Plant Conservation Unit

Assoc. Prof. Lindsey Gillson PhD (Oxford) email: Lindsey.Gillson@uct.ac.za

Background
Lindsey Gillson joined the Plant Conservation Unit and Botany Department at UCT in April 2006, as a Lecturer in Plant Conservation Biology. She was promoted to Senior Lecturer from 2009 and Associate Professor from 2011.

Lindsey has a BA (Hons) in Pure and Applied Biology from the University of Oxford, an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College, London, and a DPhil from the University of Oxford, specialising in the long-term ecology of east African Savannas. In 2002, she was appointed as the first Trapnell Fellow in African Terrestrial Ecology at the University of Oxford, and developed themes of long-term vegetation change, ecosystem management and conservation in African ecosystems. She initiated a new palaeoecological project in the Kruger National Park and also participated in research in Madagascar, Tanzania and Mozambique. She is currently working on projects in South African biomes, focussing particularly on long-term vegetation dynamics at ecotones.

In 2008, Lindsey was recipient of the National Research Foundation’s President’s Award for Exceptional Research Potential, the UCT Science Faculty Young Researcher’s Award, and the UCT’s Fellows’ Award for Outstanding Scholarly Achievements as a Young Researcher.

Research Interests

• Applied palaeoecology, conservation and ecosystem management
• Theoretical ecology: resilience, thresholds, heterogeneity, variability, complexity and non-equilibrium
• Linking ecological and social systems

Current PostGraduate Students

Successful Past PostGraduate Students and PostDoctoral Researcher

Acknowledgements

Research was funded by Care for the Wild International, the Trapnell Fund and the Trapnell-Higgins Family Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, NERC, Arts and Humanities Research Council, National Research Foundation, Natural Environment Research Council, and UCT’s University Research Fund and African Climate and Development Initiative.

Thanks are also due to the Kenya Wildlife Service, COSTECH (Tanzania), South Africa National Parks, Scientific Services, Kruger National Park, and Mpumalanga Provincial Parks Board.

Publications

Ekblom, A., & L. Gillson, and M. Notelid. 2011. A Historical Ecology of the Limpopo and Kruger National Parks and Lower Limpopo Valley. Journal of Archaeology and Ancient History 1:1-29.

Hoffman, M., M. Cramer, L. Gillson, and M. Wallace. 2011. Pan evaporation and wind run decline in the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa (1974-2005): implications for vegetation responses to climate change. Climatic Change 109:437-452.

Gillson, L., R. J. Ladle, and M. B. Araújo. 2011. Baselines, patterns and process. Pages 31-44 in R. J. Ladle, and R. J. Whittaker, editors. Conservation Biogeography. Blackwell Publishing Ltd, Oxford.

Ladle, R. J., P. Jepson, and L. Gillson. 2011. Social values and conservation biogeography. Pages 13-30 in R. J. Ladle, and R. J. Whittaker., editors. Conservation Biogeography,. Blackwell Publishing Ltd., Oxford.

Richardson, F. D., M. T. Hoffman, and L. Gillson. 2010. Modelling the complex dynamics of vegetation, livestock and rainfall in a semiarid rangeland in South Africa. African Journal of Range & Forage Science 27:125-142.

Ekblom, A., & L. Gillson. 2010a. Fire history and fire ecology of Northern Kruger (KNP) and Limpopo National Park (PNL), southern Africa. The Holocene 20:1063-1077.

Ekblom, A., & L. Gillson. 2010b. Hierarchy and scale: testing the long term role of water, grazing and nitrogen in the savanna landscape of Limpopo National Park (Mozambique). Landscape Ecology 25:1529-1546.

Ekblom, A. & L. Gillson (2010) Dung fungi as indicators of past herbivore abundance, Kruger and Limpopo National Park. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 296, 14-27.

Virah-Sawmy, M., K. J. Willis, and L. Gillson. (2010) Evidence for drought and forest declines during the recent megafaunal extinctions in Madagascar. Journal of Biogeography 37:506-519.

Virah-Sawmy, M., L. Gillson, and K. J. Willis. 2009. How does spatial heterogeneity influence resilience to climatic changes? Ecological dynamics in southeast Madagascar. Ecological Monographs 79:557-574.

