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• 3rd Southern Deserts Conference, 16th-19th September 2008

Professor David S.G. Thomas

• Academic Profile
• Current Research
• Current Teaching
• Publications

Academic Profile

David Thomas is a geomorphologist by training and pursues research interests in arid environmental systems, Quaternary climate and environmental change, and contemporary and future climate change and development. His current live projects include research into climate and landscape change in central southern Africa and northern Arabia, and the impact of past environmental changes on early human use of drylands.

He was elected Professor of Geography and a Professorial Fellow of Hertford College in 2004. He gained his BA, Cert.Ed. and D.Phil. at Oxford (1977-84). In the intervening years he progressed from Lecturer to Professor of Geography (1994) at the University of Sheffield, where he was also director of The Sheffield Centre for International Drylands Research. He holds, or has held, a number of senior positions within the research community including Vice President of the Royal Geographical Society (2002-5) and Chair of the British Geomorphological Research Group (2002-3). He has sat on Royal Society and Geological Society committees and is a Director of the CHANGES (Carbon, Hydrology and Global Environmental Systems) research collaborative funded by UNESCO, ICSU, IUGS, and IGCP. He is currently leader of IGCP project 500 (Dryland change, past present future), Geography and Earth Sciences editor of the Journal of Arid Environments and is on the editorial book of a number of other journals and book series. His books include the highly acclaimed The Kalahari Environment (CUP, 1991, with Paul Shaw), and Desertification: Exploding the Myth, (Wiley, 1994, with Nick Middleton).

To date David has been principal or co-investigator on research grants totalling c.£6.5 million, funded from sources including UK research councils (NERC, ESRC), the Royal Society, the Leverhulme Trust, and other agencies and charities. He has authored over 80 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He co-authored both editions of the World Atlas of Desertification (Edward Arnold, 1992 and 1997, with Nick Middleton), and is editor of Arid Zone Geomorphology (Wiley, 1997), the leading textbook on dryland geomorphology, for which a third edition is now in press. In 2000 he co-edited the third edition of The Dictionary of Physical Geography (Blackwell).

His research interests have generated working links with scientists in many countries, with links to South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique and the United Arab Emirates particularly active at present. His activities have been recognised by the award of an Honorary Professorship at the University of Cape Town (2006) and in 2005 the first Oman-Thesiger Research Fellowship of the Royal Geographical Society.

He has given numerous plenary and key note addresses at major international conferences, and has supervised 30 successfully completed doctoral theses and is currently supervising 6 D.Phil. students.

He is a member of the Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies sub-panel (C17) for the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF2-014) assessment. He was also a member of the Geography and Environmental Studies sub-panel (H-32) for the 2008 UK Research Assessment Exercise and has been involved in similar exercises in Estonia and Sweden.

Current Research

David's current research interests are in the areas of dryland environments, climate and environmental change, placing particular emphasis on the value of rigorous fieldwork, backed up with appropriate laboratory, analytical and modelling methods. Many field seasons have been spent working on Quaternary environmental change and aeolian process questions in and around the margins of deserts in Africa and other continents. This contributed to a growing awareness of the power of modern environmental changes, especially those linked to human actions, an interest that in recent years has expanded to include collaborative research with social scientists.

Specific research themes currently being investigated are:

1) Quaternary environmental changes in drylands and the low latitudes during the last glacial cycle.

This long-running theme involves collaborative research with other institutions and funding from a range of sources including NERC, the Royal Society and the Leverhulme Trust. A core component of investigations is to better understand the timing and forcing mechanisms responsible for significant desert expansions and contractions in the subcontinent. Better interpretations are vital if improved data sources as inputs to GCMs are to occur and enhanced predictions of future changes are to be achieved.

Sampling late Quaternary sediments in NE Botswana for OSL dating.

Recent investigations have focused on the stabilised dune fields within the Kalahari sedimentary system and in the Namib on the shoreline systems of former lakes within dryland Africa, and on dune systems in the UAE. Research links have also led to investigations in other areas including China, where activities have focused on producing chronologies of loess accumulation, Iran, Kuwait, USA and Turkmenistan.

Current activities focus on producing better-resolved records of environmental dynamics and their appropriate interpretation as records of climate change. The application of OSL dating, via OLDLAB, to dune and lake sediments is a major research input, involving rigorous fieldwork and lab applications. New initiatives focus on the palaeoenvironmental records of the Upper Zambezi system, Zambia, and the links between environmental change and human use of the landscape in the Middle Stone Age in central southern Africa.

