Howard Griffiths (scientist)

Howard Griffiths is Professor of Plant Ecology in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge[3] and a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge.[4] His scientific interests focus on plant physiological ecology, particularly in the application of molecular biology techniques and physiology to investigate the regulation of photosynthesis and plant water-use efficiency.

Howard Griffiths
Born1953 (age 66–67)[1]
Scientific career
FieldsPlant Physiological Ecology
Institutions
Websitewww.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/research/howardgriffiths
For other people of the same name, see Howard Griffiths.

Research

Griffiths specialisations include:

  • responses to climate change, reflected by his membership of the Cambridge Centre for Climate Science, CCfCS,[5]
  • global food security, a University of Cambridge Research Theme [6]
  • conservation and bioenergy crops, through his membership of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative [7]

Griffiths has a particular interest in introducing the dynamics of plant processes without the need for time-lapse photography. His lectures demonstrate how the spatial segregation of photosystem 1 and photosystem 2 creates a highly dynamic system, with lateral mobility and migration of damaged photosynthetic reaction centres through thylakoid membranes. He studies the reaction mechanism of RuBisCO and how plants have evolved turbocharging "carbon concentrating mechanisms" to enhance the operating efficiency of photosynthesis. His work uses stable isotopes of carbon (carbon-13 and oxygen (Δ18O) to integrate carbon and hydrological cycles for individual plants, rainforest ecosystems and Antarctic moss deposits.

His research focuses on biochemical mechanisms such as C₄ carbon fixation which spatially separate one of the anaplerotic reactions of CO₂ fixation by Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase within mesophyll tissues and RuBisCO in an inner bundle sheath cell: CO₂ concentrations are elevated and offset the wasteful oxygenase activity and the salvage pathway, photorespiration, leading to improved radiation, water and nitrogen use by C₄ plants. As of 2017 his programmes are focusing on

  1. the energetics and leakiness of the C₄ pathway at low light and loss of canopy carbon gain;
  2. evolutionary origins and physiological function of the bundle sheath cell system, perhaps as a means of enhancing stem and leaf hydraulic conductance under drought and low temperatures.

He has longstanding interests in Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM photosynthesis)[8] and has worked in Trinidad and Panama on tropical epiphytes such as the bromeliad and orchid and cacti families, and now has interests in bioenergy production by Agave.

He has investigated carbon concentrating mechanisms (see photosynthesis) in algae and hornworts, focusing on the molecular determinants of the chloroplast pyrenoid in Chlamydomonas.[9] He has a major collaboration funded by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and National Science Foundation (NSF) to explore the possibility of introducing elements of the algal carbon concentrating mechanism into vascular plants.[10][3]

Publications

He is the author, co-author or editor of several textbooks and monographs[1] including The carbon balance of forest biomes[11] with Paul Gordon Jarvis.

According to Google Scholar[12] and Scopus,[13] his most highly cited peer reviewed publications have been published in the scientific journals The Journal of Experimental Botany,[8][14] Oecologia,[15] New Phytologist[16] and Functional Plant Biology.[17]

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References
  1. Howard Griffiths at Library of Congress Authorities
  2. Raven, John; Beardall, John; Griffiths, Howard (1982). "Inorganic C-sources for Lemanea, Cladophora and Ranunculus in a fast-flowing stream: Measurements of gas exchange and of carbon isotope ratio and their ecological implications". Oecologia. 53 (1): 68–78. doi:10.1007/BF00377138. ISSN 0029-8549.
  3. "Howard Griffiths, Department of Plant Sciences". plantsci.cam.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2016-01-14.
  4. "Professor Howard Griffiths". clare.cam.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2014-04-24.
  5. "Cambridge Centre for Climate Science". climatescience.cam.ac.uk.
  6. "Research theme: food security". cam.ac.uk/research/themes/food-security.
  7. "Introducing the Cambridge Conservation Initiative". conservation.cam.ac.uk.
  8. Dodd, A. N. (2002). "Crassulacean acid metabolism: plastic, fantastic". Journal of Experimental Botany. 53 (369): 569–580. doi:10.1093/jexbot/53.369.569. ISSN 1460-2431. PMID 11886877.
  9. Meyer, Moritz (2010). Physiological and molecular determinants of the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii pyrenoid (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC 879379141.
  10. "CAPP - Combining Algal and Plant Photosynthesis". cambridgecapp.wordpress.com.
  11. Howard Griffiths and Paul Jarvis (2005) The carbon balance of forest biomes
  12. Howard Griffiths publications indexed by Google Scholar
  13. Howard Griffiths's publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
  14. Price, A. H. (2002). "Linking drought-resistance mechanisms to drought avoidance in upland rice using a QTL approach: progress and new opportunities to integrate stomatal and mesophyll responses". Journal of Experimental Botany. 53 (371): 989–1004. doi:10.1093/jexbot/53.371.989. ISSN 1460-2431.
  15. Seibt, Ulli; Rajabi, Abazar; Griffiths, Howard; Berry, Joseph A. (2008). "Carbon isotopes and water use efficiency: sense and sensitivity". Oecologia. 155 (3): 441–454. doi:10.1007/s00442-007-0932-7. ISSN 0029-8549. PMID 18224341.
  16. Adams, Patricia; Nelson, Don E.; Yamada, Shigehiro; Chmara, Wendy; Jensen, Richard G.; Bohnert, Hans J.; Griffiths, Howard (1998). "Growth and development of Mesembryanthemum crystallinum (Aizoaceae)". New Phytologist. 138 (2): 171–190. doi:10.1046/j.1469-8137.1998.00111.x. ISSN 0028-646X.
  17. Cernusak, Lucas A.; Tcherkez, Guillaume; Keitel, Claudia; Cornwell, William K.; Santiago, Louis S.; Knohl, Alexander; Barbour, Margaret M.; Williams, David G.; Reich, Peter B.; Ellsworth, David S.; Dawson, Todd E.; Griffiths, Howard G.; Farquhar, Graham D.; Wright, Ian J. (2009). "Why are non-photosynthetic tissues generally 13C enriched compared with leaves in C3 plants? Review and synthesis of current hypotheses". Functional Plant Biology. 36 (3): 199. doi:10.1071/FP08216. hdl:11299/177648. ISSN 1445-4408.
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