Geography

Dr David Reynolds

Dr David Reynolds

Research Fellow/Lecturer

 D.Reynolds2@exeter.ac.uk

 Daphne du Maurier 3048

 

Daphne du Maurier Building, University of Exeter,  Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9FE, UK

Overview

David’s research  focuses on the development and application of novel oceanographic records derived from variations in the width and geochemical (d18O, d13C and 14C) composition of annual growth increments formed in the shells of long-lived marine bivalve molluscs. These records, known as sclerochronologies, are regarded as the marine and aquatic counterpart to dendrochronology. Marine molluscs, which can live for over 500 years, are increasingly providing long-term baseline records of past physical, biological and geochemical variability in marine and aquatic systems over past decades to millennia. Given the annual nature of the growth rings, it is possible to apply dendrochronology derived statistical techniques to construct absolutely dated growth increment width chronologies that facilitate the extension of the sclerochronology records beyond the life span of a single individual over past centuries to millennia.

Career

2020 - Present Research Fellow/Lecturer University of Exeter

2018 - 2020 Research Fellow - Laboratory of Tree Ring Research - University of Arizona

2013 - 2018 Postdoctoral Researcher/Lecturer in Climate System Science - Cardiff University

2011 - 2013 Postdoctoral Researcher (ULTRA project) - Bangor University

2007 - 2011 PhD Ocean Science - Bangor University

2004 - 2007 BSc Marine Biology - University of Wales Bangor

Research group links

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Research

Research interests

My research  focuses on the development and application of novel oceanographic records derived from variations in the width and geochemical (d18O, d13C and 14C) composition of annual growth increments formed in the shells of long-lived marine bivalve molluscs. These records, known as sclerochronologies, are regarded as the marine and aquatic counterpart to dendrochronology. Marine molluscs, which can live for over 500 years, are increasingly providing long-term baseline records of past physical, biological and geochemical variability in marine and aquatic systems over past decades to millennia. Given the annual nature of the growth rings, it is possible to apply dendrochronology derived statistical techniques to construct absolutely dated growth increment width chronologies that facilitate the extension of the sclerochronology records beyond the life span of a single individual over past centuries to millennia.

My current research projects involve the development and application of annually resolved absolutely-dated records of past physical, biological and geochemical variability from the North Atlantic Ocean, the North and South Pacific Ocean and the Arctic Ocean to investigate local to hemispheric scale connections between marine, atmosphere and cryosphere climate dynamics on inter-annual to millennial timescales. This work involves the application of integrated multi-proxy techniques incorporating sclerochronologies, marine sediment cores, dendrochronologies and ice cores.

