RRes - Dr Jonathan Storkey

Plant and Invertebrate Ecology

Dr Jonathan Storkey

Plant Ecologist

Department of Plant and Invertebrate Ecology, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, AL5 2JQ, United Kingdom.

Telephone: +44 (1)582 763133 x 2550
Fax: +44 (1)582 760981
E-mail: jonathan.storkey@rothamsted.ac.uk

Research interests

Red dead-nettle

Red dead-nettle
(Lamium purpureum)

The background to my research is the function of plants adapted to arable landscapes in terms of their impact on crop production (weeds) and support of farmland biodiversity. I am working towards sustainable management strategies that reconcile these two functions by focussing on the plant traits that determine the response of a weed community to external drivers and its effect on crop yield and higher trophic groups. A success of the work so far has been to identify a functional group of annual weeds that combine a relatively low competitive ability with the crop with a high value for biodiversity. Red Dead-nettle (right) is an example of such a species that could potentially be tolerated in crops as part of subsidised agri-environment schemes.

Current projects in which I am involved

Managing uncropped land in order to enhance biodiversity benefits of the arable farmed landscape (Sustainable Arable LINK).
Assessing the environmental impact of crop production practice: beyond the GM crop farm-scale evaluations (Defra).
Rationalising biodiversity conservation in dynamic ecosystems (EU Co-ordination Action). www.rubicode.net
ENDURE: European Network for the DURable Exploitation of crop protection strategies (EU Network of Excellence).

Publications

Storkey J & Westbury DB (2007) Mini-Review: managing arable weeds for biodiversity. Pest Management Science 63: 517-523.
Storkey J & Cussans JW (2007) Reconciling the conservation of in-field biodiversity with crop production using a simulation model of weed growth and competition. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 122: 173-182.
Storkey J (2007) Field centres: Are they a write-off for biodiversity? Aspects of Applied Biology 81: Delivering arable biodiversity: 149-154
Storkey J (2006) A functional group approach to the management of UK arable weeds to support biological diversity. Weed research 46, 513-522.
Storkey J (2005) Modelling assimilation rates of 14 temperate arable weed species as a function of the environment and leaf traits. Weed Research 45, 361-370.
Storkey J (2004) Modelling seedling growth rates of 18 temperate arable weed species as a function of the environment and plant traits. Annals of Botany 93, 681-689.
Moss SR, Storkey J, Cussans JW, Perryman SAM & Hewitt MV (2004) The Broadbalk long-term experiment at Rothamsted: what has it told us about weeds? Weed Science 52, 864-873.
Storkey J, Cussans JW, Lutman PJW & Blair AM (2003) The combination of a simulation and an empirical model of crop/weed competition to estimate yield loss from Alopecurus myosuroides in winter wheat. Field Crops Research 84, 291-301.
Storkey J & Cussans JW (2000) Relationship between temperature and the early growth of winter Triticum aestivum and three weed species. Weed Science 48, 467-473.
Storkey J, Cussans JW & Lutman PJW (2000) Visual assessment of weed ground cover to predict yield loss. Is this a practical alternative to the measurement of leaf area? In: Proceedings 2000 XIth International conference on weed biology, Dijon, France.
Storkey J, Lutman PJW & Cussans JW (2000) The contribution of physiological studies to an understanding of weed competition in winter wheat. In: Proceedings 2000 Meeting of the weed science society of America, Toronto, Canada.
Storkey J, Cussans JW & Lutman PJW (1999) The Effect of time of assessment on predictions of yield loss from relative vigour. In: Proceedings 1999 11th EWRS (European Weed Research Society) Symposium, Basel.