Dr Peter A Thomas

Title: Senior Lecturer in Botanical and Environmental Science
Phone: (+44) 01782 733497
Email:
Location: Huxley 026
Role: Deputy Head of School
Academic Conduct Officer
Director of Recruitment/Schools Liaison Officer
International Co-ordinator for University of Alberta
Study Abroad Tutor for Applied Environmental Science
Contacting me: Try my office or email me
peter thomas

I have been at Keele since 1986. My first degree, BSc (Hons) in Biology from Exeter University was followed by an MSc in Ecology at Aberdeen University.  After working for a year, I moved to the University of New Brunswick, Canada supported by a Commonwealth Scholarship to work for a PhD on the regeneration of trees after forest fires.  While at Keele I have spent sabbatical periods as Visiting Professor at the University of Alberta, Canada and as Bullard Fellow at Harvard University, USA.

fire My research interests are primarily to do with the ecology of individual trees, in particular tree growth and seed production.  One long-term project, following the seed production of beech trees across England, has been running for 30 years and now has the longest continuous dataset.  Another project is looking at the seed production and seedling establishment of Scots pine in wetland situations.  I am also involved in a project on modelling forest growth for silvicultural management.  Further afield, I am part of an international team linking the sulphur content of tree rings to that in soda straws (speleothems) from a cave in Italy, ranging from a consideration of pollution over Europe to mapping sulphur in tree rings at the sub-micron scale using the synchrotron at Grenoble. 

I also continue an interest in the effect of fire on vegetation and have two long-term projects running, one looking at the effect of grazing and fire on the world’s northern most cactus population in northern Canada (running since 1993), and the other following cohorts of cacti as they cope with desert grassland fires in Arizona (running since 1987).  I am part of the Research Institute for the Environment, Physical Sciences and Applied Mathematics (EPSAM).

Public understanding of science is also important to me and I have written a number of articles and books on tree and woodland ecology aimed at the non-specialist.

Selected Publications

  • Packham JR, Thomas PA, Atkinson MD, Degen T. 2012. Biological Flora of the British Isles: Fagus sylvatica. JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, vol. 100(6), 1557-1608. link> doi>
  • Mukassabi TA, Polwart A, Coleshaw T, Thomas PA. 2012. How long can young Scots pine seedlings survive waterlogging?. TREES-STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION, vol. 26(5), 1641-1649. link> doi>
  • Krause, S, Taylor SL, Weatherill, J, Haffenden, A, Cassidy, NJ, Thomas, PA. 2012. Fibre-optic distributed temperature sensing for characterizing the impacts of vegetation coverage on thermal patterns in woodlands. Echoydrology. doi>
  • Mukassabi TA, Polwart A, Coleshaw T, Thomas PA. 2012. Scots pine seed dynamics on a waterlogged site. TREES-STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION, vol. 26(4), 1305-1315. link> doi>
  • Ahmidat TA, Sherif G, Elmogasapi IM, Thomas PA. 2012. Checklist and life forms of plant species in contrasting climatic zones of Libya. Biological Diversity and Conservation, vol. 5(3), 1-12.

Full Publications List show

Books

  • THOMAS P and McAlpine RS. 2010. Fire in the Forest. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. link>
  • Thomas P and Packham JR. 2007. Ecology of woodlands and forests. Cambridge Univ Press.
  • Thomas P. 2000. Trees: Their Natural History. Cambridge Univ Press.

Journal Articles

  • Packham JR, Thomas PA, Atkinson MD, Degen T. 2012. Biological Flora of the British Isles: Fagus sylvatica. JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, vol. 100(6), 1557-1608. link> doi>
  • Mukassabi TA, Polwart A, Coleshaw T, Thomas PA. 2012. How long can young Scots pine seedlings survive waterlogging?. TREES-STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION, vol. 26(5), 1641-1649. link> doi>
  • Krause, S, Taylor SL, Weatherill, J, Haffenden, A, Cassidy, NJ, Thomas, PA. 2012. Fibre-optic distributed temperature sensing for characterizing the impacts of vegetation coverage on thermal patterns in woodlands. Echoydrology. doi>
  • Mukassabi TA, Polwart A, Coleshaw T, Thomas PA. 2012. Scots pine seed dynamics on a waterlogged site. TREES-STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION, vol. 26(4), 1305-1315. link> doi>
  • Ahmidat TA, Sherif G, Elmogasapi IM, Thomas PA. 2012. Checklist and life forms of plant species in contrasting climatic zones of Libya. Biological Diversity and Conservation, vol. 5(3), 1-12.
  • Mukassabi TA, Polwart A, Coleshaw T, Thomas PA. 2012. Does Scots pine seed colour affect its germination?. SEED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, vol. 40(2), 155-162. link>
  • Thomas PA, El-Barghathi M, Polwart A. 2011. Biological Flora of the British Isles: Euonymus europaeus L. JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, vol. 99(1), 345-365. link> doi>
  • Jones GM, Cassidy NJ, Thomas PA, Plante S, Pringle JK. 2009. Imaging and monitoring tree-induced subsidence using electrical resistivity imaging. NEAR SURFACE GEOPHYSICS, vol. 7(3), 191-206. link> full text>
  • Fairchild IJ, Loader NJ, Wynn PM, Frisia S, Thomas PA, Lageard JGA, De Momi A, Hartland A, Borsato A, La Porta N, Susini J. 2009. Sulfur Fixation in Wood Mapped by Synchrotron X-ray Studies: Implications for Environmental Archives. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, vol. 43(5), 1310-1315. link> doi>
  • Thomas PA, El-Barghathi M, Polwart A. 2007. Biological flora of the british isles: Juniperus communis l. JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, vol. 95(6), 1404-1440. link> doi>
  • Lageard JGA, La Porta N, Thomas PA, Loader NJ. 2007. Dendroecology and dendrochemistry in Trentino: the Grotta di Ernesto project. Acta Geologica, vol. 82, 57-63.
  • Thomas PA. 2006. Mortality over 16 years of cacti in a burnt desert grassland. PLANT ECOLOGY, vol. 183(1), 9-17. link> doi>
  • Thomas PA. 2004. Trees burning. TREES, Journal of the International Tree Foundation.
  • Thomas PA and Polwart A. 2003. Biological Flora of the British Isles. \fITaxus baccata\fP L. Journal of Ecology, vol. 91(3), 489-524.
  • Thomas PA. 2000. A tree's old age. NATURAL HISTORY, vol. 109(4), 96. link>
  • Lageard JGA, Chambers FM, Thomas PA. 1999. Climatic significance of the marginalization of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) c. 2508 BC at White Moss, south Cheshire, UK. HOLOCENE, vol. 9(3), 321-331. link> doi>
  • Grant ME, Chambers FM, Thomas PA. 1999. Dendrochronological analysis of a modern mire-rooted population of Pinus sylvestris L. and its significance for the study of subfossil pine layers,. Dendrochronologia, vol. 16-17, 9-20.
  • Chambers FM, Lageard JGA, Boswijk G, Thomas PA, Edwards KJ, Hillam J. 1997. Dating prehistoric bog-fires in northern England to calendar years by long-distance cross-matching of pine chronologies. JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE, vol. 12(3), 253-256. link> doi>
  • De Groot WJ, Thomas PA, Wein RW. 1997. Biological Flora of the British Isles: Betula nana L. and Betula glandulosa Michx.,. Journal of Ecology, vol. 85, 241-264.
  • LAGEARD J, CHAMBERS F, THOMAS P. 1995. RECORDING AND RECONSTRUCTION OF WOOD MACROFOSSILS IN 3-DIMENSIONS. JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE, vol. 22(4), 561-567. link> doi>
  • THOMAS P and WEIN R. 1994. AMELIORATION OF WOOD ASH TOXICITY AND JACK PINE ESTABLISHMENT. CANADIAN JOURNAL OF FOREST RESEARCH-REVUE CANADIENNE DE RECHERCHE FORESTIERE, vol. 24(4), 748-755. link> doi>
  • Thomas PA, Proctor MCF, Maltby E. 1994. The ecology of severe moorland fire on the North York Moors: chemical and physical constraints on moss establishment from spores,. Journal of Ecology, vol. 82, 457-474.
  • THOMAS P and GOODSON P. 1992. CONSERVATION OF SUCCULENTS IN DESERT GRASSLANDS MANAGED BY FIRE. BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION, vol. 60(2), 91-100. link> doi>
  • THOMAS P. 1991. A KEY FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF 18 COMMON TIMBERS. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL EDUCATION, vol. 25(1), 15-19. link> doi>
  • Thomas PA. 1991. Response of cacti and other succulents to fire: a review. The International Journal of Wildland Fire, vol. 1, 11-22.
  • THOMAS P and WEIN R. 1990. JACK PINE ESTABLISHMENT ON ASH FROM WOOD AND ORGANIC SOIL. CANADIAN JOURNAL OF FOREST RESEARCH-REVUE CANADIENNE DE RECHERCHE FORESTIERE, vol. 20(12), 1926-1932. link> doi>
  • Packham JR, Thomas PA, JGA L, Hilton GM. 2008. The English beech masting survey 1980–2007: variation in the fruiting of the common beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and its effects on woodland ecosystems. Arboricultural Journal, vol. 31, 189-214.

Chapters

  • Thomas PA. 2010. General forest ecological processes. In A colour atlas of trees. Bowes BG (Ed.). London: Manson Publishing.

Other

  • Lageard JGA, Thomas PA, Chambers FM. 2000. Using fire scars and growth release in subfossil Scots pine to reconstruct prehistoric fires. PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY (vol. 164, pp. 87-99). link> doi>

Year 1

  • LSC-10037       Diversity of Life
  • ESC-10028       Environmental Science Skills
  • ESC-10039       Fundamentals of Physical Geography
  • ESC-10048       Earth Systems

Year 2

  • LSC-20054       Life at the extremes
  • LSC-20014       Integrated Field Studies
  • ESC-20017       Human Impact of the Environment, Scientific Perspectives

Year 3

  • LSC-30004       Research Project (Biology) (Supervisor)
  • LSC-30007       Dissertation for Biology (Supervisor)
  • LSC-30017       Trees in their Environment (Module Manager)
  • ESC-30019       Applied Environmental Science Independent Research Project (Supervisor)
  • CHE-30013       Forensic Specialisms