Jennifer Lee (scientist)

Last updated
Jennifer Lee
Nationality British
Alma mater Stellenbosch University
Awards Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research Fellowship
Scientific career
FieldsInvasion Biology
InstitutionsGovernment of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

Jennifer Lee is an Antarctic researcher, best known for her work on invasion biology. [1] She is the Environment Officer in the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Lee grew up in the Peak District of Derbyshire, UK. She received her PhD from the Centre for Invasion Biology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. [3] She then worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Centre for Invasion Biology, Stellenbosch University. [3] [4]

Career and impact

Lee is an ecologist and has focused on Antarctic and sub-Antarctic systems since 2006. [2] Lee has diverse interests including invasion biology, [4] [5] population genetics, [6] species distribution modelling and invertebrate physiology. Her research on alien species in Antarctica influenced global thinking about the risks posed by the increased presence of alien vegetation due to Antarctic tourism and Antarctic research teams. [1]

Lee has completed several field seasons on Marion Island and three field seasons in the Antarctic; for two of these Antarctic field seasons she was the field operator, making her the first woman field operator for the South African National Antarctic Programme (SANAP). She was also the second woman Chief Scientist for land based science during a field season to Marion Island.

Lee moved to the Falkland Islands to begin work as the Environment Officer in the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in early 2012. [3] [7] She is works on projects to eradicate non-native plants and animals (including rats and reindeer) [8] from South Georgia, and then monitors ecosystem recovery after removal of these pest species. She uses her research to help inform management decisions. [3] [7]

Awards and honours

Lee was the first scientist from a South African Institute to be awarded a highly competitive Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) fellowship. [6]

Selected works

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antarctic</span> Polar region around Earths South Pole

The Antarctic is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands</span> British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) is a British Overseas Territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands known as the South Sandwich Islands. South Georgia is 165 kilometres (103 mi) long and 35 kilometres (22 mi) wide and is by far the largest island in the territory. The South Sandwich Islands lie about 700 kilometres (430 mi) southeast of South Georgia. The territory's total land area is 3,903 km2 (1,507 sq mi). The Falkland Islands are about 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) west from its nearest point.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tundra</span> Biome where plant growth is hindered by frigid temperatures

In physical geography, tundra is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. There are three regions and associated types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine tundra, and Antarctic tundra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Invasive species</span> Non-native organism causing damage to an established environment

An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native species that become harmful to their native environment after human alterations to its food web. Since the 20th century, invasive species have become serious economic, social, and environmental threats worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Georgia</span> Island in the South Atlantic Ocean

South Georgia is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around 1,400 kilometres (870 mi) east of the Falkland Islands. Stretching in the east–west direction, South Georgia is around 170 kilometres (106 mi) long and has a maximum width of 35 kilometres (22 mi). The terrain is mountainous, with the central ridge rising to 2,935 metres (9,629 ft) at Mount Paget. The northern coast is indented with numerous bays and fjords, serving as good harbours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antarctic realm</span> One of Earths eight biogeographic realms

The Antarctic realm is one of eight terrestrial biogeographic realms. The ecosystem includes Antarctica and several island groups in the southern Atlantic and Indian oceans. The continent of Antarctica is so cold that it has supported only 2 vascular plants for millions of years, and its flora presently consists of around 250 lichens, 100 mosses, 25–30 liverworts, and around 700 terrestrial and aquatic algal species, which live on the areas of exposed rock and soil around the shore of the continent. Antarctica's two flowering plant species, the Antarctic hair grass and Antarctic pearlwort, are found on the northern and western parts of the Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctica is also home to a diversity of animal life, including penguins, seals, and whales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Orkney Islands</span> Group of islands in the Southern Ocean north-east of the Antarctic Peninsula

