University teacher who brought ecology on to the curriculum

Amyan Macfadyen, who has died aged 94, was one of the most influential figures in ecology research and environmental education during the latter half of the 20th century.

A soil ecologist, he carried out pioneering work on soil ecosystems using methods and approaches which did much to legitimise ecology as a major, though highly complex, scientific discipline.

Macfadyen was born in December 1920, the eldest son of Sir Eric and Violet Macfadyen (née Champneys, 1895-1992). Sir Eric was an English colonial administrator, rubber planter, businessman and developer of tropical agriculture and, briefly, a Liberal MP for Devizes in Wiltshire in the 1920s.

Amyan Macfadyen grew up in Kent before attending Dauntseys School and then Balliol College, Oxford. His academic career was punctuated by war service in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME), in which he held the rank of captain with the Sherwood Foresters. Tasks like welding spare tank tracks on to working tanks to increase protection taught him many practical skills, which later re-emerged in his design of novel experimental equipment.

After war service he worked initially at the Bureau of Animal Population in Oxford under the direction of the eminent ecologist Charles Elton.

While there he met his future wife, Ursula (née Hampton). They were married in 1951. In 1956 he moved to Swansea as a lecturer in the zoology department, progressing to reader by the time he left in 1965.

Definitive textbook

It was while at Swansea that he published

Animal Ecology – Aims and Methods

, the definitive textbook for a generation. In 1965 he moved to Denmark as guest professor at the Jordbundsbiologisk Institute at Aarhus University, where he continued his research on soil ecology.

Macfadyen published on a wide range of ecological topics, including on the scientific and philosophical basis underpinning the subject. He discovered numerous new species of soil invertebrates. However, the major focus of his research work over five decades was on energy flows and metabolism in soil ecosystems, resulting in seminal publications which continue to be cited regularly.

In 1967, he was appointed one of two founding professors in biology at the newly established New University of Ulster (NUU) in Coleraine.

At that time degree programmes in the biosciences tended to be focused on the more traditional subjects of botany and zoology. The biology honours programme at NUU developed by Macfadyen and fellow professor Palmer Newbould was highly innovative, integrating emerging areas of the subject through a modular structure which students found exciting and challenging.

Groundbreaking

Shortly thereafter they introduced groundbreaking programmes in ecology and human ecology. Although he had until then avoided managerial roles, Macfadyen bowed to peer pressure and accepted election as dean and pro vice-chancellor, in which roles his sense of fairness and academic vision won plaudits from across the university.

In the latter role he championed the introduction of biomedical sciences, led by his former student and subsequent vice-chancellor Gerry McKenna through the university senate, showing tenacity in withstanding external opposition.

Macfadyen's standing in ecology was reflected in his election as president of the British Ecological Society (1970-71) and as president of the International Association for Ecology (1970-75). In 1980 he was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy.

Macfadyen’s retirement from the then University of Ulster in 1986 unfortunately coincided with the death of his beloved wife, Ursula. Together they had, during a period of almost 20 years, developed a magnificent three-acre garden along the banks of the Bann on the outskirts of Coleraine, which they generously opened freely to various causes and, indeed, to anyone with an interest in the huge range of species they had assembled there.

As a widower, he developed a passion for cooking, and was actively involved in the Alliance party and Friends of the Earth. He further developed his Coleraine garden, and inspired others through sharing plants and offering advice. His research also continued, including taking part in expeditions to the Falklands and Tanzania as a soil invertebrate specialist.

In 2006, aged 86, he moved to Sheffield to be close to his daughter, Sophie. Characteristically, he immediately developed another highly interesting, if more manageable, garden and threw himself into various community and environmental causes. He embraced modern environmentally friendly technology, and was emailing friends and family about various environmental issues, or to sign petitions, until the fortnight before he died.

A person of great kindness and integrity, Amyan Macfadyen inspired and continued to have an enduring influence on a generation of biologists and ecologists, many of whom went on to achieve much scientific success and hold major positions of influence in higher education and research.

He is survived by his daughter, Sophie, sons Timothy, Matthew and Peter, and seven grandchildren.