Malcolm Press

Last updated

Malcolm Press
CBE DL
Born
Malcolm Colin Press

(1958-09-18) 18 September 1958 (age 66) [1]
NationalityBritish
Education Kingsbury High School
Alma mater
Awards BES presidents Medal (2005)
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions
Thesis Responses to acidic deposition in blanket bogs  (1983)
Doctoral advisor John A. Lee [4] [5]
Notable students Julian Hibberd (postdoc)
Website www.mmu.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/vice-chancellor/

Malcolm Colin Press CBE DL (born 18 September 1958) [1] is a British ecologist, professor and Vice-Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), in the United Kingdom. [1] [6]

Contents

Education

Press was educated at Kingsbury High School. He studied environmental science at Westfield College, [1] part of the University of London gaining a Bachelor of Science degree in 1980 followed by a PhD from the University of Manchester in 1984 supervised by John A. Lee. [4] In 2008, he was awarded a Diploma in Spanish and Latin American studies from the University of Sheffield. [1]

Career

Following his PhD, Press was a postdoctoral research associate at University College London (UCL) from 1985 to 1989. He was appointed a lecturer in 1989 at the University of Manchester and promoted to senior lecturer in 1992.

Service and leadership

Press moved to the University of Sheffield in 1994, where he served as a reader until 1998, then professor of physiological ecology, where he also served as head of the department of animal and plant sciences from 2002.

He was appointed Pro-vice-chancellor and head of the college of life and environmental sciences at the University of Birmingham in 2008. Press faced confrontation with the University and College Union, which held a successful strike ballot following introduction of performance management measures for staff without consultation. The union classed these as "aggressive management". The strike was later called off after negotiation and Press noted that his statements of successfully managing out underperforming staff in a public strategy document "could have been more clearly and sensitively articulated". [7]

From 2013 he served as Birmingham's Pro-Vice-Chancellor for research and knowledge transfer. [8] [9]

Press was appointed Vice-Chancellor at MMU in June 2015 [10] [11] [7] [12] where he took over from John Brooks who held the post from 2005 to 2015. [13] [14]

Press served as president of the British Ecological Society from 2007 to 2009, and was awarded the BES president's medal in 2005. From 2009 to 2012, he served as a member of the council of the National Trust. [15] Between 2012 and 2018, he served on the Board of Trustees at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, appointed by Lord Taylor. [2] From 2015 until 2021 he was a trustee of the World Wide Fund for Nature. [3] [16] In 2017, he was appointed chair of the Manchester Memorial Advisory Group, serving until 2020. In 2020, he was appointed a trustee of the British Council. He sits on the boards of UCAS, [17] and the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education. [3] [18] Press also sits on the boards of several university-linked businesses, including Manchester Science Partnerships, [19] Health Innovation Manchester, [20] and the Oxford Road Corridor. [21]

Research

Press is internationally recognised as a researcher in the fields of sustainable agriculture, climate change and tropical forests. [22] Highlights include:

Awards and honours

Press was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for "services to higher and technical education". [3] [41] He was appointed a deputy lieutenant (DL) of Greater Manchester in 2024. [42]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mycorrhiza</span> Fungus-plant symbiotic association

A mycorrhiza is a symbiotic association between a fungus and a plant. The term mycorrhiza refers to the role of the fungus in the plant's rhizosphere, the plant root system and its surroundings. Mycorrhizae play important roles in plant nutrition, soil biology, and soil chemistry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haustorium</span> Biological root-like structure that extracts nutrients from another organism

In botany and mycology, a haustorium is a rootlike structure that grows into or around another structure to absorb water or nutrients. For example, in mistletoe or members of the broomrape family, the structure penetrates the host's tissue and draws nutrients from it. In mycology, it refers to the appendage or portion of a parasitic fungus, which performs a similar function. Microscopic haustoria penetrate the host plant's cell wall and siphon nutrients from the space between the cell wall and plasma membrane but do not penetrate the membrane itself. Larger haustoria do this at the tissue level.