The South Orkney Islands are a group of islands in the Southern Ocean, about 604 km (375 mi) north-east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and 844 km (524 mi) south-west of South Georgia Island. They have a total area of about 620 km2 (240 sq mi). The islands are claimed both by Britain, and by Argentina as part of Argentine Antarctica. Under the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, sovereignty claims are held in abeyance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vindication Island</span> Island in the South Sandwich Islands

Vindication Island is a small uninhabited island of the Candlemas Islands in the South Sandwich Islands. It is one of about a dozen islands that make up the South Sandwich island arc, a chain of volcanoes in the Southern Ocean that was discovered in 1775 by James Cook. The volcanism is caused by the subduction of the South American Plate beneath the Sandwich Plate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scotia Plate</span> Minor oceanic tectonic plate between the Antarctic and South American plates

The Scotia Plate is a minor tectonic plate on the edge of the South Atlantic and Southern oceans. Thought to have formed during the early Eocene with the opening of the Drake Passage that separates Antarctica and South America, it is a minor plate whose movement is largely controlled by the two major plates that surround it: the Antarctic Plate and the South American Plate. The Scotia Plate takes its name from the steam yacht Scotia of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition (1902–04), the expedition that made the first bathymetric study of the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protector Shoal</span> Submarine volcano NW of Zavodovski Island in the South Sandwich Islands

Protector Shoal is the shallowest point of the Protector Seamounts, a group of submarine volcanoes in the Southern Ocean. They are part of the South Sandwich island arc, a volcanic arc that has given rise to the South Sandwich Islands. Protector Shoal reaches a depth of 55 metres (180 ft) below sea level and is part of a larger group of seamounts that formed atop a larger ridge. Some of these seamounts bear traces of sector collapses, and one is capped by nested calderas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Falkland Islands Dependencies</span> Constitutional arrangement regarding the administration of various British dependencies

The Falkland Islands Dependencies was the constitutional arrangement from 1843 until 1985 for administering the various British territories in Sub-Antarctica and Antarctica which were governed from the Falkland Islands and its capital Stanley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South American–Antarctic Ridge</span> Mid-ocean ridge in the South Atlantic between the South American Plate and the Antarctic Plate

The South American–Antarctic Ridge or simply American-Antarctic Ridge is the tectonic spreading center between the South American Plate and the Antarctic Plate. It runs along the sea-floor from the Bouvet Triple Junction in the South Atlantic Ocean south-westward to a major transform fault boundary east of the South Sandwich Islands. Near the Bouvet Triple Junction the spreading half rate is 9 mm/a (0.35 in/year), which is slow, and the SAAR has the rough topography characteristic of slow-spreading ridges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antarctica</span> Earths southernmost continent

Antarctica is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent, being about 40% larger than Europe, and has an area of 14,200,000 km2 (5,500,000 sq mi). Most of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, with an average thickness of 1.9 km (1.2 mi).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wildlife of Antarctica</span> Antarctic wildlife

The wildlife of Antarctica are extremophiles, having adapted to the dryness, low temperatures, and high exposure common in Antarctica. The extreme weather of the interior contrasts to the relatively mild conditions on the Antarctic Peninsula and the subantarctic islands, which have warmer temperatures and more liquid water. Much of the ocean around the mainland is covered by sea ice. The oceans themselves are a more stable environment for life, both in the water column and on the seabed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northeast Georgia Rise</span> Oceanic plateau in the South Atlantic Ocean

The Northeast Georgia Rise is an oceanic plateau located in the South Atlantic Ocean northeast of South Georgia Island and west of the Falkland Plateau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dana Bergstrom</span> Australian ecologist

Dana Michelle Bergstrom is a senior researcher at the Australian Antarctic Division most notable for her work on identifying and mitigating risks against Antarctic and Sub Antarctic Ecosystems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roumiana Metcheva</span> Bulgarian Antarctic researcher

Roumiana Panayotova Metcheva is a Bulgarian Antarctic researcher, best known for her work on ecotoxicology and biodiversity protection in the Antarctic. She is the Head of Department of Ecosystem Research, Environmental Risk Assessment and Conservation Biology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Mount Mecheva was named after Metcheva for recognition of her work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justine Shaw</span> Australian Antarctic researcher

