Professor Michael F Fay

Senior Research Leader

Michael Fay
Department

Ecosystem Stewardship

Team

Conservation Genetics and Molecular Ecology

I head the Conservation Genetics team in the Conservation Science Department. The aim of the team is to use modern techniques to investigate the genetics of rare species and to clarify their relationships, using the data collected to inform conservation management decisions. The team has a focus on species in the UK and the UK Overseas Territories, but also works on species from elsewhere.

I am a geneticist with wide-ranging interests in biodiversity conservation and phylogenetics, with a strong focus on orchids.

  • BSc, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, 1981
  • PhD, University of Wales, 1989
  • Individual Merit Promotion, 2011
  • Chair, IUCN/SSC Orchid Specialist Group
  • IUCN Plant Conservation Subcommittee
  • Global Strategy for Plant Conservation UK Implementation Group
  • Editor in Chief, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society

  • Genetic studies of Cypripedium calceolus (the lady’s slipper orchid)

    Investigating population genetics in the lady’s slipper orchid to inform the reintroduction programme for this threatened species.

  • UK National Tree Seed Project (Legacy)

    Ensuring that high quality, genetically diverse seed and associated data from UK trees and shrubs are available to support conservation and research. This project has now concluded.

  • UK Native Seed Hub (Legacy)

    Mobilising Kew's seed collections, facilities and expertise "to enhance the resilience and coherence of the UK's ecological network by increasing the quality, quantity and diversity of native plants and seeds available for conservation and habitat restoration." This project has now concluded.

García-Verdugo, C. & Fay, M. F. (2014).

Ecology and evolution on oceanic islands: broadening the botanical perspective.

Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 174: 271-275.

Fay, M. F., Kelly, L. J., Micheneau, C., Paun, O. & Whitten, W. M. (2013).

Developing conservation genetics tools for non-model species in the era of next-generation sequencing.

In: Elliott, J., Kurzweil, H.F., O’Byrne, P., Tan, K. W., van der Schans, A.S., Wong, S.M. & Yam, T.W. (eds.), Where new and old world orchids meet (Proceedings of the 20th World Orchid Conference). Singapore: National Parks Board & Orchid Society of Southeast Asia, 173-177.

Ennos, R. A., Whitlock, R., Fay. M. F., Jones, B., Neaves, L. E., Payne, R., Taylor, I., de Vere, N. & Hollingsworth, P. M. (2012).

Process-based Species Action Plans: an approach to conserve contemporary evolutionary processes that sustain diversity in taxonomically complex groups.

Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 168: 194-203. 

Pedersen, H. Æ., Rasmussen, H. N., Kahandawala, I. M. & Fay, M. F. (2012).

Genetic diversity, compatibility patterns and seed quality in isolated populations of Cypripedium calceolus (Orchidaceae).

Conservation Genetics 13: 89-98.   

Pellicer, J., Clermont, S., Houston, L., Rich T. C. G. & Fay, M. F. (2012).

Cytotype diversity in the Sorbus complex (Rosaceae) in Britain: sorting out the puzzle.

Annals of Botany 110: 1185–1193. 

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