Professor Barry Thomas
Curriculum Vitae
After graduating with a PhD from the University
of Reading, most of my career until 1985 was at Goldsmith’s
College, University of London where I eventually became Dean of
Science and Mathematics. I then moved to the National Museum Wales,
as Keeper of Botany. In 1996 I was appointed a part time chair at
University of Wales, Lampeter, and am now at the Institute of Biological,
Ecological and Rural Sciences at Aberystwyth University. I am also
now Treasurer of the British Institute for Geological Conservation.
My research has been focussed on the taxonomy, geographical and
stratigraphical distribution of Carboniferous herbaceous and arborescent
lycophytes. I pioneered the use of cuticle studies in the taxonomy
of arborescent lycophytes, extended knowledge of in situ spores
in their cones, and demonstrated the use of darkfield light in distinguishing
species of herbaceous Carboniferous Selaginella. During IGCP 469
I extended the knowledge of lycophyte distribution throughout thirteen
coalfields in Europe and the Canadian Maritimes during the late
Moscovian times. The biogeographical relationships between the lycopsid
floras showed some consistent distinction between the more upland
areas (the intramontane basins and the marginal areas of the Variscan
foreland) and the lowland parts of the Variscan foreland in Western
Europe, reflecting the fact that some species are more common in
one or the other habitat. The biogeographical comparison will be
extended westward through IGCP 575. I am also now looking at Asturian
North American lycophytes from the Pennsylvanian coalfield where
the results suggest an isolation of the Pennsylvanian coalfield
from the Canadian Maritimes Coalfield and the European coalfields
by the intervening Arcadian Highlands.
Projects and organisations
British Institute for Geological Conservation: Treasurer
Fellow of the Linnean Society, London
Publications (Books)
.Jermy, A. C., Crabbe, J. A. & Thomas, B. A. (eds) 1973. The
phylogeny and classification of the ferns. The Linnean Society of
London.
Thomas, B. A. 1981. The evolution of plants and flowers. Eurobook
Ltd, 116 pp.
Thomas, B. A. 1986. In search of fossil plants: the life and work
of David Davies (Gilfach Goch). National Museum of Wales, Cardiff
(Geology Series No.8), 54 pp.
Spicer, R. A. & Thomas, B. A. (eds) 1986. Systematic and taxonomic
approaches in palaeobotany. Systematics Association, London (Special
Volume 31).
Thomas, B. A. & Spicer, R. A. 1987. The evolution and palaeobiology
of land plants. Croom Helm, London, 309 pp.
Camus, J., Jermy, A. C. & Thomas, B. A.1991. A world of ferns.
The Natural History Museum, London, 121pp.
Pardoe, H. S. & Thomas, B. A. 1992. Snowdon's plants since
the glaciers: a vegetational history. National Museum of Wales,
Cardiff, 32 pp. (also published in Welsh - Planhigion yr Wyddfa
ers y Rhewlifau: HanesLlysieuol).
Thomas, B. A. & Cleal, C. J. 1993. The Coal Measures forests.
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff , 32 pp.
Groves, M., Read, M. & Thomas, B. A. (eds) 1993. Species endangered
by trade - A role for horticulture? Fauna and Flora Preservation
Society, London, 62 pp.
Cleal, C. J. & Thomas, B. A. 1994. Plant fossils of the British
Coal Measures. Palaeontological Association, London (Field Guide
to Fossils), 222 pp.
Cleal, C. J. & Thomas, B. A. 1995. Palaeozoic palaeobotany
of Great Britain. Chapman & Hall, London, 295 pp. (Geological
Conservation Review Series, No. 9).
Cleal, C. J. & Thomas, B. A. 1995. British Upper Carboniferous
stratigraphy. Chapman & Hall, London, 295 pp. (Geological Conservation
Review Series, No. 11).
Thomas, B. A. & Hutchinson, G. 1996. Welsh Ferns (7th edition).
National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, 265 pp.
Cleal, C. J. & Thomas, B. A. 1998. Dinosaur food. National
Museum of Wales, Cardiff, 32 pp.
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, 335 pp. (Geological
Conservation Review Series, No. 22)
Cleal, C. J. & Thomas, B. A. 2009. Introduction to plant fossils.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 237 pp.
Selected recent papers
Cleal, C. J. & Thomas, B. A. 2001. The conservation of ancient
tropical rain forests. 9-26. In Rushton, B. S., Hackney, P. &
Tyrie, C. R (eds). Biological collections & biodiversity. Westbury
Academic & Scientific Publishing, Otley, West Yorkshire.
Cleal, C. J., Thomas, B. A., Bevins, R. E. & Wimbledon, W.
A. P. 2001. Deciding on a new world order. Earth Heritage, 16, 10-13.
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.
Cleal, C. J., Thomas, B. A., Bevins, R. & Wimbledon, W. A.
2003. The Global Geosites project in Great Britain. Geoscientist,
13, 16-17.
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.
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.
Thomas, B. A., Cleal, C. J. & Barthel, M. 2004. Palaeobotanical
applications of incident-light darkfield microscopy. Palaeontology,
47, 1641-1645.
Thomas, B. A. & Tenchov, Y. 2004. The Upper Westphalian lycophyte
floras of the Dobrudzha Coalfield (Bulgaria) and a comparison with
those of southern Britain and Cape Breton (Canada). Geologica Balcanica,
34, 105-110.
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.
Thomas, B. A. & Cleal, C. J. 2005. Geological conservation
in the United Kingdom. Law, Science and Policy, 2, 269-284.
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.
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. 367-377. 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,
x + 584 pp.
Thomas, B. A. 2007. Phytogeography of Asturian (Westphalian D)
lycophytes throughout the Euramerican belt of coalfields. Geological
Magazine, 144, 457-463.
Thomas, B. A. 2008. An introduction to the history of geological
conservation in the United Kingdom. Open University Geological Society
Journal, 29, 81-87.
Thomas, B. A. & Warren, L. M. 2008. Geological conservation
in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In: Burek, C. V.
& Prosser, C. D (eds) (ed.). The history of geoconservation.
Special Publication of the Geological Society, London, 300, 17-30.
Thomas, B. A. 2009. Darwin and plant fossils. The Linnean, 25,
24-42.
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.
Cleal, C. J., Opluštil, S., Thomas, B. A. & Tenchov, Y.
2010. Late Moscovian terrestrial biotas and palaeoenvironments of
Variscan Euramerica. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences, 88, 181-278.
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.
Dimitrova, T. Kh., Zodrow, E. L., Cleal, C. J. & Thomas, B.
A. 2010. Palynological evidence for Pennsylvanian (Late Carboniferous)
vegetation change in the Sydney Coalfield, eastern Canada. Geological
Journal, 45, 388-396.
Page uploaded on 10 January 2011
