Ken Thompson

Ken Thompson is a botanist and writer of popular books on botany. He is a retired Senior Research Fellow of Sheffield University and has written for the newspaper Telegraph. He is also an editor for the journal Functional Ecology.

Academic career Thompson "devised the widely-used scheme for classifying soil seed banks and is the author of the standard work on European soil seed banks. While retaining an interest in all aspects of seed ecology, he has published widely on almost all aspects of plant ecology, particularly on plant functional types, commonness and rarity, invasive plants, urban ecology and prediction of the response of regional and national floras to changing climate and land use." Some of his ideas include: "The best single thing you can do for wildlife in your garden is to find a young tree and leave it alone. Failing that, plant one."