<i>Striga</i> Genus of flowering plants belonging to the broomrape family

Striga, commonly known as witchweed, is a genus of parasitic plants that occur naturally in parts of Africa, Asia, and Australia. It is currently classified in the family Orobanchaceae, although older classifications place it in the Scrophulariaceae. Some species are serious pathogens of cereal crops, with the greatest effects being in savanna agriculture in Africa. It also causes considerable crop losses in other regions, including other tropical and subtropical crops in its native range and in the Americas. The generic name derives from Latin strī̆ga, "witch".

<i>Corallorhiza</i> Genus of orchids

Corallorhiza, the coralroot, is a genus of flowering plants in the orchid family. Except for the circumboreal C. trifida, the genus is restricted to North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myco-heterotrophy</span> Symbiotism between certain parasitic plants and fungi

Myco-heterotrophy is a symbiotic relationship between certain kinds of plants and fungi, in which the plant gets all or part of its food from parasitism upon fungi rather than from photosynthesis. A myco-heterotroph is the parasitic plant partner in this relationship. Myco-heterotrophy is considered a kind of cheating relationship and myco-heterotrophs are sometimes informally referred to as "mycorrhizal cheaters". This relationship is sometimes referred to as mycotrophy, though this term is also used for plants that engage in mutualistic mycorrhizal relationships.

Arthur Roy ClaphamCBE, FRS, was a British botanist. Born in Norwich and educated at Downing College, Cambridge, Clapham worked at Rothamsted Experimental Station as a crop physiologist (1928–30), and then took a teaching post in the botany department at Oxford University. He was Professor of Botany at Sheffield University 1944–69 and vice chancellor of the university during the 1960s. He coauthored the Flora of the British Isles, which was the first, and for several decades the only, comprehensive flora of the British Isles published in 1952 and followed by new editions in 1962 and 1987. In response to a request from Arthur Tansley, he coined the term ecosystem in the early 1930s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardenolide</span> Chemical compound

A cardenolide is a type of steroid. Many plants contain derivatives, collectively known as cardenolides, including many in the form of cardenolide glycosides (cardenolides that contain structural groups derived from sugars). Cardenolide glycosides are often toxic; specifically, they are heart-arresting. Cardenolides are toxic to animals through inhibition of the enzyme Na+/K+-ATPase, which is responsible for maintaining the sodium and potassium ion gradients across the cell membranes.

Hugo Osvald (1892–1970) was a Swedish botanist and plant ecologist specialized on mire ecology, Sphagnum and peat formation.

Hydraulic redistribution is a passive mechanism where water is transported from moist to dry soils via subterranean networks. It occurs in vascular plants that commonly have roots in both wet and dry soils, especially plants with both taproots that grow vertically down to the water table, and lateral roots that sit close to the surface. In the late 1980s, there was a movement to understand the full extent of these subterranean networks. Since then it was found that vascular plants are assisted by fungal networks which grow on the root system to promote water redistribution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mycorrhizal network</span> Underground fungal networks that connect individual plants together

A mycorrhizal network is an underground network found in forests and other plant communities, created by the hyphae of mycorrhizal fungi joining with plant roots. This network connects individual plants together. Mycorrhizal relationships are most commonly mutualistic, with both partners benefiting, but can be commensal or parasitic, and a single partnership may change between any of the three types of symbiosis at different times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ectomycorrhiza</span> Non-penetrative symbiotic association between a fungus and the roots of a vascular plant

An ectomycorrhiza is a form of symbiotic relationship that occurs between a fungal symbiont, or mycobiont, and the roots of various plant species. The mycobiont is often from the phyla Basidiomycota and Ascomycota, and more rarely from the Zygomycota. Ectomycorrhizas form on the roots of around 2% of plant species, usually woody plants, including species from the birch, dipterocarp, myrtle, beech, willow, pine and rose families. Research on ectomycorrhizas is increasingly important in areas such as ecosystem management and restoration, forestry and agriculture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ectomycorrhizal extramatrical mycelium</span>

Ectomycorrhizal extramatrical mycelium is the collection of filamentous fungal hyphae emanating from ectomycorrhizas. It may be composed of fine, hydrophilic hypha which branches frequently to explore and exploit the soil matrix or may aggregate to form rhizomorphs; highly differentiated, hydrophobic, enduring, transport structures.

