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

  • School Open Research Lead
  • Reader in Plant Ecology
  • Royal Society Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellow
Jonathan Millett

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.

  • 2023-2024 Royal Society Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellow
  • 2018 Visiting Researcher, Harvard University (Harvard Forest).
  • 2018 University Research Fellowship, 天堂视频.
  • 2015–present Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography, 天堂视频.
  • 2015 Research Informed Teaching Award, 天堂视频.
  • 2007–2015 Lecturer in Physical Geography, 天堂视频.
  • 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 天堂视频.
  • 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. 天堂视频 funded.
  • 2018 Atish Vadher: The hyporheic zone as a refugium for aquatic macroinvertebrates. 天堂视频 funded.
  • 2014 Joni Cook: The physiological ecology of carnivorous plants. Primary supervisor. 天堂视频 funded.
  • 2014 Andrew Pledger: The zoogemophorphological impacts of benthic fish. 天堂视频 funded.
  • Dwyer, C., Millett, J., Jones, L., Bartholomeus, R.P., Van Willegen, L., Chavasse, A. and Pakeman, R.J., 2022. Patterns of variation in plant diversity vary over different spatial levels in seasonal coastal wetlands. Diversity and Distributions. (open access)
  • Dwyer, C., Millett, J., Pakeman, R. J. and Jones, L. 2021. Environmental modifiers of the relationship between water table depth and Ellenberg’s indicator of soil moisture. Ecological Indicators. 132, 108320. (open access)
  • Hatcher C, Sommer U, Heaney L, Millett J. 2021. Metabolomic analysis reveals reliance on secondary plant metabolites to facilitate carnivory in the Cape sundew, Drosera capensis. Annals of Botany. (open access)
  • Hatcher CR, Ryves, DB, Millett J. 2020. The function of secondary metabolites in plant carnivory. Annals of Botany. 125: 399-411. Commentary: Mithöfer A. 2021. Annals of botany, 128, v-vi. (open access)
  • Millett J, Foot GW, Thompson JC, Svensson BM. (2017). . Journal of Biogeography. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13141
  • Millett J, Edmondson S. 2015. . Plant and Soil 396: 411-420. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.12113
  • Millett J, Foot G, Svensson B. 2015. . Science of the Total Environment 512-513: 631-636. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.01.067
  • Foot G, Rice S, Millett J. 2014. . Biology Letters 10: 20131024. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2013.1024
  • Millett, J and Edmondson, S (2013) The impact of 36 years of grazing management on vegetation dynamics in dune slacks, Journal of Applied Ecology, ISSN: 0021-8901. DOI:.
  • Millett, J, Svensson, BM, Newton, J, Rydin, H (2012) Reliance on prey-derived nitrogen by the carnivorous plant Drosera rotundifolia decreases with increasing nitrogen deposition,New Phytologist, 195(1), pp.182-188, ISSN: 0028-646X. DOI: . See also: BBC: ‘’ and National Geographic: ‘’
  • Millett, J, Godbold, D, Smith, AR, Grant, H (2012) N 2 fixation and cycling in Alnus glutinosa, Betula pendula and Fagus sylvatica woodland exposed to free air CO 2 enrichment, Oecologia, 169(2), pp.541-552, ISSN: 0029-8549. DOI: .
  • Millett, J, Millard, P, Hester, AJ, McDonald, AJS (2005) Do competition and herbivory alter the internal nitrogen dynamics of birch saplings?, New Phytologist, 168(2), pp.413-422, ISSN: 0028-646X. DOI: .