Emeritus Professor J Philip Grime

Emeritus Prof Philip Grime

Tel: +44 (0)114 222 4766
Fax: +44 (0)114 268 2521

email : j.p.grime@sheffield.ac.uk

UCPE Website
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Career

BBSc (1956) PhD (1960) University of Sheffield
Member of Nature Conservancy Grassland Research Unit, Department of Botany, University of Sheffield (1961-63)
Ecologist, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, Connecticut, USA (1963-64)
Deputy Director, Unit of Comparative Plant Ecology (UCPE), University of Sheffield (1964-89)
Director, Unit of Comparative Plant Ecology, University of Sheffield (1989- present) and The Buxton Climate Change Impacts Laboratory (1989-present).

Key Research Interests

image of research interest

Role of plant functional types in community and ecosystem processes. Investigations of the impacts of changes in land use and climate on vegetation. Use of microcosm techniques and field manipulations to study the effects of dominant plant species on the trophic structure of herbaceous vegetation. Experimental manipulations of the consequences of genetic impoverishment on vegetation properties.


Professional Activities

  1. Direction of the programme of research in terrestrial plant ecology undertaken by UCPE.
  2. Maintenance, with Dr Jason Fridley and Mr Andrew Askew (both of Syracuse University, USA), of long-term experiments on the impacts of climate change on limestone grassland at our Buxton Laboratory within a secure site owned by the Health and Safety Laboratory.
  3. Member of the management team of the Ecological Continuity Trust (www.ecologicalcontinuitytrust.org) dedicated to creation and support of long-term ecological experiments in UK.
  4. Liaison with a diverse range of individuals and organisations, both local and national, concerned with academic and applied aspects of plant ecology. Over the thirty-nine years of its existence, UCPE has accumulated considerable basic information and expertise relating to fundamental research and practical problems of land-use, vegetation management and responses to climate. Information and advice are frequently provided to outside bodies.

Awards

The Marsh Award for Ecology 1997, British Ecological Society

Elected Honorary Member of the Ecological Society of America (1998)

Elected Member of Royal Society (1998)

Doctor of Science, University of Nijmegen (1998)

Honorary Membership of BES (1999)

Current Research Students

Mark Bilton (based at Macaulay Institute, Aberdeen)

Mahmood Shanta (Libyan Governemnt research studentship)

Recent Publications (2001 to date)

Grime JP, Fridley JD, Askew AP, Thompson K, Hodgson JG and Bennett CR (2008) Long-term resistance to simulated climate change in an infertile grassland. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA, 105, 10028-10032.

Grime JP, Hodgson JG and Hunt R (2007) Comparative Plant Ecology: a functional approach to common British species. 2nd Edition, Castlepoint Press, Dalbeattie.

Grime JP (2007) The scale-precision trade-off in spatial resource foraging by plants: restoring perspective. Annals of Botany, 99,1017-1022.

Grime JP (2007) Plant strategy theories: a comment on Craine (2005) Journal of Ecology 95, 227-230.

Whitlock R, Grime JP, Booth RE and Burke TA (2007) The role of genotypic diversity in determining grassland community structure under constant environmental conditions. Journal of Ecology 95, 895-907.

Fridley JD, Grime JP and Bilton MC (2007) Genetic identity of inter-specific neighbours mediates plant responses to competition and environmental variation in species-rich grassland. Journal of Ecology 95, 908-916.

Grime JP (2006) Trait convergence and trait divergence in herbaceous plant communities: mechanisms and consequences. Journal of Vegetation Science 17, 255-260.

Thompson K, Askew AP, Grime JP, Dunnett NP and Willis AJ (2005) Biodiversity, ecosystem function and plant traits in mature and immature plant communities. Functional Ecology 19, 355-358.

Bates JW, Thompson K and Grime JP (2005) Effects of simulated long-term climatic change on the bryophytes of a limestone grassland community. Global Change Biology 11, 1-13.

Grime JP (2003) Plants hold the key: ecosystems in a changing world. Biologist 50, 87-93.

Booth RE and Grime JP (2003) Effects of genetic impoverishment on plant community diversity. Journal of Ecology 91, 721-730.

Wardle DA and Grime JP (2003) Biodiversity and stability of grassland ecosystem functioning. Oikos 100 (3), 622–623.

Burt-Smith GS, Grime JP and Tilman D. (2003) Seedling resistance to herbivory as a predictor of relative abundance in a synthesised prairie community. Oikos 101, 345-353.

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