Staff Profile:Professor Richard Ellis

Name:

Professor Richard Ellis

Job Title:

Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences

Responsibilities:

• Professor of Crop Production, teaching seed and crop physiology and production in relation to agriculture, horticulture and biodiversity conservation

Areas of Interest:

In the broadest sense, my research covers reproductive plant biology and the effect of environment on seeds, plants and crops. Research on seeds includes seed quality development, seed storage (including the seed viability equation), seed dormancy and germination (including seed testing and crop establishment), and these interests in anhydrous biology have expanded in recent years to fungal spores and pollen. The application of much of the seed research has been within the international networks of gene-banks; i.e. long-term seedstores for plant genetic resources conservation (one element of biodiversity conservation). This seed science and biodiversity conservation research covers the full range of flowering plants, agricultural and horticultural crops, forest species (trees and shrubs), and wild species. The fungal spore survival research is targetting new biological control methods, my topic being the factors affecting and the estimation of conidia shelf life. Research on flowering (with other colleagues in the crops research group) has been concerned ultimately with crop adaptation, by determining the quantitative effects of temperature and photoperiod on flowering. Climate change impacts research has been concerned with the possibility of interactions between the effects of increased CO2 and temperature and the effect of climate variability (i.e. exteme events at vulnerable stages of crop development) on crop production and crop quality, including the effects of environment and agronomy on grain and seed quality development.

Research groups / Centres:

• Crop Science

Publications:

My list of 332 publications (to April 2011) is available to download under See Also. Selected research papers from 2000–2011 are listed below.

• Hong, T.D., Jenkins, N.E. and Ellis, R.H., 2000.The effects of duration of development and drying regime on the longevity of conidia of Metarhizium flavoviride.Mycological Research, 104, 662-665.
• Wheeler, T.R., Craufurd, P.Q., Ellis, R.H., Porter, J.R. and Vara Prasad, P.V., 2000.Temperature variability and the yield of annual crops.Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 82, 159-167.
• Hong, T.D., Gunn, J., Ellis, R.H., Jenkins, N.E. and Moore, D., 2001.The effect of storage environment on the longevity of conidia of Beauveria bassiana.Mycological Research, 105, 597-602.
• Frogbrook, Z.L., Oliver, M.A., Salahi, M. and Ellis, R.H., 2002.Exploring the spatial relations between cereal yield and soil chemical properties and the implications for sampling.Soil Use and Management, 18, 1-9.
• Gooding, M.J., Pinyosinwat A. and Ellis, R.H., 2002. Responses of wheat grain yield and quality to seed rate.Journal of Agricultural Science, 138, 317-331.
• Gooding, M.J., Ellis, R.H., Shewry, P.R. and Schofield, J.D., 2003.Effects of restricted water availability and increased temperature on the grain filling, drying and quality of winter wheat.Journal of Cereal Science, 37, 295-309.
• Lyall, T.W., Ellis, R.H., John, P., Hedley, C.L. and Wang, T.L., 2003.Mutant alleles at the rugosus loci in pea affect seed moisture sorption isotherms and the relations between seed longevity and moisture content.Journal of Experimental Botany, 54, 445-450.
• Le Tam, V.T., Hong, T.D., Ellis, R.H. and Ngoc-Tam, B.T., 2004.Seed storage of Avicennia alba BL. Seed Science and Technology, 32 , 531-536.
• Wheeler, T.R., Daymond, A.J., Morrison, J.I.L., Ellis, R.H. and Hadley, P., 2004. Acclimation of photosynthesis to elevated CO₂ in onion (Allium cepa) grown at a range of temperatures.Annals of Applied Biology, 144, 103-111.
• Hong, T.D., Ellis, R.H., Astley, D., Pinnegar, A.E., Groot, S.P.C. and Kraak, H.L., 2005.Survival and vigour of ultra-dry seeds after ten years of hermetic storage.Seed Science and Technology, 33, 449-460.
• Kindred, D.R., Gooding, M.J. and Ellis, R.H., 2005.Nitrogen fertilizer and seed rate effects on Hagberg falling number of wheat hybrids and their parents are associated with alpha-amylase activity, grain cavity size and dormancy.Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 85, 727-742.
• Léon-Lobos, P. and Ellis, R.H., 2005.Seed survival in Chilean Nothofagus in response to desiccation and storage.Seed Science Research, 15, 113–123.
• Lima, M. de J. V. Jr. and Ellis,R.H., 2005.Seed survival of four tropical tree species in response to environment.Seed Science and Technology, 33, 157-166.
• Garcia, X., Hong, T.D. and Ellis, R.H., 2006. Seed dormancy and germination of Ficus lundellii and tropical forest restoration.Tree Physiology, 26, 81-85.
• Pepler, S., Gooding, M.J. and Ellis, R.H., 2006.Modelling simultaneously water content and dry matter dynamics of wheat grains.Field Crops Research, 95, 49-63.
• Ellis, R.H. and Hong, T.D., 2006.Temperature sensitivity of the low-moisture-content limit to negative seed longevity-moisture content relations in hermetic storage.Annals of Botany, 97, 785-791.
• Mai-Hong, T., Hong, T.D., Hien, N.T., Han, H.H., Tung, T.D., Le-Tam, V.T., Ngoc-Tam, B. and Ellis, R.H., 2006.Seed development, maturation and storage behaviour of Mimusops elengi L.New Forests, 32, 9 – 19.
• Ellis, R.H. and Hong, T.D., 2007. Seed longevity – moisture content relationships in hermetic and open storage. Seed Science and Technology, 35, 423-431.
• Ellis, R.H. and Hong, T.D., 2007. Quantitative response of the longevity of seed of twelve crops to temperature and moisture in hermetic storage. Seed Science and Technology, 35, 432-444.
• Ellis, R.H., Mai-Hong, T., Hong, T.D., Tan, T.T., Xuan-Chuong, N.D., Hung, L.Q., Ngoc-Tam, B. and Le-Tam, V.T., 2007. Comparative analysis by protocol and key of seed storage behaviour of sixty Vietnamese tree species. Seed Science and Technology, 35, 460-476.
• Butler, L. H., Hay, F. R., Ellis, R. H. and Smith, R. D., 2009. Post-abscission, pre-dispersal seeds of Digitalis purpurea remain in a developmental state that is not terminated by desiccation ex planta. Annals of Botany, 103, 785-794.
• Butler L.H., Hay, F.R., Ellis, R.H., Smith, R.D. and Murray, T.B., 2009. Priming and re-drying improve the survival of mature seeds of Digitalis purpurea during storage. Annals of Botany, 103, 1261-1270.
• Pérez-García, F., Gómez-Campo, C. and Ellis, R.H., 2009. Successful long-term ultra dry storage of seed of 15 species of Brassicaceae in a genebank: variation in ability to germinate over 40 years and dormancy. Seed Science and Technology, 37, 640-649.
• Hay, F. R., Smith, R.D., Ellis, R.H. and Butler, L.H, 2010. Developmental changes in the germinability, desiccation tolerance, hardseededness, and longevity of individual seeds of Trifolium ambiguum. Annals of Botany, 105, 1035-1052.
• Ellis, R.H., 2011. Rice seed quality development and temperature during late development and maturation. Seed Science Research, 21, 95-101.

Qualifications:

BSc; PhD; FSB