Rebecca Kilner | |
|---|---|
 in the University Museum of Zoology bird store | |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford (BA) University of Cambridge (PhD) |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | University of Cambridge, Cambridge University Museum of Zoology |
Rebecca M. Kilner FRS FRES is a British evolutionary biologist, and a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Cambridge.
Kilner studied a BA in Zoology at the University of Oxford in 1992, and received a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology at the University of Cambridge in 1996. She worked as a Junior Research Fellow at Magdelene College, Cambridge, and in 1998 was a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellow; she was appointed Lecturer at the University of Cambridge in 2005 and a Reader in 2009. [1]
In 2013, Kilner was appointed Professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Cambridge, [2] and in 2019, Kilner was made a Director of the Cambridge University Museum of Zoology. [3]
Kilner's research looks at how social evolution can generate biodiversity and much of her work looks at burying beetles (Silphidae) and birds.
Her earlier research looked at birds that are brood parasites, which take advantage of other species' nests and parental care. In particular she found that cuckoos are able to produce eggs that mimic those of their host bird species. [4] Kilner found that cowbirds, which are also brood parasites, do not try to outcompete the host chicks that they hatch next to (as with cuckoos) and instead cowbirds do better when the host chicks remain. [5]
Parental care is common in burying beetles. Kilner's work on burying beetles has shown that beetle parents can produce a slime mixture that can influence bacteria communities on the meat they provide for their larval offspring; the bacteria aid digestion in the beetle stomach and prevent decomposition of the meat, so that beetle larvae grow larger and healthier. [6] She also examined what happens when parents are prevented from caring for larvae over 30 successive generations. She found that the beetle larvae evolved larger jaws to help them feed from carcasses better without help. [7] She also found that motherless beetle larvae were less competitive between each other and had higher survival rates than when mothered larvae had to cope alone. [8]
Her research with burying beetles has also shown that they can form symbiotic relationships with mites. Smaller beetles which lose out in fights with larger beetles can benefit from the phoretic mite Poecilochirus carabi, which helps them to warm up and enables them to win contests with other beetles for a carcass food source. [9]
In 2023 Kilner was interviewed by Jim Al-Khalili on the BBC's Life Scientific radio programme, talking about the relationship between social behaviours and evolution, including burying beetles. [10]
Silphidae is a family of beetles that are known commonly as large carrion beetles, carrion beetles or burying beetles. There are two subfamilies: Silphinae and Nicrophorinae. Nicrophorines are sometimes known as sexton beetles. The number of species is relatively small at around two hundred. They are more diverse in the temperate region although a few tropical endemics are known. Both subfamilies feed on decaying organic matter such as dead animals. The subfamilies differ in which uses parental care and which types of carcasses they prefer. Silphidae are considered to be of importance to forensic entomologists because when they are found on a decaying body they are used to help estimate a post-mortem interval.
Jennifer Alice Clack, was an English palaeontologist and evolutionary biologist. She specialised in the early evolution of tetrapods, specifically studying the "fish to tetrapod" transition: the origin, evolutionary development and radiation of early tetrapods and their relatives among the lobe-finned fishes. She is best known for her book Gaining Ground: the Origin and Early Evolution of Tetrapods, published in 2002 and written with the layperson in mind.
Margo Wilson (1942–2009) was a Canadian evolutionary psychologist. She was a professor of psychology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, noted for her pioneering work in the field of evolutionary psychology and her contributions to the study of violence.
Brood parasites are animals that rely on others to raise their young. The strategy appears among birds, insects and fish. The brood parasite manipulates a host, either of the same or of another species, to raise its young as if it were its own, usually using egg mimicry, with eggs that resemble the host's.
Professor Geoffrey Alan Parker FRS is an emeritus professor of biology at the University of Liverpool and the 2008 recipient of the Darwin Medal. Parker has been called “the professional’s professional”.
Sir Paul Patrick Gordon Bateson, was an English biologist with interests in ethology and phenotypic plasticity. Bateson was a professor at the University of Cambridge and served as president of the Zoological Society of London from 2004 to 2014.
An obligate parasite or holoparasite is a parasitic organism that cannot complete its life-cycle without exploiting a suitable host. If an obligate parasite cannot obtain a host it will fail to reproduce. This is opposed to a facultative parasite, which can act as a parasite but does not rely on its host to continue its life-cycle. Obligate parasites have evolved a variety of parasitic strategies to exploit their hosts. Holoparasites and some hemiparasites are obligate.
Sociality is the degree to which individuals in an animal population tend to associate in social groups (gregariousness) and form cooperative societies.
Horsfield's bronze cuckoo is a small cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. Its size averages 22g and is distinguished by its green and bronze iridescent colouring on its back and incomplete brown barring from neck to tail. Horsfield's bronze cuckoo can be destiguished from other bronze cuckoos by its white eyebrow and brown eye stripe. The Horsfield's bronze cuckoo is common throughout Australia preferring the drier open woodlands away from forested areas.
Timothy Hugh Clutton-Brock is a British zoologist known for his comparative studies of the behavioural ecology of mammals, particularly red deer and meerkats.
Anne Elizabeth Magurran is a British Professor of ecology at University of St Andrews in Scotland. She is the author of several books on measuring biological diversity, and the importance for quantifying biodiversity for conservation. She has won numerous awards and honors, is regularly consulted for global assessments and analyses of biodiversity and conservation and her research is often highlighted by journalists.
Naomi E. Pierce is the Hessel Professor of Biology at Harvard University and a world authority on butterflies. Pierce is the university's Curator of Lepidoptera, a position once held by Vladimir Nabokov.
Phoresis or phoresy is a non-permanent, commensalistic interaction in which one organism attaches itself to another solely for the purpose of travel. Phoresis has been observed directly in ticks and mites since the 18th century, and indirectly in fossils 320 million years old. It is not restricted to arthropods or animals; plants with seeds that disperse by attaching themselves to animals are also considered to be phoretic.
Nicholas Barry Davies FRS is a British field naturalist and zoologist, and Emeritus Professor of Behavioural Ecology at the University of Cambridge, where he is also a Emeritus Fellow of Pembroke College.
Ruth Mace FBA is a British anthropologist, biologist, and academic. She specialises in the evolutionary ecology of human demography and life history, and phylogenetic approaches to culture and language evolution. Since 2004, she has been Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at University College London.
Tristram Dick Wyatt is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is a senior research fellow in the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford and an emeritus fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford. Wyatt researches pheromones and animal behavior.
Amanda Callaghan FRES is an entomologist in the United Kingdom.
Jane Reid is an evolutionary ecologist from the UK, she is International Chair Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway and is also Professor of Population & Evolutionary Ecology at the University of Aberdeen.
Alison M. Bell is an American ecologist who studies animal behaviour at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. She has focused on the evolution of and mechanisms that underpin animal personality. In 2020, she was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Nichola Jayne Raihani is a British psychologist who is a Professor of Evolution and Behaviour at University College London. Her research considers the evolution of cooperation in nature. She was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology in 2019. Her first book, The Social Instinct, was released in 2021.
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