Orchid mycorrhizae are endomycorrhizal fungi which develop symbiotic relationships with the roots and seeds of plants of the family Orchidaceae. Nearly all orchids are myco-heterotrophic at some point in their life cycle. Orchid mycorrhizae are critically important during orchid germination, as an orchid seed has virtually no energy reserve and obtains its carbon from the fungal symbiont.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strigolactone</span> Group of chemical compounds

Strigolactones are a group of chemical compounds produced by roots of plants. Due to their mechanism of action, these molecules have been classified as plant hormones or phytohormones. So far, strigolactones have been identified to be responsible for three different physiological processes: First, they promote the germination of parasitic organisms that grow in the host plant's roots, such as Strigalutea and other plants of the genus Striga. Second, strigolactones are fundamental for the recognition of the plant by symbiotic fungi, especially arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, because they establish a mutualistic association with these plants, and provide phosphate and other soil nutrients. Third, strigolactones have been identified as branching inhibition hormones in plants; when present, these compounds prevent excess bud growing in stem terminals, stopping the branching mechanism in plants.

Terence Vincent Callaghan is a British biologist specialized in the ecology of the Arctic. Much of his work on arctic plants has taken place in Abisko in northernmost Sweden, based at the Abisko Scientific Research Station where he served as director. He was a lead author of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Reports chapter on polar regions.

Sally Archibald is a South African scientist and Professor at the University of Witwatersrand. Her research primarily focuses on savanna ecosystems within the context of global climate change as well as the exploration of fire ecology and earth-system feedbacks. Archibald was the recipient of the 2012 Mercer Award for her co-authorship of the paper "Tree cover in sub-Saharan Africa: Rainfall and fire constrain forest and savanna as alternative stable states".

Nancy Collins Johnson is an American earth scientist who is the Regents’ Professor and Director of the School of Earth Sciences & Environmental Sustainability at Northern Arizona University. Her work considers soil microbial ecology and the study of mycorrhizal fungi. She was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2020.

Andromonoecy is a breeding system of plant species in which male and hermaphrodite flowers are on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system comparable with monoecy, gynomonoecy and trimonoecy. Andromonoecy is frequent among genera with zygomorphic flowers, however it is overall rare and occurs in less than 2% of plant species. Nonetheless the breeding system has gained interest among biologists in the study of sex expression.

Gynomonoecy is defined as the presence of both female and hermaphrodite flowers on the same individual of a plant species. It is prevalent in Asteraceae but is poorly understood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monoecy</span> Sexual system in seed plants

