John Grace: CV, 2015
1 Career Synopsis 1967 - 2015
Educated at the University of Sheffield (BSc Hons Botany 1967, PhD 1970). Career progression
at Edinburgh University: 1970 Lecturer; 1985 Reader; 1992 Professor of Environmental Biology;
2010 Emeritus Professor; 2013 Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Fellow.
1.1 Teaching Experience
Organised and taught many classes, ranging in size from the first year Biology lectures (often
over 300) to final year and MSc where a seminar style approach with project work is usual.
Introduced into several courses a mechanistic view of ecology and environmental biology,
emphasising physiological, experimental and modelling approaches. Field courses have been a
strong feature, with classes to the Southern uplands, the Scottish Highlands, the Pennines, the
Cairngorms and Ireland. Another strong feature has been involvement with overseas students,
especially at MSc level. Supervised over 50 PhD students.
1.2 Research
Continuous competitive funding from research councils (predominantly NERC) and from the
European Commission. Recent research interests include: carbon fluxes in disturbed forests;
carbon dioxide sinks in the tropics; savanna ecosystems; methane fluxes from tropical
ecosystems; innovation in instrumentation for measuring plant-atmosphere interactions,
phenology. Published over 300 papers and chapters in peer-reviewed international journals and
symposia. Co-edited or authored eight academic books. Current citation rate is about 900 per
year (Web of Science).
1.3 Current Research Collaborations
Brazil and Peru (on methane and CO2 fluxes over tropical vegetation); Finland (on the cause of
the treeline); Japan (on the detection of phenological data using cameras); China (on methane
fluxes from reservoirs).
1.4 Recent work on Committees
Sweden: Swedish Research Council, FORMAS (panel for climate change-related research);
Australia: ACEAS, Australian Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis; UK: Scottish Forestry
Trust (Trustee); Botanical Society of Scotland (President); INTECOL (Executive Committee);
Wageningen University (Review of Research in School of Production Ecology); Member of the
Science Advisory Committee for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh; Jury Member for the
Ramon Margalef Prize (Spain).
1.5 Leadership
Co-founder of the journal Functional Ecology (1987-2002), First Head of the School of
GeoSciences at Edinburgh University (2002-2003). President of the British Ecological Society
(2002-2003); President of the Botanical Society of Scotland (2012-).
1.6 Honours
Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1994; awarded the BES Medal (2007) and the
Marsh Award for Climate Change (2009).
1.7 Consultancy
Ecometrica: ecometrica.com, an Edinburgh-based company with offices in London, Edinburgh
and Montreal that helps clients measure their environmental impacts, from carbon, energy,
paper, waste and water management all the way through to full supply chain accounting. We
have global reach.
1.8 Major recent grants
NERC: Amazonica Consortium led by Leeds University, £569,156 over three years (start 2011) to
investigate CO2 and CH4 fluxes over the Amazon basin.
NERC: Subcontract on Royal Holloway’s three-year grant to carry out sampling of gases in Peru
(start 2013).
European Commission: EC FP7 grant Geocarbon (shared with Mat Williams), £161,101 over
three years (start 2012) to measure CO2 and CH4 fluxes in Peruvian rainforest.
2 Chapters in books, from 2010 – February 2015
2.1 Student orientated output: Grace J (2012) (i) Climate Change: an unprecedented
environmental challenge and (ii) Vegetation and environmental change, both articles are
chapters in An Introduction to Physical Geography and the Environment (3rd Edition). Edited by J
Holden, Pearson Education, Harlow.
2.2 Professional orientated output: Grace J, Morison JIL & Perks MP (2014) Forests, Forestry
and Climate Change. Pp 241-266 In Challenges and Opportunities for the World’s Forests in the
21st Century. Edited by Trevor Fenning, Springer.
Grace J (2014) Forests and the Climate System.Pp 21-45 In Forests and Global Change. Edited by
David Coombs, David Burslem and William Simonson. Cambridge University Press.
3 Recent papers published in international journals (2010-December
2015; earlier papers available on request)
2015
Yang, M., Geng, X.M., Grace, J., Jia, Y.F., Liu, Y.Z., Jiao, S.W., Shi, L.L., Lu, C., Zhou, Y. and Lei, G.C. (2015) N2O fluxes from
the littoral zone of a Chinese reservoir. Biogeosciences 12(15), 4711-4723.
