Christopher J. Cleal is Head of Vegetation History Section at the National Museum of Wales. He obtained his BSc and PhD from the University of Sheffield, and has studied Palaeozoic palaeobotany and stratigraphy for over 35 years, with special reference to the link between vegetation and climate change. He has worked at the University of Sheffield, the Museum of the Saarbrücken Mining School in Germany, the Nature Conservancy Council, and the National Museum of Wales. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society, London, and the Linnean Society, London, a former Council Member of the Palaeontological Association, and Secretary of the British Institute for Geological Conservation. He has published an extensive list of books, and over 100 papers in academic journals, dealing with palaeobotany, stratigraphy and geoconservation. He was on the Editorial Board of the journal Palaeontology, has been co-editor of the biennial Bibliography of European Palaeobotany and Palynology for the last 10 years, and is currently an editor of Systematic Palaeontology.
