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Rebecca Kilner

Rebecca Kilner 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 Rebecca Kilner rather than just read about it. In short: Rebecca M. Kilner FRES is a British evolutionary biologist, and a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Cambridge.

Rebecca Kilner — main illustration
Rebecca Kilner — illustration

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Rebecca M. Kilner FRES is a British evolutionary biologist, and a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Cambridge.

Education and career 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. In 2013, Kilner was appointed Professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Cambridge, and in 2019, Kilner was made a Director of the Cambridge University Museum of Zoology. In 2023, Rebecca Kilner was appointed 1866 Professor of Zoology and Head of the Department of Zoology at Cambridge.

Research 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. 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. 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. 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. She also found that motherless beetle larvae were less competitive with each other and had higher survival rates than when mothered larvae had to cope alone. 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. 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.

Awards In 2010, Kilner was awarded the Zoological Society of London's Scientific Medal for her "outstanding contributions to behavioural ecology and the analysis of evolutionary processes". In 2015, Kilner was awarded the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award for her research: How does social evolution generate biodiversity? In 2021, she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society for her "discoveries in how social behaviour drives evolutionary change".

References

External links University of Cambridge Profile Kilner Research Laboratory

Illustrations

Rebecca Kilner illustration

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Rebecca Kilner

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Rebecca Kilner 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 Rebecca Kilner 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 Rebecca Kilner 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 Rebecca Kilner

In research
Rebecca Kilner 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 Rebecca Kilner 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
Rebecca Kilner is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 20th-century British biologists, 20th-century British women biologists, 21st-century British biologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Rebecca Kilner 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 Rebecca Kilner in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Rebecca Kilner in simple terms?

Rebecca M. Kilner FRES is a British evolutionary biologist, and a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Cambridge.

Why does Rebecca Kilner 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 Rebecca Kilner?

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 Rebecca Kilner.

Tags

  • 20th-century British biologists
  • 20th-century British women biologists
  • 21st-century British biologists
  • 21st-century British women biologists
  • Academics of the University of Cambridge
  • Alumni of the University of Cambridge
  • Alumni of the University of Oxford
  • British fellows of the Royal Society
  • Fellows of the Royal Entomological Society
  • Living people
  • Women evolutionary biologists

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