Wingate, L., Ogee, J., Cremonese, E., Filippa, G., Mizunuma, T., Migliavacca, M., Moisy, C., Wilkinson, M., Moureaux, C.,
Wohlfahrt, G., Hammerle, A., Hoertnagl, L., Gimeno, C., Porcar-Castell, A., Galvagno, M., Nakaji, T., Morison, J., Kolle, O.,
Knohl, A., Kutsch, W., Kolari, P., Nikinmaa, E., Ibrom, A., Gielen, B., Eugster, W., Balzarolo, M., Papale, D., Klumpp, K.,
Koestner, B., Gruenwald, T., Joffre, R., Ourcival, J.M., Hellstrom, M., Lindroth, A., George, C., Longdoz, B., Genty, B.,
Levula, J., Heinesch, B., Sprintsin, M., Yakir, D., Manise, T., Guyon, D., Ahrends, H., Plaza-Aguilar, A., Guan, J.H. and
Grace, J. (2015) Interpreting canopy development and physiology using a European phenology camera network at flux
sites. Biogeosciences 12(20), 5995-6015.
Veenendaal, E.M., Torello-Raventos, M., Feldpausch, T.R., Domingues, T.F., Gerard, F., Schrodt, F., Saiz, G., Quesada, C.A.,
Djagbletey, G., Ford, A., Kemp, J., Marimon, B.S., Marimon-Junior, B.H., Lenza, E., Ratter, J.A., Maracahipes, L., Sasaki, D.,
Sonke, B., Zapfack, L., Villarroel, D., Schwarz, M., Yoko Ishida, F., Gilpin, M., Nardoto, G.B., Affum-Baffoe, K., Arroyo, L.,
Bloomfield, K., Ceca, G., Compaore, H., Davies, K., Diallo, A., Fyllas, N.M., Gignoux, J., Hien, F., Johnson, M., Mougin, E.,
Hiernaux, P., Killeen, T., Metcalfe, D., Miranda, H.S., Steininger, M., Sykora, K., Bird, M.I., Grace, J., Lewis, S., Phillips, O.L.
and Lloyd, J. (2015) Structural, physiognomic and above-ground biomass variation in savanna-forest transition zones
on three continents - how different are co-occurring savanna and forest formations? Biogeosciences 12(10),
2927-2951.
Schrodt, F., Domingues, T.F., Feldpausch, T.R., Saiz, G., Quesada, C.A., Schwarz, M., Ishida, Y., Compaore, H., Diallo, A.,
Djagbletey, G., Hien, F., Sonke, B., Toedoumg, H., Zapfack, L., Hiernaux, P., Mougin, E., Bird, M.I., Grace, J., Lewis, S.L.,
Veenendaal, E.M. and Lloyd, J. (2015) Foliar trait contrasts between African forest and savanna trees: genetic versus
environmental effects. Functional Plant Biology 42(1), 63-83.
Rowland, L., da Costa, A.C.L., Galbraith, D.R., Oliveira, R.S., Binks, O.J., Oliveira, A.A.R., Pullen, A.M., Doughty, C.E.,
Metcalfe, D.B., Vasconcelos, S.S., Ferreira, L.V., Malhi, Y., Grace, J., Mencuccini, M. and Meir, P. (2015) Death from
drought in tropical forests is triggered by hydraulics not carbon starvation. Nature 528(7580), 119-+.
Lloyd, J., Domingues, T.F., Schrodt, F., Ishida, F.Y., Feldpausch, T.R., Saiz, G., Quesada, C.A., Schwarz, M.,
Torello-Raventos, M., Gilpin, M., Marimon, B.S., Marimon-Junior, B.H., Ratter, J.A., Grace, J., Nardoto, G.B., Veenendaal,
E., Arroyo, L., Villarroel, D., Killeen, T.J., Steininger, M. and Phillips, O.L. (2015) Edaphic, structural and physiological
contrasts across Amazon Basin forest-savanna ecotones suggest a role for potassium as a key modulator of tropical
woody vegetation structure and function. Biogeosciences 12(22), 6529-6571.
Domingues, T.F., Ishida, F.Y., Feldpausch, T.R., Grace, J., Meir, P., Saiz, G., Sene, O., Schrodt, F., Sonke, B., Taedoumg, H.,
Veenendaal, E.M., Lewis, S. and Lloyd, J. (2015) Biome-specific effects of nitrogen and phosphorus on the
photosynthetic characteristics of trees at a forest-savanna boundary in Cameroon. Oecologia 178(3), 659-672.