This work has attracted marked media attention.

The floor of the Makgadikgadi basin in the Kalahari is part of an old lake basin. As well as palaeoenvironmental investigations, the region is replete with uninvestigated MSA artefacts that are forming part of a new study of the relationships between environmetal change and human evolution.

In the United Arab Emirates mega dune ridges represent a record of aeolian accumulation that is a result of significant environmental changes in the Late Quaternary. Quarrying of sand for construction presents a unique opportunity to analyse dune interior structures, and to sample for OSL dating in order to develop a record of landscape development in response to climate change.

2) Climate Change Impacts.

From 2002-5 David was the principal investigator on a major research project funded by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. The project investigated how natural resource-dependant societies in the developing world, particularly southern Africa, respond and adapt to climatic variability and shocks such as drought and floods, and how these responses may better inform an understanding of likely 21st century responses to global warming-induced climate change. This was a truly interdisciplinary project that brought together social and environmental scientists including climate and vegetation modellers. Key outcomes included work on learning processes in adaptation, changing use of ecosystem resources, and equity and justice issues. A major news item was published in Nature (12 April 2007) on this research. Since 2006 he has been a co-director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Programme 4, which focuses on climate change and development. In particular, he is responsible for projects investigating the impact of development programmes on the ability to cope with and adapt to climate change in Africa. Find out more...

Work on adaptation to climate change is also addressing landscape responses in the low latitudes. This is combining models derived from dune dynamics process studies, climate modelling and ecosystem dynamics. A recent paper in Nature has shown the potential value of combining this modelling approach with an understanding of past environmental dynamics to explore possible 21st century environmental changes. A new Royal Society grant is facilitating a new collaboration between Oxford and the University of Cape Town to explore methods and approaches to model landscape responses to future climate changes in Africa.

Community actions in restoring degraded drylands: a village group involved in gully restoration in Limpopo Province, South Africa, an area in which doctoral research is currently being supervised.

David Thomas is a lead expert for the UK Government Foresight Project: Global Environmental Migration.

Selected Research Projects (since 2001)

• DO4 Models: Dust Observation
  Funded by NERC and in collaboration with Professor Richard Washington, Dr Giles Wiggs, the University of Sheffield and Imperial College London (2010-2014).
• Floods and droughts: environmental dynamics in the Upper Zambezi Valley
  Funded by The Leverhulme Trust and in collaboration with Dr Sallie Burrough and Prof. Kathy Willis (Dept. of Zoology, Oxford) (2010-2013).
• Palaeolithic mega-lakes and early occupation of the Kalahari.
  Funded by the Boise Fund and in collaboration with Dr Sallie Burrough.
• African palaeoclimate: the dating of palaeo-shoreline deposits and other geomorphic features, in Southern Africa, associated with past changes in surface hydrology.
  In collaboration with Dr Richard Bailey; financial support from NERC.
• Detailed chronologies of aeolian system development in northern Arabia.
  Funded by the RGS and NERC, with Professor Andrew Goudie, Professor Adrian Parker (Oxford Brookes), Dr Richard Bailey, and postgraduates.
• Tyndall: Research Programme 4: Climate change and development.
  In collaboration with Professor Richard Washington, Professor Kate Brown (University of East Anglia), and Dr Henny Osbahr (University of Reading); Financial support from Tyndall Centre (2006-2009).
• Chronology, adaptation and environment of the Middle Palaeolithic in northern Africa.
  In collaboration with Dr Geoff Duller (Aberystwyth), Libyan Palaeolake Project, Dr Simon Armitage (formerly PDRA, now lecturer at Royal Holloway); Financial support from NERC EFCHED programme; D.Phil. Students: Sallie Burrough (2002-2006).

Teaching

Undergraduate Teaching

David teaches on Undergraduate, Masters and doctorate programmes in the School. At the undergraduate level, he lectures on the The Geographical Environment: Physical core course, and contribute half of the teaching in the Quaternary Period and Dryland Environments Special Subjects for the Final Honour School.

Postgraduate Teaching

He delivers an MSc elective on water and civilisation with Professor Mike Edmunds.