Justine Shaw is an Australian Antarctic researcher, best known for her conservation work on subantarctic islands, currently working at the Queensland University of Technology. She has a wide global research network, having worked in Australia, South Africa, sub-Antarctic/Antarctic and the Arctic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kim Crosbie</span> Scottish Antarctic scientist

Kim Crosbie is a former Executive Director of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) and has been working in the polar regions since 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nigel Bonner</span> British biologist

William Nigel Bonner was a British zoologist, Antarctic marine mammal specialist, author and ecologist. The topics of his books and scientific publications included marine animals, reindeer and the ecology of the Antarctic. He headed the Life Sciences Division of the British Antarctic Survey from 1974 to 1986, and served as deputy director from 1986 to 1988. Bonner received the Polar Medal in 1987, in recognition of his work in Antarctica.

References

  1. 1 2 "Antarctica no place for old socks - or alien seed". Business Day Live. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
  2. 1 2 "Personnel". www.gov.gs. Government of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Blockley, David. "Dr Jennifer Lee". www.south-atlantic-research.org. Archived from the original on 2016-08-09. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
  4. 1 2 "Preventing a marine invasion in the subantarctic". www.antarctica.gov.au. 18 November 2011. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
  5. Pyper, Wendy (1974). "Preventing a marine invasion in the sub-Antarctic". ECOS. 2011 (164). doi:10.1071/EC11072.
  6. 1 2 "CIB DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology". academic.sun.ac.za. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
  7. 1 2 "Personnel | Government of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands". www.gov.gs. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
  8. Edgar, James (2014-02-19). "Thousands of reindeer culled in UK territory". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
  9. Lee, J. E.; Chown, S. L. (2009-07-02). "Temporal development of hull-fouling assemblages associated with an Antarctic supply vessel". Marine Ecology Progress Series. 386: 97–105. Bibcode:2009MEPS..386...97L. doi: 10.3354/meps08074 . hdl: 10019.1/119914 .
  10. Lee, Jennifer E.; Chown, Steven L. (2009-10-01). "Breaching the dispersal barrier to invasion: quantification and management". Ecological Applications. 19 (7): 1944–1959. Bibcode:2009EcoAp..19.1944L. doi: 10.1890/08-2157.1 . hdl: 10019.1/119891 . ISSN   1939-5582. PMID   19831082.
  11. Lee, Jennifer E.; Chown, Steven L. (2009-10-01). "Quantifying the propagule load associated with the construction of an Antarctic research station". Antarctic Science. 21 (5): 471–475. Bibcode:2009AntSc..21..471L. doi:10.1017/S0954102009990162. hdl: 10019.1/120026 . ISSN   1365-2079. S2CID   129932725.
  12. Chown, Steven L.; Huiskes, Ad H. L.; Gremmen, Niek J. M.; Lee, Jennifer E.; Terauds, Aleks; Crosbie, Kim; Frenot, Yves; Hughes, Kevin A.; Imura, Satoshi (2012-03-27). "Continent-wide risk assessment for the establishment of nonindigenous species in Antarctica". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 109 (13): 4938–4943. Bibcode:2012PNAS..109.4938C. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1119787109 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   3323995 . PMID   22393003.
  13. Huiskes, Ad H. L.; Gremmen, Niek J. M.; Bergstrom, Dana M.; Frenot, Yves; Hughes, Kevin A.; Imura, Satoshi; Kiefer, Kate; Lebouvier, Marc; Lee, Jennifer E. (2014-03-01). "Aliens in Antarctica: Assessing transfer of plant propagules by human visitors to reduce invasion risk". Biological Conservation. 171: 278–284. Bibcode:2014BCons.171..278H. doi: 10.1016/j.biocon.2014.01.038 .