Richard Barclay

I am a paleobotanist who uses fossil plants to solve geological problems. I study deep-time fossil plant records, integrate those with high-resolution geochemical records, and work within temporally well-constrained sections to maximize the results of my efforts. My research interests focus on 4 main areas: 1) global carbon cycle perturbations; 2) paleoclimate change; 3) mass extinction events; and 4) species evolution and radiation.

• Ph.D. Northwestern University, 2011
• M.S. University of Florida, 2002
• B.S. Western Washington University, 1996

Personal Research Web Site:

• Richard S. Barclay  

Journal Article

• Lloyd, Benjamin A., Barclay, Richard S., Dunn, Regan E., Currano, Ellen D., Mohamaad, Ayuni I., Skersies, Kymbre, and Punyasena, Surangi W. 2024. "CuticleTrace: A toolkit for capturing cell outlines from leaf cuticle with implications for paleoecology and paleoclimatology." Applications in Plant Sciences, 12, (1). https://doi.org/10.1002/aps3.11566.
• Honisch, Barbel, Royer, Dana L., Breecker, Daniel O., Polissar, Pratigya J., Bowen, Gabriel J., Henehan, Michael J., Cui, Ying, Steinthorsdottir, Margret, McElwain, Jennifer C., Kohn, Matthew J., Pearson, Ann, Phelps, Samuel R., Uno, Kevin T., Ridgwell, Andy, Anagnostou, Eleni, Austermann, Jacqueline, Badger, Marcus P. S., Barclay, Richard S., Bijl, Peter K., Chalk, Thomas B., Scotese, Christopher R., de la Vega, Elwyn, DeConto, Robert M., Dyez, Kelsey A., Ferrini, Vicki et al. 2023. "Toward a Cenozoic history of atmospheric CO₂ The Cenozoic CO₂ Proxy Integration Project (CenCO₂PIP) Consortium." Science, 382, (6675) 1136. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adi5177.
• Lloyd, Max K., Stein, Rebekah A., Ibarra, Daniel E., Barclay, Richard S., Wing, Scott L., Stahle, David W., Dawson, Todd E., and Stolper, Daniel A. 2023. "Isotopic clumping in wood as a proxy for photorespiration in trees." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120, (46). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2306736120.
• Butrim, Matthew J., Royer, Dana L., Miller, Ian M., Dechesne, Marieke, Neu-Yagle, Nicole, Lyson, Tyler R., Johnson, Kirk R., and Barclay, Richard S. 2022. "No Consistent Shift in Leaf Dry Mass per Area Across the Cretaceous-Paleogene Boundary." Frontiers in Plant Science, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.894690.
• Milligan, Joseph N., Flynn, Andrew G., Kowalczyk, Jennifer B., Barclay, Richard S., Geng, Jie, Royer, Dana L., and Peppe, Daniel J. 2022. "Moderate to Elevated Atmospheric CO2 During the Early Paleocene Recorded by Platanites Leaves of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico." Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, 37, (4). https://doi.org/10.1029/2021PA004408.
• Scher, Mason A., Barclay, Richard S., Baczynski, Allison A., Smith, Bryton A., Sappington, James, Bennett, Lily A., Chakraborty, Suvankar, Wilson, Jonathan P., Megonigal, J. P., and Wing, Scott L. 2022. "The effect of CO2 concentration on carbon isotope discrimination during photosynthesis in Ginkgo biloba: implications for reconstructing atmospheric CO2 levels in the geologic past." Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 337 82–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2022.09.033.
• Milligan, Joseph N., Flynn, Andrew G., Wagner, Jennifer D., Kouwenberg, Lenny L. R., Barclay, Richard S., Byars, Bruce W., Dunn, Regan E., White, Joseph D., Zechmann, Bernd, and Peppe, Daniel J. 2021. "Quantifying the effect of shade on cuticle morphology and carbon isotopes of sycamores: present and past." American Journal of Botany, 108, (12) 2435–2451. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.1772.
• Baker, Sarah J., Belcher, Claire M., Barclay, Richard S., Hesselbo, Stephen P., Laurin, Jiri, and Sageman, Bradley B. 2020. "CO₂-induced climate forcing on the fire record during the initiation of Cretaceous oceanic anoxic event 2." Geological Society of America Bulletin, 132, (1-2) 321–333. https://doi.org/10.1130/B35097.1.
• Fetter, Karl C., Eberhardt, Sven, Barclay, Rich S., Wing, Scott L., and Keller, Stephen R. 2019. "StomataCounter: a neural network for automatic stomata identification and counting." New Phytologist, 223, (3) 1671–1681. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15892.