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Publications

Journal articles

Black BA, Pearl JK, Pearson CL, Pringle PT, Frank DC, Page MT, Buckley BM, Cook ER, Harley GL, King KJ, et al (2023). A multifault earthquake threat for the Seattle metropolitan region revealed by mass tree mortality. Science Advances, 9(39). Abstract.
Edge DC, Wanamaker AD, Staisch LM, Reynolds DJ, Holmes KL, Black BA (2022). A MODERN MULTICENTENNIAL RECORD OF RADIOCARBON VARIABILITY FROM AN EXACTLY DATED BIVALVE CHRONOLOGY AT THE TREE NOB SITE (ALASKA COASTAL CURRENT). Radiocarbon, 65(1), 81-96. Abstract.
Kilbourne KH, Wanamaker AD, Moffa-Sanchez P, Reynolds DJ, Amrhein DE, Butler PG, Gebbie G, Goes M, Jansen MF, Little CM, et al (2022). Atlantic circulation change still uncertain. Nature Geoscience, 15(3), 165-167.
Arellano-Nava B, Halloran PR, Boulton CA, Scourse J, Butler PG, Reynolds DJ, Lenton TM (2022). Destabilisation of the Subpolar North Atlantic prior to the Little Ice Age. Nature Communications, 13(1). Abstract.
Edge DC, Reynolds DJ, Wanamaker AD, Griffin D, Bureau D, Outridge C, Stevick BC, Weng R, Black BA (2021). A Multicentennial Proxy Record of Northeast Pacific Sea Surface Temperatures from the Annual Growth Increments of <i>Panopea generosa</i>. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 36(9). Abstract.
Reynolds DJ, Edge DC, Black BA (2021). RingdateR: a statistical and graphical tool for crossdating. Dendrochronologia, 65, 125797-125797.
Trofimova T, Alexandroff SJ, Mette MJ, Tray E, Butler PG, Campana SE, Harper EM, Johnson ALA, Morrongiello JR, Peharda M, et al (2020). Fundamental questions and applications of sclerochronology: Community-defined research priorities. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 245, 106977-106977.
Halloran PR, Hall IR, Menary M, Reynolds DJ, Scourse JD, Screen JA, Bozzo A, Dunstone N, Phipps S, Schurer AP, et al (2020). Natural drivers of multidecadal Arctic sea ice variability over the last millennium. Scientific Reports, 10(1). Abstract.
Reynolds DJ, Hall IR, Slater SM (2019). An integrated carbon and oxygen isotope approach to reconstructing past environmental variability in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 523, 48-61.
Foltz A, Williams C, Gerson SA, Reynolds DJ, Pogoda S, Begum T, Walton SP (2019). Game Developers' Approaches to Communicating Climate Change. Frontiers in Communication, 4
Scourse JD, Andersson C, Butler P, Carroll M, DeLong K, Reynolds D, Schoene B, van der Sleen P, Wanamaker A, Witbaard R, et al (2019). The revolution of crossdating in marine palaeoecology and palaeoclimatology. Biology Letters, 15
Moffa‐Sánchez P, Moreno‐Chamarro E, Reynolds DJ, Ortega P, Cunningham L, Swingedouw D, Amrhein DE, Halfar J, Jonkers L, Jungclaus JH, et al (2019). Variability in the Northern North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans Across the Last Two Millennia: a Review. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 34(8), 1399-1436. Abstract.
Reynolds DJ, Hal IR, Slater SM, Mette MJ, Wanamaker AD, Scourse JD, Garry FK, Halloran PR (2018). Isolating and Reconstructing Key Components of North Atlantic ocean Variability from a Sclerochronological Spatial Network. PALEOCEANOGRAPHY AND PALEOCLIMATOLOGY, 33(10), 1086-1098.  Author URL.
Román-González A, Scourse JD, Butler PG, Reynolds DJ, Richardson CA, Peck LS, Brey T, Hall IR (2017). Analysis of ontogenetic growth trends in two marine Antarctic bivalves Yoldia eightsi and Laternula elliptica: Implications for sclerochronology. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 465, 300-306. Abstract.
Reynolds DJ, Hall IR, Scourse JD, Richardson CA, Wanamaker AD, Butler PG (2017). Biological and Climate Controls on North Atlantic Marine Carbon Dynamics over the Last Millennium: Insights from an Absolutely Dated Shell-Based Record from the North Icelandic Shelf. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 31(12), 1718-1735. Abstract.
Reynolds DJ, Richardson CA, Scourse JD, Butler PG, Hollyman P, Román-González A, Hall IR (2017). Reconstructing North Atlantic marine climate variability using an absolutely-dated sclerochronological network. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 465, 333-346. Abstract.
