Profiles
Dr Jennifer Rowntree
Associate Professor in Ecological Genetics
School of Biological and Marine Sciences (Faculty of Science and Engineering)
Dr Jennifer Rowntree can be contacted through arrangement with our Press Office, to speak to the media on these areas of expertise.
- Plant ecology
- Mangrove forests
- Biodiversity
- Soil health
- Ecological genetics
- Sustainable agriculture
- Food security
Email publicrelations@plymouth.ac.uk to enquire.
Biography
Biography
I am an ecological geneticist with a background in plant ecology. I am interested in the genetics of species interactions and use molecular tools to answer ecological questions. I work across a wide variety of systems (plants, pollinators, herbivores, microbes) and biomes (temperate and tropical) and use molecular, experimental and field approaches to answer questions. Current projects include understanding the population and conservation genetics of coastal plants (mangroves, salt marsh) for adaptation and restoration, improving ex situ conservation and reintroduction success of endangered plants (bryophytes, carnivorous plants) and developing molecular tools for the for the quantification of biodiversity in human influenced environments (soil health in agriculture, plant-pollinator networks). I am interested in complex problems that require a cross-disciplinary approach and am a co-investigator on the NERC UK Treescapes: Voices of the Future project and a member of the University of Plymouth @
Environmental Land Management Strategic Knowledge Exchange Hub (ELMS-Exchange) .
Qualifications
2022-present, Associate Professor, University of Plymouth
2016-2021, Senior Lecturer, Manchester Metropolitan University
2015-2016, Lecturer, University of Manchester
2011-2014, NERC Independent Research Fellow, University of York; University of Manchester
2007-2010, PDRA, University of Manchester
2004-2006, Conservation Officer, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
2000-2004, PhD Plant Ecology, University of Manchester
1999-2000, MSc Ecology, University of Aberdeen
1993-1997, BSc Chemistry with German (1st Class), University of Sussex
Roles on external bodies
Member of IUCN SSC for Bryophytes (ex situ expert)
NERC Peer Review College and panel member
Royal Society International Exchanges panel member
Teaching
Teaching
Teaching interests
Introduction to Biological Sciences (BIOL119Z) - Module lead
Contemporary Zoo Management (ANIM5006) – Module lead
Applied Conservation Biology (BIOL308)
Conservation Ecology and Society (ANIM5008)
Ecology Field Course (BIOL219Z)
Research
Research
Research degrees awarded to supervised students
Primary supervisor
2021 - John Paul Kennedy (PhD) - Genetic Insights into Climate-Driven Range Expansion of a Coastal Foundation Species - Manchester Metropolitan University
2021 - Marciana Galambao (PhD) - Population Genetics, Endosymbionts and Bunchy Top Virus - Studies of Banana Aphid (Pentalonia sp.) in the Philippines - Manchester Metropolitan University - Newton fund
2020 - Emily Schofield (PhD) - Temporal Dynamism, Soil Processes and Niche Complementary: Novel Approaches to Understanding Diversity-Function relationships - Manchester Metropolitan University - joint funding with the James Hutton Institute
2020 - Calum Bridson (PhD) - Interactions between Insect Gut Microbiota and the Environment - University of Manchester - BBSRC DTP
2019 - Graeme Fox (PhD) - Developments in Next-Generation Sequencing and Bioinformatics for Ecological Genetics - Manchester Metropolitan University
2019 - Hayley Craig (PhD) - Factors Affecting the Composition, Diversity and Function of Bacterial Communities in Mangrove Soils - University of Manchester - NERC DTP
2017 - Katie Hunter (MPhil) - The Development of Molecular Techniques for the Conservation of Captive Elasmobranchs - University of Manchester
2013 - Richard Sands (MPhil) - Keeping the Bees Buzzing: Improving the Effectiveness of Nectar and Pollen Mixes - University of Manchester
Co-supervisor
2023 - Xaali O'Reilly-Berkeley (PhD) Community Genetics in Complex Ecological Systems - Manchester Metropolitan University
2022 - Jodies Bates (PhD) - Assessing the Bacterial Zoonotic Risks Associated with the Pet Trade - Manchester Metropolitan University - joint funding with World Animal Protection
2021 - Agnessa Lundy (MRes) - Rhizophora mangle(Red Mangrove) Population Genetic Structure in The Bahamas - Manchester Metropolitan University
2021 - Steven Canty (PhD) - Management of Marine Resources in the Mesoamerican Reef Ecosystem - Manchester Metropolitan University
2018 - Oliver Hughes (PhD) - Orchid-Mycorrhiza Relationships, Propagation of Terrestrial and Epiphytic Orchids from Seed - Manchester Metropolitan University - joint funding with Chester Zoo
2016 - Daniel Lopez (MPhil) - Terrestrial Mammal Communities in Tropical Rainforests of Ecuador - University of Manchester
2021 - Marciana Galambao (PhD) - Population Genetics, Endosymbionts and Bunchy Top Virus - Studies of Banana Aphid (Pentalonia sp.) in the Philippines - Manchester Metropolitan University - Newton fund
2020 - Emily Schofield (PhD) - Temporal Dynamism, Soil Processes and Niche Complementary: Novel Approaches to Understanding Diversity-Function relationships - Manchester Metropolitan University - joint funding with the James Hutton Institute
2020 - Calum Bridson (PhD) - Interactions between Insect Gut Microbiota and the Environment - University of Manchester - BBSRC DTP
2019 - Graeme Fox (PhD) - Developments in Next-Generation Sequencing and Bioinformatics for Ecological Genetics - Manchester Metropolitan University
2019 - Hayley Craig (PhD) - Factors Affecting the Composition, Diversity and Function of Bacterial Communities in Mangrove Soils - University of Manchester - NERC DTP
2017 - Katie Hunter (MPhil) - The Development of Molecular Techniques for the Conservation of Captive Elasmobranchs - University of Manchester
2013 - Richard Sands (MPhil) - Keeping the Bees Buzzing: Improving the Effectiveness of Nectar and Pollen Mixes - University of Manchester
Co-supervisor
2023 - Xaali O'Reilly-Berkeley (PhD) Community Genetics in Complex Ecological Systems - Manchester Metropolitan University
2022 - Jodies Bates (PhD) - Assessing the Bacterial Zoonotic Risks Associated with the Pet Trade - Manchester Metropolitan University - joint funding with World Animal Protection
2021 - Agnessa Lundy (MRes) - Rhizophora mangle(Red Mangrove) Population Genetic Structure in The Bahamas - Manchester Metropolitan University
2021 - Steven Canty (PhD) - Management of Marine Resources in the Mesoamerican Reef Ecosystem - Manchester Metropolitan University
2018 - Oliver Hughes (PhD) - Orchid-Mycorrhiza Relationships, Propagation of Terrestrial and Epiphytic Orchids from Seed - Manchester Metropolitan University - joint funding with Chester Zoo
2016 - Daniel Lopez (MPhil) - Terrestrial Mammal Communities in Tropical Rainforests of Ecuador - University of Manchester
Grants & contracts
2021-2025 - WATERZOO (Project partner, PI Andy Green), Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain - €164K
2021-2024 - UK Future Treescapes - Voices of the Future (CoI), NERC - FEC~£1.99M
2021 - KTP with I Want Plants (Co-I), Innovate UK - £178K
2020-2021 - Healthy Guts, Healthy Bees (PI with G Fox), Eva Crane - £11K
2019-2021 - Manchester Met Strategic Opportunities Fund PDRA (Dr Graeme Fox) (PI) - £90K
2019 - KTP with Buildchem (Co-I), Innovate/NERC funding - £217K
2017-2021 - Co-funded PhD studentship with World Animal Protection (Co-I; Jodie Bates) - £60K
2017-2020 - DOST-Newton Philippines PhD scholarship (PI; Marciana Galambao) - £54K
2016-2020 - Co-funded PhD studentship with the James Hutton Institute (PI; Emily Schofield) - £38K
2014 - NERC impact accelerator grant - FEC £15K
2013 - NERC impact accelerator grant - FEC £10K
2011-2014 - NERC Independent Research Fellowship FEC £359K
2021 - KTP with I Want Plants (Co-I), Innovate UK - £178K
2020-2021 - Healthy Guts, Healthy Bees (PI with G Fox), Eva Crane - £11K
2019-2021 - Manchester Met Strategic Opportunities Fund PDRA (Dr Graeme Fox) (PI) - £90K
2019 - KTP with Buildchem (Co-I), Innovate/NERC funding - £217K
2017-2021 - Co-funded PhD studentship with World Animal Protection (Co-I; Jodie Bates) - £60K
2017-2020 - DOST-Newton Philippines PhD scholarship (PI; Marciana Galambao) - £54K
2016-2020 - Co-funded PhD studentship with the James Hutton Institute (PI; Emily Schofield) - £38K
2014 - NERC impact accelerator grant - FEC £15K
2013 - NERC impact accelerator grant - FEC £10K
2011-2014 - NERC Independent Research Fellowship FEC £359K
Publications
Publications
Key publications
Key publications are highlighted
Journals
Articles
(2022) 'Trade-off between microbial carbon use efficiency and specific nutrient-acquiring extracellular enzyme activities under reduced oxygen' Soil Ecology Letters 5, (2) , DOI Open access
(2022) 'Complex urban environments provide
Apis mellifera
with a richer plant forage than suburban and more rural landscapes' Ecology and Evolution 12, (11) , DOI Open access
(2022) 'Genetic diversity of honeybee colonies predicts gut bacterial diversity of individual colony members' Environmental Microbiology , DOI Open access
(2022) 'Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover' Science 375, (6586) 1275-1281 , DOI Open access
(2022) 'Genetically based adaptive trait shifts at an expanding mangrove range margin' Hydrobiologia: the international journal on limnology and marine sciences , DOI Open access
(2021) 'Conceptualizing ecosystem degradation using mangrove forests as a model system' Biological Conservation 263, 109355-109355 , DOI
(2021) 'Fungal microbiomes are determined by host phylogeny and exhibit widespread associations with the bacterial microbiome' Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 288, (1957) 20210552-20210552 , DOI
(2021) 'Evidence for the genetic similarity rule at an expanding mangrove range limit' American Journal of Botany 108, (8) 1331-1342 , DOI
(2021) 'Assessing the Genetic Diversity of Ilex guayusa Loes., a Medicinal Plant from the Ecuadorian Amazon' Diversity 13, (5) 182-182 , DOI
(2021) 'Arable wildflowers have potential as living mulches for sustainable agriculture' Plant Ecology & Diversity 14, (1-2) 93-104 , DOI
(2021) 'Genetic structure of a remnant Acropora cervicornis population' Scientific Reports 11, (1) , DOI
(2021) 'Nitrogen addition alters composition, diversity, and functioning of microbial communities in mangrove soils: An incubation experiment' Soil Biology and Biochemistry 153, 108076-108076 , DOI
(2021) 'Mating system variation in neotropical black mangrove, Avicennia germinans, at three spatial scales towards an expanding northern distributional limit' Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 248, 106754-106754 , DOI
(2020) 'Characterizing the genetic diversity of the Andean blueberry (Vaccinium floribundum Kunth.) across the Ecuadorian Highlands' PLOS ONE 15, (12) e0243420-e0243420 , DOI
(2020) 'Understanding the genetic diversity of the guayabillo (Psidium galapageium), an endemic plant of the Galapagos Islands' Global Ecology and Conservation 24, e01350-e01350 , DOI
(2020) 'Effects of maternal genotypic identity and genetic diversity of the red mangrove <i>Rhizophora mangle</i> on associated soil bacterial communities: A field‐based experiment' Ecology and Evolution 10, (24) 13957-13967 , DOI
(2020) 'Hurricanes overcome migration lag and shape intraspecific genetic variation beyond a poleward mangrove range limit' Molecular Ecology 29, (14) 2583-2597 , DOI
(2020) 'Publisher's note: “ Mating system variation in neotropical black mangrove, Avicennia germinans, at three spatial scales towards an expanding northern distributional limit”' Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 238, 106712-106712 , DOI
(2020) 'A preliminary assessment of bacteria in “ranched” ball pythons (Python regius), Togo, West Africa' Nature Conservation 39, 73-86 , DOI
(2020) 'Multiplex microsatellite PCR panels for the neotropical red mangrove, Rhizophora mangle: combining efforts towards a cost-effective and modifiable tool to better inform conservation and management' Conservation Genetics Resources 12, (3) 503-513 , DOI
(2020) 'Mangroves give cause for conservation optimism, for now' Current Biology 30, (4) R153-R154 , DOI
(2020) 'Is the central‐marginal hypothesis a general rule? Evidence from three distributions of an expanding mangrove species, <i>Avicennia germinans</i> (L.) L' Molecular Ecology 29, (4) 704-719 , DOI
(2020) 'Blind Trading: A Literature Review of Research Addressing the Welfare of Ball Pythons in the Exotic Pet Trade' Animals 10, (2) 193-193 , DOI
(2019) 'Plant-plant competition influences temporal dynamism of soil microbial enzyme activity' Soil Biology and Biochemistry 139, 107615-107615 , DOI
(2019) 'Complex associations between cross‐kingdom microbial endophytes and host genotype in ash dieback disease dynamics' Journal of Ecology 108, (1) 291-309 , DOI
(2019) 'Multi‐individual microsatellite identification: A multiple genome approach to microsatellite design (MiMi)' Molecular Ecology Resources 19, (6) 1672-1680 , DOI
(2019) 'Cultivar Differences and Impact of Plant-Plant Competition on Temporal Patterns of Nitrogen and Biomass Accumulation' Frontiers in Plant Science 10, , DOI
(2018) 'The contrasting roles of host species diversity and parasite population genetic diversity in the infection dynamics of a keystone parasitic plant' Journal of Ecology 107, (1) 23-33 , DOI
(2018) 'Dichotomy of mangrove management: A review of research and policy in the Mesoamerican reef region' Ocean & Coastal Management 157, 40-49 , DOI
(2018) 'Temporal Dynamism of Resource Capture: A Missing Factor in Ecology?' Trends in Ecology & Evolution 33, (4) 277-286 , DOI
(2018) 'What's in a name? Wildlife traders evade authorities using code words' Oryx 52, (1) 13-13 , DOI
(2017) 'Detecting macroecological patterns in bacterial communities across independent studies of global soils' Nature Microbiology 3, (2) 189-196 , DOI
(2017) 'Biodiversity in agricultural landscapes: The effect of apple cultivar on epiphyte diversity' Ecology and Evolution 7, (4) 1250-1258 , DOI
(2016) 'Interactions between the Bumblebee Bombus pascuorum and Red Clover (Trifolium pratense) Are Mediated by Plant Genetic Background' PLOS ONE 11, (8) e0161327-e0161327 , DOI
(2014) 'The effect of multiple host species on a keystone parasitic plant and its aphid herbivores' Functional Ecology 28, (4) 829-836 , DOI
(2014) 'The genetics of indirect ecological effects—plant parasites and aphid herbivores' Frontiers in Genetics 5, , DOI
(2013) 'Host‐plant genotypic diversity and community genetic interactions mediate aphid spatial distribution' Ecology and Evolution 4, (2) 121-131 , DOI
(2011) 'New frontiers in community and ecosystem genetics for theory, conservation, and management' New Phytologist 193, (1) 24-26 , DOI
(2011) 'Correlated response in plasticity to selection for early flowering in Arabidopsis thaliana' Journal of Evolutionary Biology 24, (10) 2280-2288 , DOI
(2011) 'Forward from the crossroads of ecology and evolution' Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 366, (1569) 1322-1328 , DOI
(2011) 'Genetic variation changes the interactions between the parasitic plant-ecosystem engineer
<i>Rhinanthus</i>
and its hosts' Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 366, (1569) 1380-1388 , DOI
(2010) 'In vitro conservation of European bryophytes' In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology - Plant 47, (1) 55-64 , DOI
(2010) 'Plant genotype mediates the effects of nutrients on aphids' Oecologia 163, (3) 675-679 , DOI
(2009) 'Pleiotropic effects of environment‐specific adaptation in <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i>' New Phytologist 183, (3) 816-825 , DOI
(2009) 'Which moss is which? Identification of the threatened moss Orthodontium gracile using molecular and morphological techniques' Conservation Genetics 11, (3) 1033-1042 , DOI
(2008) 'How bryophytes came out of the cold: successful cryopreservation of threatened species' Biodiversity and Conservation 18, (5) 1413-1420 , DOI
(2007) 'Formation of Specialized Propagules Resistant to Desiccation and Cryopreservation in the Threatened Moss Ditrichum plumbicola (Ditrichales, Bryopsida)' Annals of Botany 100, (3) 483-496 , DOI
(2006) 'Development of novel methods for the initiation of in vitro bryophyte cultures for conservation' Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture 87, (2) 191-201 , DOI
(2006) 'Conservation In vitro of threatened plants—Progress in the past decade' In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology - Plant 42, (3) 206-214 , DOI
(2005) 'Effects of asulam spraying on non-target ferns' Canadian Journal of Botany 83, (12) 1622-1629 , DOI
(2005) 'Ex situconservation of bryophytes: progress and potential of a pilot project' Boletín de la Sociedad Española de Briología (26-27(25)) 17-22 Publisher Site , DOI
(2005) 'Growth and Development of Mosses are Inhibited by the Common Herbicide Asulam' The Bryologist 108, (2) 287-294 , DOI
(2005) 'Interactions between the hemiparasitic angiospermRhinanthus minor and its hosts: From the cell to the ecosystem' Folia Geobotanica 40, (2-3) 217-229 , DOI