Susanne Renner facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Susanne Sabine Reiner
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Photo of Susanne Renner
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| Born | October 5, 1954 |
| Alma mater | University of Hamburg |
| Scientific career | |
| Thesis | Phänologie, Blütenbiologie und Rekombinationssysteme einiger zentralamazonischer Melastomataceen (1984) |
Susanne Sabine Renner is a famous German botanist. Botanists are scientists who study plants. She used to be a professor of biology at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. She also directed the Botanische Staatssammlung München (a big plant collection) and the Botanischer Garten München-Nymphenburg (a botanical garden).
Since 2021, she lives in Saint Louis, USA. There, she is an honorary professor at Washington University. She also works as a research associate at the Missouri Botanical Garden.
Contents
Becoming a Plant Scientist
Susanne Renner studied biology at the University of Hamburg in Germany. She earned her first degree (M.Sc.) in 1980. Then, she got her Ph.D. (a higher degree) in 1984. By 1992, she became qualified to be a professor in systematic botany. Systematic botany is about understanding how plants are related to each other.
Susanne Renner's Career Journey
Susanne Renner has worked at many universities and gardens around the world:
- From 1987 to 1992, she was a professor at the Botanical Institute at the University of Aarhus in Denmark.
- From 1993 to 1996, she taught at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Germany.
- From 1996 to 2006, she was a professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis in the USA. This university is connected to the Missouri Botanical Garden, one of the biggest botanical gardens in the world!
- Starting in 2003, she became a professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. She also directed the state plant collection and the botanical garden there.
- Even now, she is an honorary professor at the Washington University in St. Louis.
Amazing Plant Research
Susanne Renner loves to study flowering plants. She looks at how they are related (their phylogenetics), how they reproduce, and how they spread across the world (biogeography). She studies plants from both cool and warm places.
How Plants Evolved and Spread
Her early work focused on how plants reproduce. She also studied plants that have separate male and female plants (called dioecy) and their sex chromosomes.
Susanne Renner uses special genetic tools to understand plants better.
- She can track how plants moved across oceans long ago.
- Her work helps us understand how land masses separated after Pangaea broke apart millions of years ago.
- She also studies where important food crops like cucumbers, melons, and gourds first came from.
Watermelons and Ants that Farm!
One cool discovery she made was about watermelons. Her research showed that watermelons originally came from northeast Africa, in an area called Kordofan. Before this, many people thought they came from South Africa.
She also studied a special relationship between Philidris nagasau ants and Squamellaria plants. These ants actually "farm" the plants! They put seeds into tree bark. Later, they come back to eat the plant growth. This amazing partnership has been going on for about 3 million years.
Hummingbirds and Passion Flowers
Susanne Renner also looked at the connection between sword-billed hummingbirds and passion flowers. These hummingbirds have very long beaks that fit perfectly into certain passion flowers. Her research showed that this special relationship has developed and changed many times over 11 million years.
Bees in Cities
In cities, she studies bees and how they collect pollen. She also looks at how planting strips of flowers can help attract bees. This research is important because climate change affects how plants and insects interact.
Awards and Honors
Susanne Renner is a member of several important science groups.
- In 1999, she joined the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
- In 2005, she became a foreign member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.
- In 2009, she joined the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in Germany.
- In 2018, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
- In 2021, she became a member of the Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin, a group founded way back in 1773!
From 2011 to 2020, she was the President of the Bavarian Botanical Society.
Her Name in Science
Family Life
Susanne Renner is married to Robert Ricklefs. He is also a scientist who studies birds and how living things interact with their environment.
See also
In Spanish: Susanne Renner para niños