Gillson, L., and A. Ekblom. 2009. Resilience and Thresholds in Savannas: Nitrogen and Fire as Drivers and Responders of Vegetation Transition. Ecosystems 12:1189-1203.

Hoffman, M.T., Carrick, P.C., Gillson, L. West, A.G. (2009) Drought, climate change and vegetation response in the succulent karoo biome, South Africa. South African Journal of Science 105: 54-60

Gillson, L. 2009. Landscapes in Time and Space. Landscape Ecology 24:149-155.

Gillson, L., and A. Ekblom. 2009. Untangling anthropogenic and climatic influence on riverine forest in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 18:171-185.

Ladle, R. J., and L. Gillson. 2009. The (im)balance of nature: a public perception time-lag? Public Understanding of Science 18:229-242.

Virah-Sawmy, M., K. J. Willis, and L. Gillson. 2009. Threshold response of Madagascar's littoral forest to sea-level rise. Global Ecology and Biogeography 18:98-110.

Willis, K. J., L. Gillson, and M. Virah-Sawmy. 2008. Nature or nurture: the ambiguity of C4 grasslands in Madagascar. Journal of Biogeography 35:1741-1742.

Gillson, L., A. Ekblom, K. Willis, and C. Froyd. (2008). Holocene palaeo-invasions: the link between pattern, process and scale in invasion ecology? Landscape Ecology 23:757-769.

Duffin, K. I., L. Gillson, and K. J. Willis (2008) Testing the sensitivity of charcoal as an indicator of fire events in savanna environments: quantitative predictions of fire proximity, area and intensity. The Holocene 18: 279-291

Gillson, L. and Hoffman, M.T. (2007) Grazing and "degradation". Science 316 ( 5831): 1565 - 1567

Gillson, L. and Duffin, K. (2007) Thresholds of potential concern as benchmarks in the management of African savannas. Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society of London B.362: 309-319

Willis, K.J., Gillson, L. and Knapp, S. (2007) Biodiversity Hotspots through Time: an Introduction. Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society of London B.362: 169-176

Kalamandeen, M. and Gillson, L. (2007) De-mything 'Wilderness': Implications for Protected Area Designation and Management. Biodiversity Conservation 16:165-182

Gillson, L. and Hoffman, M.T. (2007) Rangeland Ecology in a Changing World. Science 315: 53-54

Gillson, L. (2006) A "Large Infrequent Disturbance" in and East African Savanna. African Journal of Ecology 44:458-467

Willis, K., Gillson, L., Brncic, T., and Figueroa-Rangel, B. (2005) Providing baselines for biodiversity measurement. TRENDS in Ecology and Evolution. 20 (3): 107-108

Gillson, L., Lindsay, K., Bulte, E., and Damiana, E. (2005) Elephants, Ecology, and Nonequilibrium? Science  307: 673-674

Gillson, L., (2004) Evidence of Hierarchical Patch Dynamics in an East African Savanna? Landscape Ecology 19: 883–894.

Gillson, L., (2004) Testing non-equilibrium theories in savannas: 1400 years of vegetation change in Tsavo National Park, Kenya. Ecological Complexity 1: 281–298

Bulte , E., Damania, R., Gillson, L. and Lindsay, K. (2004) Space - The Final Frontier for Economists and Elephants. Science 306: 420-421

Gillson, L. and Willis, K. J. (2004) As Earth’s testimonies tell’: wilderness conservation in a changing world Ecology Letters 7: 990–998

Willis, K., Gillson, L. and Brncic, T. (2004) Virgin Rainforest and Conservation Science 305: 944-945

Willis, K.J., Gillson, L., and Brncic, T. (2004) How “Virgin” is Virgin Rainforest? Science 304: 402-403

Gillson, L., Waldron, S. and Willis, K.J. (2004) Interpreting soil δ 13C as an indicator of spatial and temporal vegetation change in African Savannas. Journal of Vegetation Science 15: 339-350

Gillson, L., Sheridan, M., Brockington, D. (2003) Representing environments in flux: case studies from East Africa. Area 35 (4): 371-389

Viles , H., Gillson, L. (2003) African Environments Themed Papers: Introduction. Area 35 (4): 341-342

Gillson , L., and Lindsay, K. (2003) Ivory and ecology – changing perspectives on elephant management and the international trade in ivory. Environmental Science and Policy 6: 411-419