Dengel, S., Grace, J. and MacArthur, A. (2015) Transmissivity of solar radiation within a Picea sitchensis stand under
various sky conditions. Biogeosciences 12(14), 4195-4207.
2014
Aakala, T., Hari, P., Dengel, S., Newberry, S.L., Mizunuma, T. and Grace, J. (2014) A prominent stepwise advance of the
tree line in north-east Finland. Journal of Ecology 102(6), 1582-1591.
Gatti, L.V., Gloor, M., Miller, J.B., Doughty, C.E., Malhi, Y., Domingues, L.G., Basso, L.S., Martinewski, A., Correia, C.S.C.,
Borges, V.F., Freitas, S., Braz, R., Anderson, L.O., Rocha, H., Grace, J. , Phillips, O.L. and Lloyd, J. (2014) Drought
sensitivity of Amazonian carbon balance revealed by atmospheric measurements. Nature 506(7486), 76-80.
Gea-Izquierdo, G., Bergeron, Y., Huang, J.-G., Lapointe-Garant, M.-P., Grace, J. and Berninger, F. (2014) The relationship
between productivity and tree-ring growth in boreal coniferous forests. Boreal Environment Research 19(5-6), 363-378.
Grace, J., Mitchard, E. and Gloor, E. (2014) Perturbations in the carbon budget of the tropics. Global Change Biology
20(10), 3238-3255.
Guarini, R., Nichol, C., Clement, R., Loizzo, R., Grace, J. and Borghetti, M. (2014) The utility of MODIS-sPRI for
investigating the photosynthetic light-use efficiency in a Mediterranean deciduous forest. International Journal of
Remote Sensing 35(16), 6157-6172.
Hilasvuori, E., Hari, P., Aakala, T., Pulliainee, E. and Grace, J. (2014) Changes in nitrogen content and isotopic
composition in subarctic Empetrum nigrum seeds in the period 1976-2010. Boreal Environment Research 19(3),
209-221.
Mizunuma, T., Mencuccini, M., Wingate, L., Ogee, J., Nichol, C. and Grace, J. (2014) Sensitivity of colour indices for
discriminating leaf colours from digital photographs. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 5(10), 1078-1085.
Ryan, C. M., Williams, M., Hill, T. C., Grace, J., and Woodhouse, I. H. (2014). Assessing the Phenology of Southern
Tropical Africa: A Comparison of Hemispherical Photography, Scatterometry, and Optical/NIR Remote Sensing. Ieee
Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 52, 519-528.
San Jose, J., Montes, R., Nikonova, N., Grace, J. and Buendia, C. (2014) Effect of the replacement of a native savanna by
an African Brachiaria decumbens pasture on the CO2 exchange in the Orinoco lowlands, Venezuela. Photosynthetica
52(3), 358-370.
Schrodt, F., Domingues, T.F., Feldpausch, T.R., Saiz, G., Quesada, C.A., Schwarz, M., Ishida, Y., Compaore, H., Diallo, A.,
Djagbletey, G., Hien, F., Sonke, B., Toedoumg, H., Zapfack, L., Hiernaux, P., Mougin, E., Bird, M.I., Grace, J., Lewis, S.L.,
Veenendaal, E.M. and Lloyd, J. (2015) Foliar trait contrasts between African forest and savanna trees: genetic versus
environmental effects. Functional Plant Biology 42(1), 63-83.
Urban, O., Klem, K., Holisova, P., Sigut, L., Sprtova, M., Teslova-Navratilova, P., Zitova, M., Spunda, V., Marek, M.V. and
Grace, J. (2014) Impact of elevated CO2 concentration on dynamics of leaf photosynthesis in Fagus sylvatica is
modulated by sky conditions. Environmental Pollution 185, 271-280.
van de Weg, M.J., Meir, P., Williams, M., Girardin, C., Malhi, Y., Silva-Espejo, J. and Grace, J. (2014) Gross Primary
Productivity of a High Elevation Tropical Montane Cloud Forest. Ecosystems 17(5), 751-764.
Yang, M., Geng, X., Grace, J., Lu, C., Zhu, Y., Zhou, Y. and Lei, G. (2014) Spatial and Seasonal CH4 Flux in the Littoral
Zone of Miyun Reservoir near Beijing: The Effects of Water Level and Its Fluctuation. Plos One 9(4).
