Prof Bryan Griffiths

Soil Scientist
Soil Science and Systems
Crop and Soil Systems

Research interests 

Soil microbial ecology of agro-ecosystems, especially:

  • Soil quality, developing practical indicators to include biological activity in relation to crop yield and environmental sustainability
  • Resistance and resilience of microbial functions, to get a deeper understanding of microbial responses to environmental change
  • Interactions within the soil food web, such as feeding effects of nematodes and protozoa on microbial community structure and function

Selected research projects

  • Scottish Government funded RESAS Themes 1 and 2: Soil resilience to change; Sustainable soil and water management: Plant, Soil, Water Interactions.
  • Agri-Tech Catalyst: assessment of soil quality using a bioindicators (SoilBio), in collaboration with the James Hutton Institute and industry partners.
  • BBSRC – SARIC: Research Translation proposal to develop a web-based decision-support platform soilquality.org.uk , in collaboration with the University of Newcastle and industry partners..

PhD students

  • Celine Delabre
    Enhancing the soil food web to control soil dwelling pests of field vegetables.
  • Mark Swaine
    Managing the impact of grassland nitrous oxide emissions through improved understanding of soil microbial communities
  • Xin Shu
    Sustainability of nutrient cycling processes associated with arable land management

Selected publications

  • GRIFFITHS, B.S., HALLETT, P.D., DANIELL, T.J., HAWES, C., SQUIRE, G.S., MITCHELL, S.M., CAUL, S., VALENTINE, T.A., BINNIE, K., ADELOYE, A.J., RUSTUM, R. and NEVISON, I. (2015) Probing soil physical and biological resilience data from a broad sampling of arable farms in Scotland. Soil Use and Management 31: 491-503.
  • STONE, D., COSTA, D., DANIELL, T.J., MITCHELL, S.M., TOPP, C.F.E. and GRIFFITHS, B.S. (2016) Using nematode communities to test a European scale soil biological monitoring programme for policy development. Applied Soil Ecology 97: 78 – 85.
  • GRIFFITHS, B S; PHILIPPOT, L. 2016. “Stability and Ecosystem Resilience, A Below-Ground Perspective.” In Oxford Bibliographies in Ecology. Ed. David Gibson. New York: Oxford University Press. Last Modified: 31 March 2016. DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780199830060-0140 http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199830060/obo-9780199830060-0140.xml?rskey=gzckZS&result=129
  • LEMANCEAU, P., CREAMER, R.E., GRIFFITHS, B.S. (2016) Soil biodiversity and ecosystem functions across Europe: A transect covering variations in bio-geographical zones, land use and soil properties Applied Soil Ecology 97: 1–2
  • GRIFFITHS, B.S. et al. (2016) Selecting cost effective and policy-relevant biological indicators for European monitoring of soil biodiversity and ecosystem function. Ecological Indicators 69: 213 – 223.

See all of Prof Bryan Griffiths' publications.

Prof Bryan Griffiths

Professor of Soil Ecology

Address: Crop & Soils Systems, Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), Peter Wilson Building, Kings Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG.

Telephone: 0131 535 4311

Fax: 01315354144

E-mail: bryan.griffiths@sruc.ac.uk