David Gowing's OpenLearn Profile

David is a Professor of Botany at The Open University and ecohydrologist with a special interest in floodplain meadows. Before becoming an academic, he worked for the flour-milling giant, Rank Hovis McDougall, as a commodity buyer. David is an ecohydrologist with a special interest in floodplain meadows. His research focuses on the relationship between vegetation communities and both the water regime and the nutrient status of the soil. The question of how numerous species manage to co-exist in these systems is of particular interest. He has been widely involved in advising on water management for nature conservation and in all applied aspects of floodplain-meadow management. His projects look to expand the research carried out on English meadows to species-rich assemblages of plants elsewhere in the world (particularly the fynbos region of South Africa's Cape and the Iberian mountains). Before becoming an academic, from 1986-1989 he worked for the flour-milling giant, Rank Hovis McDougall, as a commodity buyer.