Professor Lindsey Gillson

PhD (Oxford)

Office: Room 5.05, HW Pearson Building
Telephone: +27 21 650 5552
Email: Lindsey.Gillson@uct.ac.za

Background

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. From 2002-2006, she was Trapnell Fellow in African Terrestrial Ecology at the University of Oxford. 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, Associate Professor from 2011, and Professor from January 2021.

Lindsey’s work covers themes of long-term vegetation change, ecosystem management and conservation, with a particular focus on African ecosystems. She teaches aspects of Conservation , Ecosystem Management, Global Change and Applied Palaeoecology at undergraduate, honours and masters levels.

Internationally, she is currently a member of the PAGES (Past Global Changes) Scientific Steering Committee (http://pastglobalchanges.org/about/structure/scientific-steering-committee), and the Centre for Australian Biodiversity and Cultural Heritage  Centre Advisory Committee (https://epicaustralia.org.au/). At UCT, she is Deputy Director of the Plant Conservation Unit and is a member of the Science Faculty Animal Ethics Committee and the Environment and Management Working Group. She is Associate Editor of Anthropocene.

Lindsey’s book on palaeoecology, conservation and environmental change was published in 2015.

http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780198713043.do

Awards for research

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. In 2019 she was recipient of the Vice-Chancellor Future Leader’s Award.

Research Interests

• Applied palaeoecology, biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management
• Theoretical ecology: resilience, thresholds, heterogeneity, variability, complexity and non-equilibrium
• Linking ecological and social systems, scenarios and pathways to future sustainability.

Acknowledgements
Current research is funded by the National Research Foundation’s Competitive Fund for Rated Researchers, African Origins Platform, Global Change Grand Challenge (SASSCAL), and the Vice Chancellor’s Future Leader’s Fund. Previous research was funded by African Origins Platform, National Research Foundation, ACCESS, Natural Environment Research Council, UCT’s University Research Fund and African Climate and Development Initiative. 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 funded early research. 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.

Current PostGraduate Students and Post Doctoral Research Fellows

Successful Past Students and PostDoctoral Researchers

Publications

1. Gillson, L. and Ekblom, A. (2020) Using palaeoecology to explore the resilience of southern African savannas. Koedoe, 62(1), a1576. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/koedoe.v62i1.1576

2. Gillson, L. MacPherson, and Hoffman, M.T. (2020) Contrasting mechanisms of resilience at semi-arid and temperate boundaries of fynbos, a mega-diverse heathland of South Africa. Ecological Complexity Vol 42, 100827

3. Humphrey, G. J., Gillson, L., & Ziervogel, G. (2020) How changing fire management policies affect fire seasonality and livelihoods. Ambio, 1-17.

4. Chin, A., Cui, X., Gillson, L., Nelson, D., Taylor, M.P., Vanacker, V. and Wang, E. (2020) Anthropocene in an age of pandemics. Anthropocene.

5. Gillson, L. MacPherson, and Hoffman, M.T. (2020) Contrasting mechanisms of resilience at semi-arid and temperate boundaries of fynbos, a mega-diverse heathland of South Africa. Ecological Complexity Vol 42 Volume 42, 100827

