Colin Prentice
English ecologist (born 1952)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Iain Colin Prentice (born 25 June 1952)[1][3] is a British ecologist who holds the AXA chair in biosphere and climate impacts at Imperial College London and an honorary chair in ecology and evolution at Macquarie University in Australia.[2][4]
25 June 1952[1]
Colin Prentice | |
|---|---|
Prentice in 2018 | |
| Born | Iain Colin Prentice 25 June 1952[1] |
| Education | University of Cambridge (BA, PhD) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | Studies on modern pollen spectra |
| Website | imperial |
Education
Prentice was educated at the University of Cambridge where he studied the natural sciences tripos and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1973[4] followed by a PhD in botany in 1977 for studies on pollen spectra.[5]
Career and research
Prentice has held academic and research leadership appointments in several countries, including the chair of plant ecology at Lund University and a founding directorship of the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry.[3] He led the research programme quantifying and understanding the earth system for the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).[3] He developed the standard model for pollen source area, popularized now widely used techniques to analyse species composition along environmental gradients, and led the international development of successive generations of large-scale ecosystem models – from equilibrium biogeography (BIOME) to coupled biogeochemistry and vegetation dynamics (LPJ).[3] As of 2018[update] his research applies eco-evolutionary optimality concepts to develop and test new quantitative theory for plant and ecosystem function and land-atmosphere exchanges of energy, water and carbon dioxide, with the goal of more robust and reliable numerical modelling of land processes in the earth system science.[3][6][7]
External links
- Colin Prentice Leaf traits and environment: towards a comprehensive theory, in "New Phytologist Foundation"
- Colin Prentice State of ignorance - climate change and the biosphere, in "Imperial College London", AXA professorship inaugural presentation
