Ellouise "Elli" Leadbeater is an

ecologist Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

and

evolutionary biologist Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes such as natural selection, common descent, and speciation that produced the diversity of life on Earth. In the 1930s, the discipline of evolutionary biol ...

in the UK. In 2024 she was appointed Professor of Ecosystems and Biodiversity Research at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

Education and career

Leadbeater was educated at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

where she was awarded a Bachelor of Science in

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

in 2001 and

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

where she did a MSc in Evolutionary and Ecological Science in 2004. She was awarded her PhD in 2008 at

Queen Mary University of London Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public university, public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University ...

having looked at "Social information use in foraging bumblebees". Leadbeater was a research fellow at the

Institute of Zoology The Institute of Zoology (IoZ) is the research division of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) in England. It is a government-funded research institute specialising in scientific issues relevant to the conservation of animal species and their ha ...

and then a lecturer at

Royal Holloway, University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RH), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public university, public research university and a constituent college, member institution of the federal University of London. It ...

where in 2019 she was appointed Professor of Ecology and Evolution. In 2024 she was appointed Professor of Ecosystems and Biodiversity Research at University College London.

Research

Her research looks at insect cognition and how this is affected by the animals' environment. She has looked at how

bumblebee A bumblebee (or bumble bee, bumble-bee, or humble-bee) is any of over 250 species in the genus ''Bombus'', part of Apidae, one of the bee families. This genus is the only Extant taxon, extant group in the tribe Bombini, though a few extinct r ...

s can learn where to find nectar, by watching other bees within an arena choose a particular flower colour that bears nectar, and then choosing the same colour flower when they enter the arena. Leadbeater's team have studied the

honey bee A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to mainland Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the ...

waggle dance Waggle dance is a term used in beekeeping and ethology for a particular figure-eight dance of the honey bee. By performing this dance, successful foragers can share information about the direction and distance to patches of flowers yielding ne ...

, looking at the specific

gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

s in the bee brain that are switched on following the dance, to see how changes in the environment affects the bee

foraging Foraging is searching for wild food resources. It affects an animal's fitness because it plays an important role in an animal's ability to survive and reproduce. Foraging theory is a branch of behavioral ecology that studies the foraging behavi ...

and

communication Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

to others. Her work has also looked at the effect of insecticide toxicity on bees and she supported the 2013 EU moratorium and later ban on

neonicotinoid Neonicotinoids (sometimes shortened to neonics ) are a class of neuro-active insecticides chemically similar to nicotine, developed by scientists at Royal Dutch Shell, Shell and Bayer in the 1980s. Neonicotinoids are among the widest-used insecti ...

insecticides. Her work has shown that chemical insecticides can affect bee learning and memory, such as remembering which flowers near a colony have nectar or have been emptied. She has advised caution on new insecticide products such as

Sulfoxaflor Sulfoxaflor, also marketed as ''Isoclast'', is a systemic insecticide that acts as an insect neurotoxin. A pyridine and a trifluoromethyl compound, it is a member of a class of chemicals called sulfoximines, which act on the central nervous system ...

and her team found that the compound affected bumblebee colony reproduction, with colonies exposed to the compound not producing new queens and subsequent work showed that exposed colonies laid fewer eggs with fewer bumblebee larvae hatching.

References

External links

Royal Holloway webpage

Research lab website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leadbetter, Elli Living people Year of birth missing (living people) British ecologists British evolutionary biologists British women ecologists Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Leiden University alumni Alumni of Queen Mary University of London Academics of Royal Holloway, University of London 21st-century British biologists 21st-century British women scientists