Current graduate students include:

• Ariell Ahearn-Ligham
  The changing meaning of work, herding, and social relations in Mongolia: a study of value transformations and conditions for social change
• Ian Ashpole
  Towards a more accurate simulation of the effects of small-scale variability on large-scale dust emissions
• Oliver Atkinson
  A multi-proxy analysis of climate-induced environmental change in south-east Arabia
• Carly Leighton
  Desert dune system sensitivity to Quaternary climate change
• Alexandra Rowell
  Enhancing regional palaeoenvironmental records through analysis of Late Quaternary sand ramp accumulation
• Haiyan (Helen) Yu
  Sustainable water management for water and food security in a changing world: a comparative study between arid rural communities of China and India

D.Phil. students successfully completing since 2005:

• Caroline King (2012)
  Living with environmental change in the endorheic oasis systems of the northern Sahara
• Laura Pereira (2012)
  Private sector adaptive capacity to climate change impacts in the food system: food security implications for South Africa and Brazil
• Alexandra Conliffe (2009)
  The combined impacts of political and environmental change on rural livelihoods in the Aral Sea region of Uzbekistan
• Daniel McGahey (2009)
  Impact of veterinary fences on environment and society in northern Botswana.
• Troy Sternberg (2009)
  Effect of water and land use change on the Mongolian environment.
• Abigail Stone (2009)
  Multi-proxy reconstruction of late Quaternary climate dynamics in western Southern Africa.
• Alex Arnall (2008)
  Development interventions in Mozambique: processes of NGO-community interaction in two flood-affected resettlement communities
• Sallie Burrough (2008)
  Late Quarternary paleolacustrine environments in the Middle Kalahari, Botswana.
• Florence Crick (2008)
  Exposure to drought: adaptive strategies among rural societies in Africa
• Susannah Sallu (2007)
  Biodiversity dynamics, knowledges and livelihoods in Kalahari dryland biomes.
• Thomas Stevens (2006)
  Late Quaternary climate recorded in Chinese loess: OSL analysis of record continuity and preservation.
• Brian Chase (2005)
  Late Quaternary palaeoenvironments of the west coast of South Africa: The aeolian record.

Selected Publications

Books

• Thomas, D.S.G. (ed.) (2011) Arid Zone Geomorphology: Process, Form and Change in Drylands, 3rd Edition. Wiley, 648 pp. ISBN: 9780470519080.
• Sporton, D. and Thomas, D.S.G. (eds.) (2002) Sustainable livelihoods in Kalahari Environments: contributions to global debates. OUP, Oxford. pp. 320.
• Thomas, D.S.G. and Goudie, A.S. (2000) The Dictionary of Physical Geography. Blackwell. pp. 624.
• Thomas, D.S.G. (ed.) (1997) Arid Zone Geomorphology, 2nd Ed. Wiley. pp. 732.
• Middleton, N.J. and Thomas, D.S.G. (eds.) (1997) World Atlas of Desertification 2nd Ed. Edward Arnold, London, 182 pp.
• Thomas, D.S.G. and Middleton, N.J. (1994) Desertification: Exploding the Myth, Wiley. pp. 208.
• Thomas, D.S.G. and Shaw, P. (1991) The Kalahari Environment. CUP

