Jonathan Millett

Dr Jonathan Millett

BSc Forestry, Bangor University, MRes Science of the Environment, Lancaster University, PhD Plant Science, University of Aberdeen, PGCert Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, Liverpool Hope University

  • Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography

Jon is a plant scientist who studies the impacts of environmental variability on plants in the context of traits, phenotypic variability, and community dynamics. He is the custodian of one of the longest running ecological experiments in the UK (Ainsdale Dune Slacks Long Term Experiment) and runs the Ainsdale Dune Slacks DRAGNet (Disturbance and Resources Across Global Grasslands) site.

  • • 2018 Visiting Researcher, Harvard University (Harvard Forest).
  • • 2018 University Research Fellowship, Loughborough University.
  • • 2015–present Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography, Loughborough University.
  • • 2015 Research Informed Teaching Award, Loughborough University.
  • • 2007–2015 Lecturer in Physical Geography, Loughborough University.
  • • 2005–2007 Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellow in Geography and Environmental Management, Department of Geography, Liverpool Hope University
  • • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
  • • Fellow of the Linnean Society of London (FLS) (2015- )
  • • Member of the British Ecological Society (2003- )
  • • Reviewer for British Council Newton Fund (2014- )
  • • Member of the British Ecological Society peer review college (2012- )
  • • Member then Deputy Chair of the British Ecological Society Meetings Committee (2014-2021)
Jon researches plant and community change across environmental gradients from site to regional scales, and through time. He uses these changes to understand the fundamental controls over plant and ecosystem processes, and to predict resilience to global environmental change, particularly nitrogen deposition. He focuses on carnivorous plants—Charles Darwin’s ‘most wonderful plants in the world’—and sand dune plant communities.
 
The Ainsdale Dune Slacks LTE was established in 1974. The experiment consists of sheep and rabbit exclosures within sand dune wetlands. The 47 years of continuous grazing exclusion makes this the longest-running dune slack wetland grazing experiment, and one of the longest-running ecological experiments, in the UK. This experimental platform provides a unique opportunity to understand the long-term responses of coastal systems to global environmental change.

Jon teaches a range of modules focussed on biogeography, conservation management and general physical geography.

Current

  • 2021-present Fanni Tanka: Grazing and disturbance as management tools in coastal slacks: consequences for soil organic matter, biodiversity, and functional resilience. Primary supervisor. Funded by CENTA
  • 2020-present Brandon Shaw: Fungal endophyte function in plant carnivory. Primary supervisor. Funded by CENTA
  • 2018-present Sarah Evans: Asian clam – ecology of a new potentially invasive non-native species in the UK. Funded by Loughborough University.
  • 2017-present Ellen Goddard: The function of carnivorous pitcher plants in their native and non-native range: extrinsic vs intrinsic drivers of inquiline community composition. Primary supervisor. Funded by CENTA

 Completed

  • 2021 Ciara Dwyer: Dune wetland plant communities. Primary supervisor. Funded by CENTA
  • 2019 Chris Hatcher: carnivorous plant ecology. Primary supervisor. Loughborough University funded.
  • 2018 Atish Vadher: The hyporheic zone as a refugium for aquatic macroinvertebrates. Loughborough University funded.
  • 2014 Joni Cook: The physiological ecology of carnivorous plants. Primary supervisor. Loughborough University funded.
  • 2014 Andrew Pledger: The zoogemophorphological impacts of benthic fish. Loughborough University funded.