Dr. Cynthia Froyd

Academic Profile

Cynthia Froyd has a B.S. in Forest Resources Sciences / Botany from Humboldt State University (USA) and an M.S. in Forest Ecology from Oregon State University (USA). She earned a PhD in Quaternary Palaeoecology in 2002 from the University of Cambridge. Her PhD work examined long-term pine forest dynamics in the Scottish Highlands. In addition to her academic experience, Cynthia was employed professionally as an ecologist for the U.S. Forest Service from 1989-2002, focusing on land management planning, fire history, watershed analysis and landscape ecology. She has held a postdoctoral position at the University of Oulu, Finland (2004-2005) and from 2005-2006 was a Lecturer in Physical Geography at St Catherine's College, Oxford.

Cynthia is a physical geographer, specialising in long-term ecology and conservation management. Her primary research interests are applying palaeoecological research techniques (i.e. fossil pollen, charcoal, macrofossil plant remains and stable isotope analyses) to directly inform conservation practice. The aim of her research is to use long-term ecological information to guide conservation and ecological restoration by reconstructing past environmental change at timescales directly relevant to modern conservation issues (i.e 100's to 1,000's of years). She is also interested in elucidating the processes underlying the development of modern ecosystems. Cynthia has conducted research in such diverse regions as western North America, southern Africa, Borneo, Scotland, northern Finland and the Galápagos Islands.

Current Research

Dr Froyd's current research focuses on long-term environmental change and human impact in the Galápagos Islands (Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) project – 'Restoring native biological diversity in the Galápagos Islands: determination of baseline ecological conditions' (NE/C510667/1)). The Galápagos Islands are a National Park, UNESCO World Heritage site and Biosphere Reserve and are globally renowned both for their ecological value and as a world symbol of scientific discovery. However, this unique region currently exhibits some of the highest extinction rates in the world, the result of extensive habitat degradation and widespread impact from non-native species since European colonization.

Dr Froyd and colleagues are using palaeoecological research techniques (fossil pollen, plant macrofossils, testate amoebae, diatoms, geochemistry, and stable isotopes) to reconstruct the long-term changes in the native plant communities and environmental conditions across the Galápagos archipelago. This provides conservation managers with long-term, historical baseline ecological data - information that is critical to the design of an effective programme for the restoration of native biological diversity in Galápagos.

Recent Research Highlights

The removal of non-native plant species in Galápagos has become a key conservation-restoration priority. Fossil pollen and plant macrofossil analysis from the last 8,000 years shows that six presumed introduced or doubtfully native species are in fact native to the archipelago. These findings have significant implications not only for conservation in Galápagos, but for the management of introduced species and pantropical weeds in general.

For more information on this research see: Fossil Pollen as a Guide to Conservation in the Galápagos. Science, 322, 1206.

An interview with Dr Cynthia Froyd is available via podcast on the Science website.

Contact

Email: cynthia.froyd@zoo.ox.ac.uk

Tel: +44 (0)1865 285199

Selected Publications

Froyd, C.A., Lee, J.A., Anderson, A.J., Haberle, S.G., Gasson, P.E. and Willis, K.J. (2010) Historic fuel wood use in the Galápagos Islands: identification of charred remains. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany.

Bale, R.J., Robertson, I., Leavitt, S.W., Loader, N.J., Harlan, T.P., Gagen, M., Young, G.H.F., Csank, A.Z., Froyd, C.A. and McCarroll, D. (2010) Temporal stability in bristlecone pine tree-ring stable oxygen isotope chronologies over the last two centuries. The Holocene, 20(3).

Robertson, I., Froyd, C.A., Gagen, M. and Hicks, S. (2009) Climates of the past: evidence from natural and documentary archives. Journal of Quaternary Science, 24: 1-4.

Froyd, C.A. (2009) Co-editor special issue. Climates of the past: evidence from natural and documentary archives. Journal of Quaternary Science, 24.

Froyd, C.A., van Leeuwen, J.F.N., van der Knaap, W.O., Coffey, E.E., Tye, A., and Willis K.J. (2009) Response to R. Atkinson et al.'s E-Letter. Science Online, 29 May 2009.

van Leeuwen, J.F.N., Froyd, C.A., van der Knaap, W.O., Coffey, E.E., Tye, A., and Willis K.J. (2008) Fossil pollen as a guide to conservation in the Galápagos. Science 322, 1206.

Froyd, C.A., and Willis, K.J. (2008) Emerging issues in biodiversity and conservation management: the need for a palaeoecological perspective. Quaternary Science Reviews 27: 1723-1732.

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

Loader, N.J., Santillo, P.M., Woodman-Ralph, J.P., Rolfe, J.E., Hall, M.A., Gagen, M., Robertson, I., Wilson, R., Froyd, C.A. and McCarroll, D. (2008) Multiple stable isotopes from oak trees in southwestern Scotland and the potential for stable isotope dendroclimatology in maritime climatic regions. Chemical Geology, 252: 62–71.

Willis, K.J., Araujo, M.B., Bennett, K.D., Figueroa-Rangel, B., Froyd, C.A. and Myers, N. (2007) How can a knowledge of the past help to conserve the future? Biodiversity conservation and the relevance of long-term ecological studies. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, 362: 175–186.