Papers and Articles

• Stone, A.E.C. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2012) Casting new light on late Quaternary environmental and palaeohydrological change in the Namib Desert: a review of the application of optically stimulated luminescence in the region. Journal of Arid Environments.
• Thomas, D.S.G. and Burrough, S. (2012) Interpreting geoproxies of late Quaternary climate change in African drylands: implications for understanding environmental change and early human behaviour. Quaternary International, 253: 5-17.
• Thomas, D.S.G., Burrough, S. and Parker, A.G. (2012) Extreme events as drivers of early human behaviour in Africa? The case for variability, not catastrophic drought. Journal of Quaternary Science, 27(1): 7-12.
• Atkinson, O.A.C., Thomas, D.S.G., Goudie, A.S. and Bailey, R.M. (2011) Late Quaternary chronology of major dune ridge development in the northeast Rub' al-Khali, United Arab Emirates. Quaternary Research, 76(1): 93-105.
• Black, R., Adger, W.N., Arnell, N.W., Dercon, S., Geddes, A. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2011) Editorial: Migration and global environmental change. Global Environmental Change, 21(1): S1-S2.
• Black, R., Adger, W.N., Arnell, N.W., Dercon, S., Geddes, A. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2011) The effect of environmental change on human migration. Global Environmental Change, 21(1): S3-S11.
• Thomas, D.S.G. (2011) Grove AT (1969) Landforms and climate change in the Kalahari and Ngamiland. Progress in Physical Geography, 35(2): 263-266.
• Thomas, D.S.G. (2011) Arid environments: their nature and extent. Chapter 1 in, Thomas, D.S.G. (ed.) (2011) Arid Zone Geomorphology: Process, Form and Change in Drylands, 3rd Edition. Wiley, 648 pp. ISBN: 9780470519080.
• Thomas, D.S.G. (2011) Dryland system variability. Chapter 4 in, Thomas, D.S.G. (ed.) (2011) Arid Zone Geomorphology: Process, Form and Change in Drylands, 3rd Edition. Wiley, 648 pp. ISBN: 9780470519080.
• Thomas, D.S.G. (2011) Aeolian landscapes and bedforms. Chapter 17 in, Thomas, D.S.G. (ed.) (2011) Arid Zone Geomorphology: Process, Form and Change in Drylands, 3rd Edition. Wiley, 648 pp. ISBN: 9780470519080.
• Thomas, D.S.G. and Burrough, S.L. (2011) Climatic frameworks: legacies from the past. Chapter 3 in, Thomas, D.S.G. (ed.) (2011) Arid Zone Geomorphology: Process, Form and Change in Drylands, 3rd Edition. Wiley, 648 pp. ISBN: 9780470519080.
• Washington, R. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2011) Future climate change and arid zone geomorphology. Chapter 24 in, Thomas, D.S.G. (ed.) (2011) Arid Zone Geomorphology: Process, Form and Change in Drylands, 3rd Edition. Wiley, 648 pp. ISBN: 9780470519080.
• Chase, B.M., Quick, L.J., Meadows, M.E., Scott, L., Thomas, D.S.G. and Reimer, P.J. (2011) Late glacial interhemispheric climate dynamics revealed in South African hyrax middens. Geology, 39(1): 19-22.
• Livingstone, I., Bristow, C., Bryant, R.G., Bullard, J., White, K., Wiggs, G.F.S., Baas A.C.W., Bateman, M.D. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2010) The Namib Sand Sea digital database of aeolian dunes and key forcing variables. Aeolian Research, 2: 93-104.
• Sternberg, T., Thomas, D. and Middleton, N. (2010) Drought dynamics on the Mongolian steppe, 1970-2006. International Journal of Climatology.
• Stone, A.E.C., Thomas, D.S.G. and Viles, H.A. (2010) Late Quaternary palaeohydrological changes in the northern Namib Sand Sea: New chronologies using OSL dating of interdigitated aeolian and water-lain interdune deposits. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 288(1-4): 35-53.
• Sternberg, T., Tsolmon R., Middleton, N. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2010) Tracking desertification on the Mongolian steppe through NDVI and field-survey data. International Journal of Digital Earth, iFirst article.
• Newsham, A.J. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2009) Agricultural adaptation, local knowledge and livelihoods diversification in North-Central Namibia. Tyndall Centre Working Paper, 140.
• Burrough, S.L., Thomas, D.S.G. and Singarayer, J.S. (2009) Late Quaternary hydrological dynamics in the Middle Kalahari: Forcing and feedbacks. Earth Science Reviews, 96(4): 313-326.
• Meadows, M.E. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2009) Tropical savannas. Ch. 9 in, Slaymaker, O., Spencer, T. and Embleton-Hamann, C. (eds.) Geomorphology and Global Environmental Change. Cambridge University Press, pp. 248-275.
• Chase, B.M., Meadows, M.E., Scott, L., Thomas, D.S.G., Marais, E., Sealy, J. and Reimer, P.J. (2009) A record of rapid Holocene climate change preserved in hyrax middens from southwestern Africa. Geology, 37(8): 703-706.