6. Seymour, C., Gillson, L. and others (2019) Horizon scanning for South African biodiversity: A need for social engagement as well as science. Ambio
7. MacPherson, Gillson, L. and Hoffman, M.T. (2019) Between- and within-biome resistance and resilience at the fynbos-forest ecotone, South Africa. Holocene. 29 (11) issue: 11, page(s): 1801-1816
8. Hoffman, M. T., Rohde, R. F., & Gillson, L. (2019). Rethinking catastrophe? Historical trajectories and modelled future vegetation change in southern Africa. Anthropocene. 100189
9.  
10. Gillson, L., C. Whitlock & G. Humphrey. (2019). Resilience and fire management in the Anthropocene. Ecology and Society. 24(3):14. DOI: https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol24/iss3/art14/
11. Breman, E., Ekblom, A., Gillson, L., & Norström, E. (2019). Phytolith-based environmental reconstruction from an altitudinal gradient in Mpumalanga, South Africa, 10,600 BP–present. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 263:104-116
12. Ekblom A, Shoemaker A, Gillson L, Lane P, Lindholm K-J. (2019) Conservation through Biocultural Heritage—Examples from Sub-Saharan Africa. Land. 8(1):5.
13. Gillson, L., Biggs, H., Smit, I. P., Virah-Sawmy, M., & Rogers, K. (2019). Finding Common Ground between Adaptive Management and Evidence-Based Approaches to Biodiversity Conservation. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. Vol 34:1, 31-34
14. Cormier-Salem, M-C., Dunham, A. E., Gordon, C., Belhabib, D., Bennas, N., Duminil, J., Egoh, B. N., MohamedElahamer, A. E., Moise, B. F. E., Gillson, L., Haddane, B., Mensah, A., Mourad, A., Randrianasolo, H., Razafindratsima, O. H., Taleb, M. S., Shemdoe, R., Dowo, G., Amekugbe, M., Burgess, N., Foden, W., Niskanen, L., Mentzel, C., Njabo, K. Y., Maoela, M. A., Marchant, R., Walters, M., and Yao, A. C. (2018) Chapter 3: Status, trends and future dynamics of biodiversity and ecosystems underpinning nature’s contributions to people. In IPBES: The IPBES regional assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services for Africa. Archer, E., Dziba, L., Mulongoy, K. J., Maoela, M. A., and Walters, M. (eds.). Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, Bonn, Germany, pp. 131–206. The IPBES regional assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services for Africa
15. Cramer, M.D., Power, S.C., Belev, A., Gillson, L., Bond, W.J., Hoffman, M.T. and Hedin, L.O. 2018. Are forest‐shrubland mosaics of the Cape Floristic Region an example of alternate stable states? Ecography 42: 1-13. DOI: 10.1111/ecog.03860.
16. Forbes, C.J., Gillson, L. and Hoffman, M.T. 2018. Shifting baselines in a changing world: identifying management targets in endangered heathlands of the Cape Floristic Region, South Africa. Anthropocene 22: 81-93. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2018.05.001
17. MacPherson, A. J., L. Gillson, and M. T. Hoffman. 2018. Climatic buffering and anthropogenic degradation of a Mediterranean-type shrubland refugium at its semi-arid boundary, South Africa. The Holocene 28(4): 651-666.
18. Marchant, R., Richer, S., Boles, O., Capitani, C., Courtney-Mustaphi, C., Widgren, M., & Schrijver, A. P. and others including Gillson, L.  2018. Drivers and trajectories of land cover change in East Africa: Human and environmental interactions from 6000 years ago to present. Earth-Science Reviews, 178: 322-378.
19. Gillson, L. Gell, P. and van Gunten, L. (Eds). 2017. Sustaining Earth’s Biodiversity. Past Global Changes Magazine, vol. 25(2), 76-130. DOI: http://pastglobalchanges.org/products/pages-magazine/10551
20. Gell, P and Gillson, L 2017. Editorial: Sustaining Earth’s Biodiversity. Past Global Changes Magazine, vol. 25(2), 77 http://pastglobalchanges.org/products/pages-magazine/10552
21. Ekblom, A and Gillson, L. 2017. The importance of paleoecology in the conservation and restoration of cultural landscapes Past Global Changes Magazine, vol. 25(2), 88-89 http://pastglobalchanges.org/products/pages-magazine/10558
22. Balvanera, P., Calderon-Contreras, R., Castro, A.J., Felipe-Lucia, M.R., Geijzendorffer, I.R., Jacobs, S., Martin-Lopez, B., Arbieu, U., Speranza, C.I., Locatelli, B., Harguindeguy, N.P., Mercado, I.R., Spierenburg, M.J., Vallet, A., Lynes, L. and Gillson, L. 2017. Interconnected place-based social–ecological research can inform global sustainability. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 29:1–7.
23. Ekblom, A., Gillson, L. and Notelid, M. (2017) Water Flow, Ecological Dynamics and Management in The Lower Limpopo Valley: A Long-Term View. WIREs Water.
24. Chin, Anne, Lindsey Gillson, Steven M. Quiring, Donald R. Nelson, Mark Patrick Taylor, Veerle Vanacker, and Daniel Lovegrove. "An evolving Anthropocene for science and society." Anthropocene 13 (2016): 1-3.
25. Kranabetter, J. M., K. K. McLauchlan, S. K. Enders, J. M. Fraterrigo, P. E. Higuera, J. L. Morris, E. B. Rastetter, R. Barnes, B. Buma, D. G. Gavin, L. M. Gerhart, L. Gillson, P. Hietz, M. C. Mack, B. McNeil, and S. Perakis. 2016. A Framework to Assess Biogeochemical Response to Ecosystem Disturbance Using Nutrient Partitioning Ratios. Ecosystems 19:387-395.
26. Virah-Sawmy, M., Gillson, L., Gardner, C.J, Anderson, A., Clark, G., Haberle,S.. (2016) A landscape vulnerability framework for identifying integrated conservation and adaptation pathways to climate change: the case of Madagascar’s spiny forest. Landscape Ecol (31) 637–654
27. Gillson, L. 2015. Biodiversity Conservation and Environmental Change: Using palaeoecology to manage dynamic landscapes in the Anthropocene. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K.
28. Gillson, L. 2015. Evidence of a tipping point in a southern African savanna? Ecological Complexity 21:78-86.
29. Altwegg, R., A. West, L. Gillson, and G. F. Midgley. 2014. Impacts of climate change in the Greater Cape Floristic Region. Fynbos. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
