euramerican
and Cathaysian tropical floras in the Late Palaeozoic: palaeobiogeographical
and palaeogeographical implications. Earth-Science Reviews, 85,
85-116.
Fraser, H. E. & Cleal, C. J. 2007. The contributions of British
women to Carboniferous palaeobotany during the first half of the
20th century. In: Burek, C. V. & Higgs B (ed.) The role of women
in the history of geology. Geological Society of London, Special
Publication, 281, 51-82.
Cleal, C. J. 2008. IGCP 469 Late Variscan terrestrial biotas and
palaeoenvironments. Studia Geologica Polonica, 129, 7-8.
Cleal, C. J. 2008. Macrofloral biostratigraphy of the Ottweiler
Group in Saar-Lorraine and its consequences for Stephanian palynostratigraphy
and geochronology. Studia Geologica lPolonica, 129, 9-23.
Cleal, C. J. 2008. Palaeofloristics of Middle Pennsylvanian lyginopteridaleans
in Variscan Euramerica. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology,
261, 1-14.
Cleal, C. J. 2008. Westphalian-Stephanian macrofloras of the southern
Pennines Basin, UK. Studia Geologica Polonica, 129, 25-41.
Cleal, C. J. 2008. Palaeofloristics of Middle Pennsylvanian medullosaleans
in Variscan Euramerica. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology,
268, 164-180.
Pšenicka, J., Bek, J., Cleal, C. J., Wittry, J. & Zodrow,
E. L. 2009. Description of synangia and spores of the holotype of
the Carboniferous fern Lobatopteris miltoni, with taxonomic comments.
Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 155, 133-144.
Cleal, C. J., Fraser, H. E., Lazarus, M. & Dannell, G. 2009.
The forests before the flood: the palaeobotanical contributions
of Edmund Tyrell Artis (1789-1847). Earth Sciences History, 28,
245-275.
Cleal, C. J., Shute, C. H., Hilton, J. & Carter, J. 2009. A
revision of the Pennsylvanian-aged Eremopteris-bearing seed plant.
International Journal of Plant Sciences, 170, 666-698.
Cleal, C. J. 2010. Proposal to conserve the name Eusphenopteris
Gothan ex Simson-Scharold against Eusphenopteris Kidst (fossil Lyginopteridales).
Taxon, 59, 653-655.
Tenchov, Y. G. & Cleal, C. J. 2010. Neuralethopteris foliage
(Medullosales) in the Carboniferous of Dobrudzha Coalfield, Bulgaria.
Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 158, 298-307.
Cleal, C. J. & Thomas, B. A. 2010. Botanical nomenclature and
plant fossils. Taxon, 59, 261-268.
Cleal, C. J. & Thomas, B. A. 2010. Proposals to modify the provisions
in the Code for naming plant fossils. Taxon, 59, 312-313.
Thomas, B. A., Zodrow, E. L. & Cleal, C. J. 2010. Leafy branches
of Bothrodendron punctatum from the Westphalian D (Asturian) of
Nova Scotia, Canada. Atlantic Geology, 46, 1-6.
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