Professor Philip Grime
School of Biosciences
Emeritus Professor
- Profile
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- BSc (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, The Buxton Climate Change Impacts Laboratory, University of Sheffield (1989-present)
- 2012 marks the nineteenth year of continuous climate manipulation in the main experiment at the Buxton Climate Change Impacts Lab. The six treatments include various combinations of warming, summer drought (see automatically operated rainshelters, opposite), and supplementary rainfall.
- Research interests
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Role of plant, animal and microbial 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 and memberships
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- Direction of the programme of research in terrestrial plant ecology.
- 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.
- Liaison with a diverse range of individuals and organisations, both local and national, concerned with academic and applied aspects of plant ecology.
- Awards
- Elected Member of Dutch Royal Society (1993)
- 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 (1998)
- Inaugural recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Award of the International Association for Vegetation Science (2011)