• Sternberg, T., Middleton, N. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2009) Pressurised pastoralism in South Gobi, Mongolia: what is the role of drought? Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, NS 34(3): 364-377.
• Burrough, S.L., Thomas, D.S.G. and Bailey, R.M. (2009) Mega-Lake in the Kalahari: A Late Pleistocene record of the Palaeolake Makgadikgadi system. Quaternary Science Reviews.
• Thomas, D.S.G., Bailey, R., Shaw, P.A., Durcan, J.A. and Singarayer, J.S. (2009) Late Quaternary highstands at Lake Chilwa, Malawi: Frequency, timing and possible forcing mechanisms in the last 44 ka. Quaternary Science Reviews, 28: 526-539.
• Sallu, S.M., Twyman, C. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2009) The multidimensional nature of biodiversity and social dynamics and implications for contemporary rural livelihoods in remote Kalahari settlements, Botswana. African Journal of Ecology, 47(1): 110-118.
• Blockley, S.P.E., Lane, C.S., Oh, A., Ditchfield, P., Bogaard, A., Langdon, P.G., Schreve, D.C., Thomas, D.S.G. and Bailey, R.M. (eds.) (2009) Quaternary Abstracts: The human dimension in rapid environmental change. Quaternary Research Association, Annual Discussion Meeting January 2009, Oxford.
• Burrough, S.L. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2009) Geomorphological contributions to palaeolimnology on the African Continent. Geomorphology, 103: 285-298.
• Osbahr, H., Twyman, C., Adger, W.N. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2008) Effective livelihood adaptation to climate change disturbance: Scale dimensions of practice in Mozambique. Geoforum, 39: 1951–1964.
• Holmes, P.J., Bateman, M.D., Thomas, D.S.G., Telfer, M.W., Barker, C.H. and Lawson, M.P. (2008) A Holocene–late Pleistocene aeolian record from lunette dunes of the western Free State panfield, South Africa. The Holocene, 18(8): 1193-1205.
• Burrough, S.L. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2008) Geomorphological contributions to Palaeolimnology on the African Continent. Geomorphology.
• Burrough, S.L. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2008) Late Quaternary lake-level fluctuations in the Mababe Depression: Middle Kalahari palaeolakes and the role of Zambezi inflows. Quaternary Research, 69(3): 388-403.
• Stevens,T., Lu, H., Thomas, D.S.G. and Armitage, S.J. (2008) Optical dating of abrupt shifts in the Late Pleistocene East Asian monsoon. Geology, 36(5): 415-418.
• Stone, A.E.C. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2008) Linear dune accumulation chronologies from the southwest Kalahari, Namibia: challenges of reconstructing late quaternary palaeoenvironments from aeolian landforms. Quaternary Science Reviews, 27(17-18): 1667-1681.
• Telfer, M.W., Thomas, D.S.G., Parker, A.G., Walkington, H. and Finch, A.A. (2008) Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating and palaeoenvironmental studies of pan (playa) sediment from Witpan, South Africa. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.
• Thomas, D.S.G. (2008) Experts address the question: Are poverty and land degradation inevitable in desert-prone areas? Natural Resources Forum, 32: 77-80.
• Thomas, D.S.G. and Wiggs, G.F.S. (2008) Aeolian systems response to global change: challenges of scale, process and temporal integration. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 33(9): 1396-1418.
• Chase, B., Thomas, D.S.G., Bateman, M.D. and Meadows, M.E. (2007) Late Quaternary dune development along the western margin of South Africa and its relationship to paleoclimatic changes inferred from the marine record Pages, 15(2): 26-27.
• Burrough, S.L., Thomas, D.S.G., Shaw, P.A., and Bailey, R.M. (2007) Multiphase Quaternary highstands at Lake Ngami, Kalahari, northern Botswana. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 253(3-4): 280-299.
• Chase, B.M., and Thomas, D.S.G. (2007) Multiphase late Quaternary aeolian sediment accumulation in western South Africa: timing and relationship to palaeoclimatic changes inferred from the marine record. Quaternary International, 166: 29-41.
• Lai, Z., Wintle, A.G. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2007) Rates of dust deposition between 50 ka and 20 ka revealed by OSL dating at Yuanbao on the Chinese Loess Plateau. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 248: 431-439.
• Stevens, T., Thomas, D.S.G., Armitage, S.J., Lunn, H.R., Lu, H. (2007) Reinterpreting climate proxy records from late Quaternary Chinese loess: A detailed OSL investigation. Earth-Science Reviews, 80: 111-136.
• Stringer, L.C., Twyman, C. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2007) Combating land degradation through participatory means: the case of Swaziland. Ambio, 36(5): 387-393.
• Stringer, L.C., Thomas, D.S.G. and Twyman, C. (2007) From global politics to local land users: applying the United Nations Convention to combat desertification in Swaziland. The Geographical Journal, 173(2): 129-142.