Monoecy is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system comparable with gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy, and contrasted with dioecy where individual plants produce cones or flowers of only one sex and with bisexual or hermaphroditic plants in which male and female gametes are produced in the same flower.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Anon (2015). "Press, Prof. Malcolm Colin" . Who's Who (online Oxford University Press  ed.). A & C Black. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.10000142.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. 1 2 Anon. "Professor Malcolm Press has been appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew by Lord Taylor". kew.org. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Anon (2022). "Manchester Metropolitan University 2022 New Year Honours: Vice-Chancellor and Paralympians awarded in the Queen's New Year Honours". MMU. Archived from the original on 1 January 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 Press, Malcolm Colin (1983). Responses to Acidic Deposition in Blanket Bogs. manchester.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Manchester. ProQuest   2350388520.
  5. ↑ "Emeritus Professor John A Lee". Sheffield: University of Sheffield. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012.
  6. ↑ "Brazil and beyond: inside Birmingham and Nottingham universities' research partnership". The Guardian . 15 March 2012. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014.
  7. 1 2 Jump, Paul (2013). "Birmingham pro v–c's remark infuriates staff". timeshighereducation.co.uk. Times Higher Education. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014.
  8. ↑ "Professor Malcolm Press, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Transfer, Life and Environmental Sciences". Birmingham: University of Birmingham. Archived from the original on 3 May 2013.
  9. ↑ "Professor Malcolm Press BSc, PhD, Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research and Knowledge Transfer)". Birmingham: University of Birmingham. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014.
  10. ↑ "Professor Malcolm Press begins as Vice-Chancellor: New era for Manchester Metropolitan University". Manchester Metropolitan University. Archived from the original on 5 June 2015.
  11. ↑ "Professor Malcolm Press, Vice-Chancellor". Manchester Metropolitan University. Archived from the original on 14 June 2015.
  12. ↑ "UK Government Research Grants awarded to Malcolm Press". Research Councils UK. Archived from the original on 14 June 2015.
  13. ↑ Anon (2015). "Brooks, Prof. John Stuart" . Who's Who (online Oxford University Press  ed.). A & C Black. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.8907.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  14. ↑ "Manchester Metropolitan University appoints new vice-chancellor". Manchester: Manchester Evening News. 12 December 2014. Archived from the original on 15 February 2016.
  15. ↑ "UCAS welcomes three new Trustees to our Board". ucas.com. 8 July 2019. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  16. ↑ "Malcolm Press". wwf.org.uk. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  17. ↑ "Board of Trustees". ucas.com. 6 October 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  18. ↑ "Institute for Apprenticeships Board". instituteforapprenticeships.org. Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  19. ↑ "Manchester Science Partnerships Limited- Officers". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. London: Companies House . Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  20. ↑ "Our Board". healthinnovationmanchester.com. Health Innovation Manchester. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  21. ↑ "Board". oxfordroadcorridor.com. Oxford Road Corridor. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  22. ↑ Malcolm Press publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
  23. ↑ Press, M. C.; Lee, J. A. (1982). "Nitrate Reductase Activity of Sphagnum Species in the South Pennines". New Phytologist. 92 (4): 487–494. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.1982.tb03406.x . ISSN   0028-646X.
  24. ↑ Woodin, S.; Press, M. C.; Lee, J. A. (March 1985). "Nitrate Reductase Activity in Sphagnum Fuscum in Relation to Wet Deposition of Nitrate from the Atmosphere". New Phytologist. 99 (3): 381–388. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.1985.tb03666.x . ISSN   0028-646X.
  25. ↑ Press, M. C.; Woodin, S. J.; Lee, J. A. (1986). "The Potential Importance of an Increased Atmospheric Nitrogen Supply to the Growth of Ombrotrophic Sphagnum Species". New Phytologist. 103 (1): 45–55. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.1986.tb00595.x. ISSN   0028-646X.
  26. ↑ Potter, Jacqueline A.; Press, Malcolm C.; Callaghan, Terry V.; Lee, John A. (1995). "Growth Responses of Polytrichum commune and Hylocomium splendens to Simulated Environmental Change in the Sub-Arctic". New Phytologist. 131 (4): 533–41. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.1995.tb03089.x . PMID   33863118.