Zhou, Y., Li, N., Grace, J., Yang, M., Lu, C., Geng, X., Lei, G., Zhu, W. and Deng, Y. (2014) Impact of Groundwater Table
and Plateau Zokors (Myospalax baileyi) on Ecosystem Respiration in the Zoige Peatlands of China. Plos One 9(12).
2013
Dengel, S., Grace, J., Aakala, T., Hari, P., Newberry, S. L., and Mizunuma, T. (2013). Spectral
characteristics of pine needles at the limit of tree growth in subarctic Finland. Plant
Ecology & Diversity 6, 31-44.
Kivimaeki, S. K., Sheppard, L. J., Leith, I. D., and Grace, J. (2013). Long-term enhanced nitrogen
deposition increases ecosystem respiration and carbon loss from a Sphagnum bog in the
Scottish Borders. Environmental and Experimental Botany 90, 53-61.
Mizunuma, T., Wilkinson, M., Eaton, E. L., Mencuccini, M., Morison, J. I. L., and Grace, J. (2013).
The relationship between carbon dioxide uptake and canopy colour from two camera
systems in a deciduous forest in southern England. Functional Ecology 27, 196-207.
Nagy, J., Nagy, L., Legg, C. J., and Grace, J. (2013). The stability of the Pinus sylvestris treeline in
the Cairngorms, Scotland over the last millennium. Plant Ecology & Diversity 6, 7-19.
Torello-Raventos, M., Feldpausch, T. R., Veenendaal, E., Schrodt, F., Saiz, G., Domingues, T. F.,
Djagbletey, G., Ford, A., Kemp, J., Marimon, B. S., Marimon Junior, B. H., Lenza, E.,
Ratter, J. A., Maracahipes, L., Sasaki, D., Sonke, B., Zapfack, L., Taedoumg, H., Villarroel,
D., Schwarz, M., Quesada, C. A., Ishida, F. Y., Nardoto, G. B., Affum-Baffoe, K., Arroyo, L.,
Bowman, D. M. J. S., Compaore, H., Davies, K., Diallo, A., Fyllas, N. M., Gilpin, M., Hien,
F., Johnson, M., Killeen, T. J., Metcalfe, D., Miranda, H. S., Steininger, M., Thomson, J.,
Sykora, K., Mougin, E., Hiernaux, P., Bird, M. I., Grace, J., Lewis, S. L., Phillips, O. L., and
Lloyd, J. (2013). On the delineation of tropical vegetation types with an emphasis on
forest/savanna transitions. Plant Ecology & Diversity 6, 101-137.
2012
Butler, A., Meir, P., Saiz, G., Maracahipes, L., Marimon, B. S., and Grace, J. (2012). Annual
variation in soil respiration and its component parts in two structurally contrasting
woody savannas in Central Brazil. Plant and Soil 352, 129-142.
Nichol, C. J., Pieruschka, R., Takayama, K., Foerster, B., Kolber, Z., Rascher, U., Grace, J.,
Robinson, S. A., Pogson, B., and Osmond, B. (2012). Canopy conundrums: building on
the Biosphere 2 experience to scale measurements of inner and outer canopy
photoprotection from the leaf to the landscape. Functional Plant Biology 39, 1-24.
Ryan, C. M., Hill, T., Woollen, E., Ghee, C., Mitchard, E., Cassells, G., Grace, J., Woodhouse, I. H.,
and Williams, M. (2012). Quantifying small-scale deforestation and forest degradation in
African woodlands using radar imagery. Global Change Biology 18, 243-257.
van de Weg, M. J., Meir, P., Grace, J., and Damian Ramos, G. (2012). Photosynthetic
parameters, dark respiration and leaf traits in the canopy of a Peruvian tropical
montane cloud forest. Oecologia 168, 23-34.
Simpson, K. L. S., Jackson, G. E., and Grace, J. (2012). The response of aphids to plant water
stress - the case of Myzus persicae and Brassica oleracea var. capitata. Entomologia
Experimentalis Et Applicata 142, 191-202.
Urban, O., Klem, K., Ac, A., Havrankova, K., Holisova, P., Navratil, M., Zitova, M., Kozlova, K.,
Pokorny, R., Sprtova, M., Tomaskova, I., Spunda, V., and Grace, J. (2012). Impact of clear
and cloudy sky conditions on the vertical distribution of photosynthetic CO2 uptake
within a spruce canopy. Functional Ecology 26, 46-55.