30. Gillson, L. & Marchant, R. 2014. From myopia to clarity: sharpening the focus of ecosystem management through the lens of palaeoecology. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 29, 317-325.
31. Seddon, A. W. R., A. W. Mackay, A. G. Baker, H. J. B. Birks, E. Breman, C. E. Buck, E. C. Ellis, C. A. Froyd, J. L. Gill, L. Gillson, E. A. Johnson, V. J. Jones, S. Juggins, M. Macias-Fauria, K. Mills, J. L. Morris, D. Nogués-Bravo, S. W. Punyasena, T. P. Roland, A. J. Tanentzap, K. J. Willis, M. Aberhan, E. N. van Asperen, W. E. N. Austin, R. W. Battarbee, S. Bhagwat, C. L. Belanger, K. D. Bennett, H. H. Birks, C. Bronk Ramsey, S. J. Brooks, M. de Bruyn, P. G. Butler, F. M. Chambers, S. J. Clarke, A. L. Davies, J. A. Dearing, T. H. G. Ezard, A. Feurdean, R. J. Flower, P. Gell, S. Hausmann, E. J. Hogan, M. J. Hopkins, E. S. Jeffers, A. A. Korhola, R. Marchant, T. Kiefer, M. Lamentowicz, I. Larocque-Tobler, L. López-Merino, L. H. Liow, S. McGowan, J. H. Miller, E. Montoya, O. Morton, S. Nogué, C. Onoufriou, L. P. Boush, F. Rodriguez-Sanchez, N. L. Rose, C. D. Sayer, H. E. Shaw, R. Payne, G. Simpson, K. Sohar, N. J. Whitehouse, J. W. Williams, and A. Witkowski. 2014. Looking forward through the past: identification of 50 priority research questions in palaeoecology. Journal of Ecology 102:256-267.
32. Gillson, L. (2013) Patch Dynamics. Oxford Bibliographies in Ecology. Ed. David Gibson. New York:Oxford University Press, 30/9/2013 http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199830060/obo-9780199830060-0008.xml
33. McGeoch, M.A., Dawson, T.P., and Gillson, L. (2013) Accommodating the human response for realistic adaptation planning: response to Watson and Segan Trends in Ecology and Evolution 28 (10) 574-575
34. Gillson, L., T. P. Dawson, S. Jack, and M. A. McGeoch. 2013. Accommodating climate change contingencies in conservation strategy. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 28:135-142.
35. Breman, E., L. Gillson, and K. Willis. 2012. How fire and climate shaped grass-dominated vegetation and forest mosaics in northern South Africa during past millennia. The Holocene 22:1427-1439.
36. Gillson, L., G. F. Midgley, and J. L. Wakeling. 2012. Exploring the significance of land-cover change in South Africa. South African Journal of Science 108:3 Pages.
37. Ekblom, A., Gillson, L., Risberg, J., Holmgren, K. & Chidoub, Z. (2012) Rainfall variability and vegetation dynamics of the lower Limpopo Valley, Southern Africa, 500 AD to present. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 363-364, 69-78.
38. 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.
39. 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.
40. 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.
41. 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.
42. 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.
43. 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.
44. 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.
45. Ekblom, A. & L. Gillson (2010) Dung fungi as indicators of past herbivore abundance, Kruger and Limpopo National Park. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 296, 14-27.
46. 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.
47. 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.
48. 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.
49. 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
50. Gillson, L. 2009. Landscapes in Time and Space. Landscape Ecology 24:149-155.
51. 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.
52. Ladle, R. J., and L. Gillson. 2009. The (im)balance of nature: a public perception time-lag? Public Understanding of Science 18:229-242.
53. 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.
54. 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.
55. 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.
56. 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
57. Gillson, L. and Hoffman, M.T. (2007) Grazing and "degradation". Science 316 ( 5831): 1565 - 1567
58. 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
59. 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
60. Kalamandeen, M. and Gillson, L. (2007) De-mything 'Wilderness': Implications for Protected Area Designation and Management. Biodiversity Conservation 16:165-182
61. Gillson, L. and Hoffman, M.T. (2007) Rangeland Ecology in a Changing World. Science 315: 53-54
62. Gillson, L. (2006) A "Large Infrequent Disturbance" in and East African Savanna. African Journal of Ecology 44:458-467
63. 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
64. Gillson, L., Lindsay, K., Bulte, E., and Damiana, E. (2005) Elephants, Ecology, and Nonequilibrium? Science  307: 673-674
65. Gillson, L., (2004) Evidence of Hierarchical Patch Dynamics in an East African Savanna? Landscape Ecology 19: 883–894.
66. Gillson, L., (2004) Testing non-equilibrium theories in savannas: 1400 years of vegetation change in Tsavo National Park, Kenya. Ecological Complexity 1: 281–298
67. Bulte , E., Damania, R., Gillson, L. and Lindsay, K. (2004) Space - The Final Frontier for Economists and Elephants. Science 306: 420-421
68. Gillson, L. and Willis, K. J. (2004) As Earth’s testimonies tell’: wilderness conservation in a changing world Ecology Letters 7: 990–998
69. Willis, K., Gillson, L. and Brncic, T. (2004) Virgin Rainforest and Conservation Science 305: 944-945
70. Willis, K.J., Gillson, L., and Brncic, T. (2004) How “Virgin” is Virgin Rainforest? Science 304: 402-403
71. 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
72. Gillson, L., Sheridan, M., Brockington, D. (2003) Representing environments in flux: case studies from East Africa. Area 35 (4): 371-389
73. Viles , H., Gillson, L. (2003) African Environments Themed Papers: Introduction. Area 35 (4): 341-342
74. 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