• Stringer, L.C., Twyman, C. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2007) Learning to reduce degradation of Swaziland's arable land: enhancing understandings of Striga asiatica. Land Degradation and Development, 18: 163-177.
• Thomas, D.S.G., Twyman, C., Osbahr, H. and Hewitson, B. (2007) Adaptation to climate change and variability: farmer responses to intra-seasonal precipitation trends in South Africa. Climatic Change, 83: 301-322.
• Telfer, M.W. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2007) Late Quaternary linear dune accumulation and chronostratigraphy of the southwestern Kalahari: implications for aeolian palaeoclimatic reconstructions and predictions of future dynamics. Quaternary Science Reviews, 26(19-21): 2617-2630.
• Telfer, M. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2006) Spatial and temporal complexity of lunette dune development, Witpan, South Africa: implications for palaeoclimate and models of pan development in arid regions. Geology, 34(10): 853-856.
• Stevens, T., Armitage, S.J., Huayu, L. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2006) Chinese loess sedimentation and diagenesis assessed through high-sampling resolution OSL ages. Geology, 34(10): 849-852.
• Carr, A.S., Thomas, D.S.G., and Bateman, M.D. (2006) Climatic and sea level controls on Late Quaternary eolian activity on the Agulhas Plain, South Africa. Quaternary Research, 65: 252-263.
• Carr, A.S., Thomas, D.S.G., Bateman, M.D., Meadows, M.E. and Chase, B. (2006) Late Quaternary palaeoenvironments of the winter-rainfall zone of southern Africa: Palynological and sedimentological evidence from the Agulhas Plain. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 239: 147-165.
• Chase, B. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2006) Late Quaternary dune accumulation along the western margin of South Africa: distinguishing forcing mechanisms through the analysis of migratory dune forms. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 251: 318-333.
• Chase, B., Thomas, D.S.G., Bateman, M.D., and Meadows, M.E. (2006) Late Quaternary aeolian activity along the west coast of South Africa Geophysical Research Abstracts, 8.
• Thomas, D.S.G., Knight, M. and Wiggs, G.F.S. (2005) Remobilization of southern African desert dune systems by twenty-first century global warming. Nature, 435: 1218-1221.
• Thomas, D.S.G. and Leason, H.C. (2005) Dunefield activity response to climate variability in the southwest Kalahari. Geomorphology, 64: 117-132.
• Thomas, D.S.G. and Twyman, C. (2005) Equity and justice in climate change adaptation amongst natural resource dependant societies. Global Environmental Change, 15: 115-124.
• Thomas, D.S.G. and Twyman, C. (2004) Good or bad rangeland? Hybrid knowledge, science, and local understandings of vegetation dynamics in the Kalahari. Land Degradation and Rehabilitation, 15: 215-231.
• Shaw, P.A., Bateman, M.D. Thomas, D.S.G. and Davies, F. (2003) Holocene fluctuations Lake Ngami, Middle Kalahari: chronology and responses to climate change. Quaternary International, 111: 23-35.
• Bateman, M.D., Thomas, D.S.G. and Singhvi, A.K. (2003) Preservation of aridity records for the last 300 ka in southwest Kalahari aeolian sediments. Quaternary International, 111: 37-50.
• Twyman, C., Sporton, D. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2003) Where is the life in farming?: Poverty and livelihoods on the margins of the Kalahari. Geoforum, 35: 69-85.
• Thomas, D.S.G., Brook, G., Shaw, P.A., Bateman, M., Haberyan, K., Appleton, C., Nash, D., McLaren, S. and Davies, F. (2003) Late Pleistocene wetting and drying in the NW Kalahari: an integrated study from the Tsodilo Hills, Botswana. Quaternary International, 104: 53-67.
• Thomas, D.S.G., Holmes, P.J., Bateman, M.D. and Marker, M.E. (2002) Geomorphic evidence for late Quaternary environmental change from the eastern Great Karoo margin, South Africa. Quaternary International, 89: 151-164.
• Thomas, D.S.G. and Shaw, P.A. (2002) Late Quaternary environmental change in central southern Africa: new data, synthesis, issues and prospects. Quaternary Science Reviews, 21(7): 783-798.
• Twyman, C., Dougill, A., Sporton, D. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2002) Community fencing in open rangelands self-empowerment in eastern Namibia. Review of African Political Economy, 27: 9-26.
• Lawson, M.P. and Thomas, D.S.G. (2002) Lunette dune development chronologies in the SW Kalahari. Quaternary Science Reviews, 21(7): 825-836.
• Dougill, A.J., Twyman, C., Thomas, D.S.G. and D. Sporton (2002) Soil degradation assessment in mixed farming systems of southern Africa: use of nutrient balance studies for participatory degradation monitoring. Geographical Journal, 68: 195-210.