2011
Dengel, S., Levy, P. E., Grace, J., Jones, S. K., and Skiba, U. M. (2011). Methane emissions from
sheep pasture, measured with an open-path eddy covariance system. Global Change
Biology 17, 3524-3533.
Grace, J. (2011). Managing forests to manage the carbon cycle. Carbon Management 2,
499-500.
Guerrieri, R., Mencuccini, M., Sheppard, L. J., Saurer, M., Perks, M. P., Levy, P., Sutton, M. A.,
Borghetti, M., and Grace, J. (2011). The legacy of enhanced N and S deposition as
revealed by the combined analysis of delta 13C, delta 18O and delta 15N in tree rings.
Global Change Biology 17, 1946-1962.
Mizunuma, T., Koyanagi, T., Mencuccini, M., Nasahara, K. N., Wingate, L., and Grace, J. (2011).
The comparison of several colour indices for the photographic recording of canopy
phenology of Fagus crenata Blume in eastern Japan. Plant Ecology & Diversity 4, 67-77.
Ryan, C. M., Williams, M., and Grace, J. (2011). Above- and Belowground Carbon Stocks in a
Miombo Woodland Landscape of Mozambique. Biotropica 43, 423-432.
2010
Grace, J., Ryan, C. M., Williams, M., Powell, P., Goodman, L., and Tipper, R. (2010). A pilot
project to store carbon as biomass in African woodlands. Carbon Management 1,
227-235.
Janssens, I. A., Dieleman, W., Luyssaert, S., Subke, J. A., Reichstein, M., Ceulemans, R., Ciais, P.,
Dolman, A. J., Grace, J., Matteucci, G., Papale, D., Piao, S. L., Schulze, E. D., Tang, J., and
Law, B. E. (2010). Reduction of forest soil respiration in response to nitrogen deposition.
Nature Geoscience 3, 315-322.
Kroon, P. S., Vesala, T., and Grace, J. (2010). Flux measurements of CH(4) and N(2)O exchanges.
Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 150, 745-747.
Luyssaert, S., Ciais, P., Piao, S. L., Schulze, E. D., Jung, M., Zaehle, S., Schelhaas, M. J., Reichstein,
M., Churkina, G., Papale, D., Abril, G., Beer, C., Grace, J., Loustau, D., Matteucci, G.,
Magnani, F., Nabuurs, G. J., Verbeeck, H., Sulkava, M., van der Werf, G. R., Janssens, I.
A., and Team, C.-I. S. (2010). The European carbon balance. Part 3: forests. Global
Change Biology 16, 1429-1450.
Nichol, C. J., and Grace, J. (2010). Determination of leaf pigment content in Calluna vulgaris
shoots from spectral reflectance. International Journal of Remote Sensing 31,
5409-5422.
Wingate, L., Ogee, J., Burlett, R., Bosc, A., Devaux, M., Grace, J., Loustau, D., and Gessler, A.
(2010). Photosynthetic carbon isotope discrimination and its relationship to the carbon
isotope signals of stem, soil and ecosystem respiration. New Phytologist 188, 576-589.
Butler, A. J., Barbier, N., Cermak, J., Koller, J., Thornily, C., McEvoy, C., Nicoll, B., Perks, M. P.,
Grace, J., and Meir, P. (2010). Estimates and relationships between aboveground and
belowground resource exchange surface areas in a Sitka spruce managed forest. Tree
Physiology 30, 705-714.
Cross, A., and Grace, J. (2010). The effect of warming on the CO2 emissions of fresh and old
organic soil from under a Sitka spruce plantation. Geoderma 157, 126-132.
Dengel, S., and Grace, J. (2010). Carbon dioxide exchange and canopy conductance of two
coniferous forests under various sky conditions. Oecologia 164, 797-808.
Domingues, T. F., Meir, P., Feldpausch, T. R., Saiz, G., Veenendaal, E. M., Schrodt, F., Bird, M.,
Djagbletey, G., Hien, F., Compaore, H., Diallo, A., Grace, J., and Lloyd, J. (2010).
Co-limitation of photosynthetic capacity by nitrogen and phosphorus in West Africa
woodlands. Plant Cell and Environment 33, 959-980.
4 Citation summary 1970- June 2016, according to the Web of Science
I have published 276 papers as author or co-author. My work has been cited 13,425 times and
the average citation is 48 citations per paper. My h index is 64.