  27. ↑ Press, M.C.; Potter, J.A.; Burke, M.J.W.; Callaghan, T.V.; Lee, J.A. (1998). "Responses of a subarctic dwarf shrub heath community to simulated environmental change". Journal of Ecology. 86 (2): 315–327. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2745.1998.00261.x . ISSN   0022-0477.
  28. ↑ Bale, Jeffery S.; Masters, Gregory J.; Hodkinson, Ian D.; Awmack, Caroline; Bezemer, T. Martijn; Brown, Valerie K.; Butterfield, Jennifer; Buse, Alan; Coulson, John C.; Farrar, John; Good, John E. G. (January 2002). "Herbivory in global climate change research: direct effects of rising temperature on insect herbivores". Global Change Biology. 8 (1): 1–16. Bibcode:2002GCBio...8....1B. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2486.2002.00451.x. ISSN   1354-1013. S2CID   86258707.
  29. ↑ Richardson, Sarah J.; Press, Malcolm C.; Parsons, Andrew N.; Hartley, Susan E. (2002). "How do nutrients and warming impact on plant communities and their insect herbivores? A 9‐year study from a sub‐Arctic heath". Journal of Ecology. 90 (3): 544–556. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2745.2002.00681.x . ISSN   0022-0477.
  30. ↑ Sloan, Victoria L.; Fletcher, Benjamin J.; Press, Malcolm C.; Williams, Mathew; Phoenix, Gareth K. (2013). "Leaf and fine root carbon stocks and turnover are coupled across Arctic ecosystems". Global Change Biology. 19 (12): 3668–3676. Bibcode:2013GCBio..19.3668S. doi:10.1111/gcb.12322. PMID   23846848. S2CID   6373101.
  31. ↑ Scholes, Julie D; Press, Malcolm C (2008). "Striga infestation of cereal crops – an unsolved problem in resource limited agriculture". Current Opinion in Plant Biology. 11 (2): 180–186. doi:10.1016/j.pbi.2008.02.004. PMID   18337158.
  32. ↑ Swarbrick, P. J.; Huang, K.; Liu, G.; Slate, J.; Press, M. C.; Scholes, J. D. (July 2008). "Global patterns of gene expression in rice cultivars undergoing a susceptible or resistant interaction with the parasitic plant Striga hermonthica". New Phytologist. 179 (2): 515–529. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.2008.02484.x. PMID   19086183.
  33. ↑ Cissoko, Mamadou; Boisnard, Arnaud; Rodenburg, Jonne; Press, Malcolm C.; Scholes, Julie D. (2011). "New Rice for Africa (NERICA) cultivars exhibit different levels of post-attachment resistance against the parasitic weeds Striga hermonthica and Striga asiatica". New Phytologist. 192 (4): 952–963. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2011.03846.x . PMID   21883232.
  34. ↑ Hartley, S. E.; Green, J. P.; Massey, F. P.; Press, M. C. P.; Stewart, A. J. A.; John, E. A. (2015). "Hemiparasitic plant impacts animal and plant communities across four trophic levels" (PDF). Ecology. 96 (9): 2408–2416. doi:10.1890/14-1244.1. ISSN   0012-9658. PMID   26594698.
  35. ↑ Quested, Helen M.; Cornelissen, J. Hans C.; Press, Malcolm C.; Callaghan, Terry V.; Aerts, Rien; Trosien, Frank; Riemann, Petra; Gwynn-Jones, Dylan; Kondratchuk, Alexandra; Jonasson, Sven E. (2003). "Decomposition of Sub-Arctic Plants with Differing Nitrogen Economies: A Functional Role for Hemiparasites". Ecology. 84 (12): 3209–3221. doi:10.1890/02-0426. ISSN   0012-9658.
  36. ↑ Press, Malcolm C.; Phoenix, Gareth K. (2005). "Impacts of parasitic plants on natural communities: Tansley review". New Phytologist. 166 (3): 737–751. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2005.01358.x . PMID   15869638.
  37. ↑ Fisher, James P.; Phoenix, Gareth K.; Childs, Dylan Z.; Press, Malcolm C.; Smith, Stuart W.; Pilkington, Michael G.; Cameron, Duncan D. (2013). "Parasitic plant litter input: a novel indirect mechanism influencing plant community structure". New Phytologist. 198 (1): 222–231. doi: 10.1111/nph.12144 . PMID   23356534.
  38. ↑ Massey, Fergus P.; Massey, Kate; Press, Malcolm C.; Hartley, Sue E. (2006). "Neighbourhood composition determines growth, architecture and herbivory in tropical rain forest tree seedlings: Neighbourhood effects on S. leprosula". Journal of Ecology. 94 (3): 646–655. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2006.01127.x .
  39. ↑ Bagchi, Robert; Press, Malcolm C.; Scholes, Julie D. (January 2010). "Evolutionary history and distance dependence control survival of dipterocarp seedlings". Ecology Letters. 13 (1): 51–59. doi:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01397.x. PMID   19849708.
  40. ↑ Bagchi, Robert; Philipson, Christopher D.; Slade, Eleanor M.; Hector, Andy; Phillips, Sam; Villanueva, Jerome F.; Lewis, Owen T.; Lyal, Christopher H. C.; Nilus, Reuben; Madran, Adzley; Scholes, Julie D. (2011). "Impacts of logging on density-dependent predation of dipterocarp seeds in a South East Asian rainforest". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 366 (1582): 3246–3255. doi:10.1098/rstb.2011.0034. ISSN   0962-8436. PMC   3179629 . PMID   22006965.
  41. ↑ "No. 63571". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 2022. p. N10.
  42. ↑ "No. 64538". The London Gazette . 11 October 2024. p. 19970.
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