Jane Memmott facts for kids

Jane Memmott is a famous scientist from the United Kingdom. She is an ecologist, which means she studies how living things interact with each other and their environment. She is also an entomologist, so she is an expert on insects.

Professor Memmott works at the University of Bristol. She is especially known for her work on how pollinator insects, like bees, interact with plants.

Becoming a Scientist

Jane Memmott started her science journey at the University of Leeds. In the early 1980s, she studied zoology, which is the study of animals. She continued her studies there and earned her PhD degree.

Early Research Adventures

For her PhD, Jane Memmott studied tiny sandflies in Costa Rica. These flies are part of a group called Phlebotominae. She looked at how these insects lived in their natural communities.

Later, as a postdoctoral researcher, she created the first food webs for tropical places. A food web shows who eats whom in an ecosystem. She studied plants, insects called leaf-miners, and parasitoids. She also researched invasive plants in New Zealand. Invasive plants are species that grow in new areas and can harm the local environment.

Moving to Bristol

In 1996, Professor Memmott joined the University of Bristol as a lecturer. She later became the Head of the School of Biological Sciences in 2012. During her time as head, she helped the school move into a new building for Life Sciences.

What Professor Memmott Studies

Professor Memmott studies many different areas in ecology. Her work helps us understand how nature works and how we can protect it.

Studying Pollinators in Cities

One of her big projects was about pollination ecology in cities. This project was called the "urban pollinators project." She and her team studied insect pollinators in city areas. They walked along paths, called transects, that were 1 kilometer long.

They discovered that private gardens, allotments (small plots of land for growing food), and community gardens had more insect pollinators. Public parks and roadside areas had fewer pollinators.

Helping Pollinators Thrive

Professor Memmott believes we should help pollinators in cities. She suggests planting areas with wildflowers. Wildflowers often have more nectar and pollen than many garden plants. Nectar and pollen are food for pollinators. Her research showed that these wildflower areas give pollinators more food resources.

Changes in Pollinator Food Over Time

She also looked at how the food available for insect pollinators has changed. She studied changes over the last 100 years and also within a single year.

Her research on long-term vegetation surveys in the UK showed something interesting. Nectar resources for pollinators decreased until the 1970s. This was when farming became more intense. But since then, these resources have actually increased.

On a shorter timescale, she found that the timing of flowering plants and when pollinators fly might not always match up. This is called timing mismatch.

Farming and Pollinators

Professor Memmott also studies agroecosystems, which are farming environments. Her research showed that there are times of the year when pollinators don't have enough food. These "gaps" happen in early spring and late summer. This information can help farmers choose different plants for their wildflower strips. These strips are part of agri-environment schemes that help nature on farms.

Awards and Recognition

Professor Memmott has received many honors for her important work.

• She is a reviewing editor for Science Magazine, a very respected science publication.
• In 2015, she received the Marsh Ecology Award. This award is given by the Marsh Christian Trust and the British Ecological Society.
• She gave the Sir John Burnett Memorial Lecture in 2018 at the National Biodiversity Network conference.
• In 2019, she was chosen to be the President Elect of the British Ecological Society. She officially became President at the start of 2020.
• For her great work with insect pollinators and ecology, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2021.
• In 2023, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK.