biology

Marie Lebour

Marie Lebour is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Marie Lebour rather than just read about it. In short: Marie Victoire Lebour (20 August 1876 – 2 October 1971) was a British marine biologist known for her study of the life cycles of various marine animals. She published more than 175 works during her long career.

Key takeaways

Marie Lebour belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Marie Lebour to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Marie Lebour from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Marie Victoire Lebour (20 August 1876 – 2 October 1971) was a British marine biologist known for her study of the life cycles of various marine animals. She published more than 175 works during her long career.

Early life and education Marie Lebour was born the youngest of three daughters to Emily and George Lebour in Woodburn, Northumberland on 20 August 1876. Her father was a professor of geology and Marie regularly joined him on expeditions, collecting specimens for her own collections. She attended Armstrong College and studied art, then went on to Durham University, where she earned degrees in zoology: an associate degree in 1903, bachelor's degree in 1904, master's degree in 1907, and doctorate in 1917.

Career and research In 1900, before beginning her scientific education, Lebour began her research career with a paper on land and freshwater molluscs in Northumberland. While studying for her master's degree, Lebour was on staff at Durham University. From 1906 to 1909, she was a demonstrator in the Department of Zoology at the University of Leeds and from 1909 to 1915 she was also an assistant lecturer. Lebour's professional research career was entirely conducted at the Marine Biological Association's Laboratory at Plymouth, where she joined the research staff in 1915. She was a full staff member there until 1946, then an honorary staff member until she could no longer conduct research due to health problems, in 1964. Her main research interests were the larval stages of both trematodes (some species of which are parasites of molluscs) and of molluscs themselves. She published more than 100 papers on these topics during her career. She also worked on microplankton and discovered at least 28 new species which she catalogued in two books. After publishing these books, Lebour used the newly invented plunger jar to better study the egg and larval stages of krill in the North Atlantic, Antarctica, and Bermuda. She also published well-regarded work on the eggs and larvae of sprat, herring, and pilchards. She also conducted research in West Africa. In addition to her research, Lebour was also an active member of the scientific community. She was amongst the first cohort of scientists who joined the Society for Experimental Biology in 1923 to collaborate and exchange ideas helping to further establish her reputation as a leading figure in the field of marine biology. Lebour retired in 1945 at the age of 70, but continued to work into the laboratory and publish until she was 88 and her failing vision prevented her from working at the microscope.

Honours, death and legacy Lebour was a member of several professional societies. She was a fellow of the Linnaean Society, a lifetime fellow of the Zoological Society, and a member of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. Multiple species of dinoflagellates were named after her, including genera Lebouraia and Lebouridinium and the species Polykrikos lebourae and Cochlodinium lebourae. She was remembered fondly by her colleagues. Lebour died on 2 October 1971, at the age of 95. Many of Lebour's publications are still used by researchers. Lebour appeared in the Natural History Society of Northumbria's Women Naturalists exhibition which celebrated the achievements of pioneering women naturalists. The featured scientists were Lebour, Mary Jane Hancock, Dr. Kathleen Blackburn, ornithologist Catharine Hodgkin, bryologist Evelyn Lobley, Grace Hickling and botanical artist Margaret Rebecca Dickinson.

Selected publications Lebour, Marie V. (1922). "The Food of Plankton Organisms". Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. 12 (4): 644–677. doi:10.1017/S0025315400009681. ISSN 0025-3154. S2CID 53656496. Lebour, Marie V. (1923). "The Food of Plankton Organisms. II". Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. 13 (1): 70–92. doi:10.1017/S0025315400010936. ISSN 0025-3154. S2CID 53662561. Lebour, Marie V. (1937). "The Eggs and Larvae of the British Prosobranchs with Special Reference to those Living in the Plankton". Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. 22 (1): 105–166. doi:10.1017/S0025315400011917. ISSN 0025-3154. S2CID 84964447. Lebour, Marie Victoria (1965). The dinoflagellates of northern seas. Plymouth [England: Marine biological Association of the United Kingdom. OCLC 10581076.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Marie Lebour

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Marie Lebour claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Marie Lebour before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Marie Lebour ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Marie Lebour

In research: Marie Lebour appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Marie Lebour in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Marie Lebour is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1876 births, 1971 deaths, Academics of the University of Leeds, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Marie Lebour outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Marie Lebour in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Marie Lebour means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Marie Lebour out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Marie Lebour in simple terms?

Why does Marie Lebour matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Marie Lebour?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Marie Lebour.