Reynolds DJ, Hall IR, Slater SM, Scourse JD, Halloran PR, Sayer MDJ (2017). Reconstructing Past Seasonal to Multicentennial‐Scale Variability in the NE Atlantic Ocean Using the Long‐Lived Marine Bivalve Mollusk <scp><i>Glycymeris glycymeris</i></scp>. Paleoceanography, 32(11), 1153-1173. Abstract.
Reynolds DJ, Scourse JD, Halloran PR, Nederbragt AJ, Wanamaker AD, Butler PG, Richardson CA, Heinemeier J, Eiríksson J, Knudsen KL, et al (2016). Annually resolved North Atlantic marine climate over the last millennium. Nat Commun, 7 Abstract.  Author URL.
Buselic I, Peharda M, Reynolds DJ, Butler PG, Gonzalez AR, Ezgeta-Balic D, Vilibic I, Grbec B, Hollyman P, Richardson CA, et al (2015). <i>Glycymeris bimaculata</i> (Poli, 1795) - a new sclerochronological archive for the Mediterranean?. JOURNAL OF SEA RESEARCH, 95, 139-148.  Author URL.
Reynolds D, Sammons P, De Fraine B, Van Damme J, Townsend T, Teddlie C, Stringfield S (2014). Educational effectiveness research (EER): a state-of-the-art review. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 25(2), 197-230.
Reynolds DJ, Butler PG, Williams SM, Scourse JD, Richardson CA, Wanamaker AD, Austin WEN, Cage AG, Sayer MDJ (2013). A multiproxy reconstruction of Hebridean (NW Scotland) spring sea surface temperatures between AD 1805 and 2010. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 386, 275-285. Abstract.
Brocas WM, Reynolds DJ, Butler PG, Richardson CA, Scourse JD, Ridgway ID, Ramsay K (2013). The dog cockle, Glycymeris glycymeris (L.), a new annually-resolved sclerochronological archive for the Irish Sea. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 373, 133-140. Abstract.
Reynolds DJ, Richardson CA, Scourse JD, Butler PG, Wanamaker AD, Ridgway I, Sayer MD, Gulliver P (2013). The potential of the marine bivalve mollusc Glossus humanus (L.) as a sclerochronological archive. Holocene, 23(12), 1711-1720. Abstract.
Butler PG, Wanamaker AD, Scourse JD, Richardson CA, Reynolds DJ (2013). Variability of marine climate on the North Icelandic Shelf in a 1357-year proxy archive based on growth increments in the bivalve Arctica islandica. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 373, 141-151. Abstract.
Ridgway ID, Richardson CA, Scourse JD, Butler PG, Reynolds DJ (2012). The population structure and biology of the ocean quahog, Arctica islandica, in Belfast Lough, Northern Ireland. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 92(3), 539-546. Abstract.
Butler PG, Wanamaker AD, Scourse JD, Richardson CA, Reynolds DJ (2011). Long-term stability of δ13C with respect to biological age in the aragonite shell of mature specimens of the bivalve mollusk Arctica islandica. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 302(1), 21-30. Abstract.
Wanamaker AD, Baker A, Butler PG, Richardson CA, Scourse JD, Ridgway I, Reynolds DJ (2009). A novel method for imaging internal growth patterns in marine mollusks: a fluorescence case study on the aragonitic shell of the marine bivalve Arctica islandica (Linnaeus). Limnology and Oceanography: Methods, 7(SEPT), 673-681. Abstract.

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External Engagement and Impact

Invited lectures

  • Royal Geological Society of Cornwall (Cornwall, UK, 2021).
  • Tree Ring Day (Tucson, Arizona, USA, 2019).
  • Volvo Ocean Boat Race (Cardiff, UK, 2018).
  • Pint of Science (Cardiff, UK, 2017).
  • CLIVAR meeting (Trieste, Italy, 2015).
  • Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research (Texel, Netherlands, 2015).
  • PAGES Oceans 2k (Barcelona, Spain, 2015).
  • American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting (San Francisco, USA, 2013).
  • Irish Quaternary Association (Dublin, Ireland, 2013).
  • Portsmouth University (2011).

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Teaching

GEO1416 Environmental Science Tutorials

GEO2461 Second Year Tutorials

GEO3455 Marine Climate and Environmental Change

Modules

2023/24


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Office Hours:

For undergraduate and postgraduate students: 

During term time, my office hours are Monday 1300-1400 and Wednesday 1000-1100. Please book a time slot here.

I am also available when my door is open. 

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