Professor Howard Griffiths

  • • Head of Physiological Ecology, retired
  • • Professor of Plant Ecology
Professor Howard Griffiths

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About

Howard Griffiths is the Retired Head of Physiological Ecology at the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge.

Previous Positions

2008 - Visiting Research Fellow - RSBS, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

2006 - Visiting Research Fellow - RSBS, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

2002 to present - Fellow of Clare College - University of Cambridge, England

1983 to 2000 - Lecturer, Reader, then Personal Chair - University of Newcastle, England

Qualifications 

1975 to 1983 - PhD in Botany - University of Dundee, Scotland

1972 to 1983 - BSc in Botany - University of Dundee, Scotland

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Awards

2015 - Fellow - Linnaean Society

2014 - Fellow - Royal Society of Biology

Committees

2019 - Member - GCRF QR Governance Committee

2019 - Advisor to Vice Chancellor for strategic partnerships with India

2018 to 2021 - Chair - Departmental Graduate Education Committee

2018 to 2021 - Chair - GCRF Strategic Advisory Group

2018 to 2019 - Member - Board of Electors for Professorship in Crop Science

2016 to 2020 - Representative on Old Schools - Delegations to India

2016 to 2017 - Member - Departmental Graduate Education Committee

2016 to 2017 - Chair - Cambridge Natural Environment Research Council Doctoral Landscape Awards Biology Theme

2015 - Member - University International Strategy Committee

2014 to 2020 - Board Member - Cambridge University Potato Growers Association

2014 - Co-Chair - University of Cambridge Global Food Security Strategic Initiative

2013 - Member - Cambridge NERC DTP Organising Forum

2012 - Member - Journal of Experimental Botany Strategy Board and Associate Editor

2011 to 2021 - Member - Institute of Continuing Education Strategic Committee

2010 - Panel Member - Royal Society Newton International Fellowships

2008 to 2016 - Teaching Co-ordinator - including management of two successful Departmental Learning and Teaching Reviews in 2009 and 2015 - Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, England

  • Department of Zoology LTR, Chair 2012, Member 2016;
  • Earth Sciences LTR, Member, 2011 and 2018
  • Genetics LTR, Chair, 2017

2007 to 2011, 2014 - Member - Natural Environment Research Council Peer Review College

2007 - Organiser - C4-CAM Satellite Meeting to International Photosynthesis Congress

2005 - Discussion Leader - Gordon Conference, Aussois, France

2005 - Organiser - IBC Vienna Epiphytes and Climate Change

2005 - Organiser - SEB BarcelonaDrought Tolerance

2004 - Chairman/Discussion Leader - International Photosynthesis Congress, Montreal, Canada

2004 - Member - Departmental Resources Committee

2003 - Co-organiser - BES/SEB International Symposium Carbon Balance of Forest Biomes

2001 - Cory Fund Manager - Cambridge Botanic Garden

1995 to 2008 - Panel Memberships - Natural Environment Research Council Strategy, Scientific Services and Peer Review

1981, 1983, 1985,1990, 1992, 1995, 1998, 2003, 2004 - Leader of expeditions for field work using stable isotopes to investigate carbon balance, drought tolerance and water vapour exchanges for forests and epiphytes - Trinidad, Venezuela and Panama

Research

Research Group

Physiological Ecology

Research Overview

We investigate plant molecular, physiological and environmental processes which regulate productivity and CO2 sequestration, and aim to improve the operating efficiency of the primary carboxylase, Rubisco, and match water availability to use. Stable isotope methods are used to evaluate the origins and regulation of diverse photosynthetic carbon concentrating mechanisms (CCM). These include the C4 pathway and Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM), as well as the biophysical CCM in algae and hornworts, where our particular focus is on the molecular determinants of the chloroplast pyrenoid. Against a background of natural community diversity, our work increasingly translates via experimentation and fieldwork into resilience in cropping systems and the promotion of food security and equality.

School of Biological Sciences Theme Affiliations

Organisms, Evolution and Ecology

Publications

Selected publications

Orchestral manoeuvres in the light: crosstalk needed for regulation of the Chlamydomonas carbon concentration mechanism 20 April 2021 Journal of Experimetnal Botany Indu Santhanagopalan, Rachel Wong, Tanya Mathur & Howard Griffiths Rubisco and carbon-concentrating mechanism co-evolution across chlorophyte and streptophyte green algae 6 April 2020 New Phytologist Myriam M M Goudet, Douglas J Orr, Michael Melkonian, Karin H Müller, Moritz T Meyer, Elizabete Carmo-Silva & Howard Griffiths A Rubisco-binding protein is required for normal pyrenoid number and starch sheath morphology in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii 27 August 2019 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Alan K Itakura, Kher Xing Chan, Nicky Atkinson, Leif Pallesen, Lianyong Wang, Gregory Reeves, Weronika Patena, Oliver Caspari, Robyn Roth, Ursula Goodenough, Alistair J McCormick, Howard Griffiths & Martin C Jonikas A Roadmap for Lowering Crop Nitrogen Requirement 5 July 2019 PubMed Stéphanie M Swarbreck, Meng Wang, Yuan Wang, Daniel Kindred, Roger Sylvester-Bradley, Weiming Shi, Varinderpal-Singh, Alison R Bentley & Howard Griffiths Bryophyte stable isotope composition, diversity and biomass define tropical montane cloud forest extent 23 January 2019 Proceedings of the Royal Society B Aline B Horwath, Jessica Royles, Richard Tito, José A Gudiño, Noris Salazar Allen, William Farfan-Rios, Joshua M. Rapp, Miles R. Silman, Yadvinder Malhi, Varun Swamy, Jean Paul Latorre Farfan, Howard Griffiths

Teaching and supervision

Undergraduate Natural Science Tripos Part IA 

Undergraduate Natural Science Tripos Part IB

Undergraduate Natural Science Tripos Part II