Barnekow, L., Loader, N.J, Hicks, S., Froyd, C.A., and Goslar, T. (2007) Strong correlation between summer temperature and pollen accumulation rates for Pinus sylvestris, Picea abies and Betula spp. in a high-resolution record from northern Sweden. Journal of Quaternary Science, 22: 653–658.

Räsänen, S., Froyd, C.A. and Goslar, T. (2007) The impact of tourism and reindeer herding on forest vegetation at Saariselkä, Finnish Lapland: a pollen analytical study of a high resolution peat profile. The Holocene, 17: 447–456.

Froyd, C.A. (2006) Holocene fire in the Scottish Highlands: evidence from macroscopic charcoal records. The Holocene, 16(2): 235-249.

Froyd, C.A. and Bennett, K.D. (2006) Long-term ecology of native pinewood communities in East Glen Affric, Scotland. Forestry, 79: 279-291.

Robertson, I., Loader, N.J., Froyd, C.A., Zambatis, N., Whyte, I., and Woodborne, S. (2006) The potential of the baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) as a proxy climate archive. Applied Geochemistry, 21: 1674–1680.

Froyd, C.A. (2005) Fossil stomata reveal early pine presence in Scotland: implications for postglacial colonization analyses. Ecology, 86(3): 579-586.

Robertson, I., Froyd, C.A., Walsh, R.P.D., Newbery, D.M. and Ong, R.C. (2004) The dating of dipterocarp tree rings: establishing a record of carbon cycling and climatic change in the tropics. Journal of Quaternary Science, 19(7): 657-664.

U.S. Government Publications

Froyd, C.A. (2002) Fire Regimes. In, McCain, C. and Diaz, N. (eds.) Field Guide to the Forested Plant Associations of the Westside Central Cascades of Northwest Oregon. USDA Forest Service, PNW, Technical Paper R6-NR-ECOL-TP-02-02. June, 2002.

Froyd, C.A. (2002) Fire Regimes. In, McCain, C. and Diaz, N. (eds.) Field Guide to the Forested Plant Associations of the Northern Oregon Coast Range. USDA Forest Service, PNW, Technical Paper R6-NR- ECOL-TP-03-02. June, 2002.

Lankford, N., Hagestedt, R., Ervin, D., Shinn, C., Froyd, C.A., Miller, A., Ives, M., and Westerman, J. (2002) Mt. Hood National Forest Pilot Test. In, Wright, P.A. et al. (eds.) Monitoring for Forest Management Unit Scale Sustainability: The Local Unit Criteria and Indicators Development (LUCID) Test, Technical Edition. USDA Forest Service, IMI Report No. 4. April, 2002. 658 pp.

Froyd, C.A., Greene, P., Wanek, R., Helgeson, S. and Cady, L. (1996) North Fork Clackamas River Watershed Analysis. USDA Forest Service, Mt. Hood National Forest. Sept., 1996. 121 pp.

Cady, L., Froyd, C.A., Greene, P., Helgeson, S., Tracy, R. and Wanek, R. (1996) Oak Grove Watershed Analysis. USDA Forest Service, Mt. Hood National Forest. 1996.

Apostol, D., Selvaggio, S., Reinwald, T., Horning, T., Froyd, C.A. and Bryant, L. (1995) Collawash / Hot Springs Watershed Analysis. USDA Forest Service, Mt. Hood National Forest. Sept., 1995. 106 pp.

Froyd, C.A., Hickman, T., Logan, W., Tracy, R., Urich, D., Wanek, R. and Yanez, L. (1995) Eagle Creek Watershed Analysis. USDA Forest Service, Mt. Hood National Forest and USDI Bureau of Land Management. 1995. 149 pp.

Deibel, B., Roden, J., Beyer, M., Collier, G., Froyd, C.A., Greene, P., Horning, T., Hubbs, H., McKnight, M., Rice, J. Selvaggio, S. and Wanek, R. (1995) Upper Clackamas Watershed Analysis. USDA Forest Service, Mt. Hood National Forest. March, 1995. 202 pp.

Bryant, L., Froyd, C.A., Hickman, T., Kneeland, R., McArthur, M. and Wanek, R. (1994) Fish Creek Watershed Analysis. USDA Forest Service, Mt. Hood National Forest. Sept., 1994. 273 pp.

Jones, S., Shlisky, A., Haglund, J., Dobson, R. Hagestedt, R., Roland, J., Sinclair, M., Faler, M., Hale, K., Froyd, C.A., Hubbs, H. and York, S. (1993) Columbia River: The Gifford Pinchot and Mt. Hood National Forests and the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. In, Rogan, T. et al. (eds.) A First Approximation of Ecosystem Health, USDA Forest Service, PNW. June, 1993. 109 pp.

Beatty, J., Bowman, K.C., Burns, D., Boyer, D., Campbell, S., Davis, M., Doede, D., Froyd, C.A., O'Day, M., Perez, G., Roberts, F., Smith, B., Srago, M., Tresidder, K.C., Ulbrich, J., Weber, D., Wetherill, R., Wheeler, R., Whitney, S., Williams, J., Wilson, K. and Zalunardo, R. (1993) Pacific Yew Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). USDA Forest Service, USDI Bureau of Land Management, Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Sept., 1993. 921 pp.