• Laurin, Jiri, Barclay, Richard S., Sageman, Bradley B., Dawson, Robin R., Pagani, Mark, Schmitz, Mark, Eaton, Jeffrey, McInerney, Francesca A., and McElwain, Jennifer C. 2019. "Terrestrial and marginal-marine record of the mid-Cretaceous Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE 2): High-resolution framework, carbon isotopes, CO2 and sea-level change." Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 524 118–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.03.019.
• Lyson, T. R., Miller, I. M., Bercovici, A. D., Weissenburger, K., Fuentes, A. J., Clyde, W. C., Hagadorn, J. W., Butrim, M. J., Johnson, K. R., Fleming, R. F., Barclay, R. S., Maccracken, S. A., Lloyd, B., Wilson, G. P., Krause, D. W., and Chester, S. G. B. 2019. "Exceptional continental record of biotic recovery after the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction." Science, 366, (6468) 977–+. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay2268.
• Soul, Laura C., Barclay, Richard S., Bolton, Amy, and Wing, Scott L. 2019. "Fossil Atmospheres: a case study of citizen science in question-driven palaeontological research." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 374, (1763) 20170388. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2017.0388.
• Percival, Lawrence M. E., Jenkyns, Hugh C., Mather, Tamsin A., Dickson, Alexander J., Batenburg, Sietske J., Ruhl, Micha, Hesselbo, Stephen P., Barclay, Richard, Jarvis, Ian, Robinson, Stuart A., and Woelders, Lineke. 2018. "Does Large Igneous Province Volcanism always Perturb the Mercury Cycle? Comparing the Records of Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 and the End-Cretaceous to Other Mesozoic Events." American Journal of Science, 318, (8) 799–860. https://doi.org/10.2475/08.2018.01.
• Urban, Michael A., Barclay, Richard S., Sivaguru, Mayandi, and Punyasena, Surangi W. 2018. "Cuticle and subsurface ornamentation of intact plant leaf epidermis under confocal and superresolution microscopy." Microscopy research and technique, 81, (2) 129–140. https://doi.org/10.1002/jemt.22667.
• Tesfamichael, Tekie, Jacobs, Bonnie, Tabor, Neil, Michel, Lauren, Currano, Ellen, Feseha, Mulugeta, Barclay, Richard, Kappelman, John, and Schmitz, Mark. 2017. "Settling the issue of "decoupling" between atmospheric carbon dioxide and global temperature: [CO2](atm) reconstructions across the warming Paleogene-Neogene divide." Geology, 45, (11) 999–1002. https://doi.org/10.1130/G39048.1.
• Barclay, Richard S. and Wing, Scott L. 2016. "Improving the Ginkgo CO₂ barometer: Implications for the early Cenozoic atmosphere." Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 439 158–171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2016.01.012.
• Barclay, Richard S., Rioux, Matthew, Meyer, Laura B., Bowring, Samuel A., Johnson, Kirk R., and Miller, Ian M. 2015. "High precision U–Pb zircon geochronology for Cenomanian Dakota Formation floras in Utah." Cretaceous Research, 52A 213–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2014.08.006.
• Barclay, Richard S., McElwain, Jennifer C., Duckett, Jeffrey G., van Es, Maarten H., Mostaert, Anika S., Pressel, Silvia, and Sageman, Bradley B. 2013. "New methods reveal oldest known fossil epiphyllous moss: Bryiidites utahensis gen. et sp. nov. (Bryidae)." American Journal of Botany, 100, (12) 2450–2457. https://doi.org/10.3732/ajb.1300209.
• Barclay, Richard S., Johnson, Kirk R., Betterton, William J., and Dilcher, David L. 2003. "Stratigraphy and megaflora of a K-T boundary section in the eastern Denver Basin, Colorado." Rocky Mountain Geology, 38, (1) 45–71. https://doi.org/10.2113/gsrocky.38.1.45.

Book Chapter

• Miller, Ian M., Johnson, Kirk R., Kline, Douglas E., Nichols, Douglas J., and Barclay, Richard S. 2013. "A LateCampanian Flora from the Kaiparowits Formation, Southern Utah, and a Brief Overview of the Widely Sampled but Little-Known Campanian Vegetation of the Western Interior of North America." In At the Top of the Grand Staircase: The Late Cretaceous of Southern Utah. Titus, Alan L. and Loewen, Mark A., editors. 107–131. Indiana University Press.
• Barclay, Richard S. and Johnson, Kirk R. 2004. "West Bijou Site Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, Denver Basin, Colorado." In Field Trips in the Southern Rocky Mountains, USA ; GSA Field Guide 5:. 59–68. Geological Society of America. 5 https://doi.org/10.1130/0-8137-0005-1.59.