Career Details

2015- Research & Conservation Officer, The Wild Trout Trust

2015- Visiting Professor, Queen Mary University of London

2012-2015 Reader in Aquatic Ecology, Queen Mary University of London

2009-2012 Senior Lecturer in Aquatic Ecology, Queen Mary University of London

2005-2008 Lecturer in Freshwater Biology, Queen Mary University of London

2001-2005 Research Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for Limnology, Plön,Germany

1998-2001 PDRA (NERC GR3/11340) Lancaster University, UK

1997-1998 PDRA (NERC GR9/02997) Lancaster University, UK

1996-1997 PDRA (NERC GR9/02473) Lancaster University, UK

Research Interests

Jonathan’s published work includes >75 refereed journal papers (see link above), the majority using stable isotopes (SI) in some form. He has been instrumental in the development of SI as a tool in aquatic ecology: sample preparation (e.g. lipids, lipid extraction, preservative use), isotope-derived metrics, and interspecific variability. He published one of the first studies to identify the extensive subsidy of production within a large lake (Loch Ness) by terrestrial carbon (as a PDRA at Lancaster University), and revealed the widespread use of methane-derived carbon within freshwater ecosystems. Most of his recent isotope-metric work is applied to the study of invasive species.

Major funders for his work have been:

• the National Environmental Research Council (NERC),
• the Environment Agency
• the Max Planck Society

Current Research

Jonathan’s current research projects include:

• a NERC International Opportunities Fund: Watershed determinants of terrestrial resource use by aquatic organisms across the world's freshwater hotspots
• the NERC funded Human Modified Tropical Forests programme (Borneo), as a PI on the LOMBOK consortium, assessing the relative contributions from the green and brown food webs being channelled to species of conservation concern
• the NERC funded Biodiversity & Ecosystem Service Sustainability programme, as a PI on the DURESS consortium, assessing trophic structure in river & stream ecosystems flowing through different land management regimes
• PI on a NERC standard grant: Manipulating the phototrophic and chemosynthetic basis of production in rivers.

The PhD students he supervises work on a range of topics related to aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem functioning, and invasive species, and have field sites spanning from around the UK, Kenya and Borneo.

External Roles

Jonathan is 0.8 fte Research & Conservation Officer for the Wild Trout Trust and hence the majority of his time is taken up in that role.

He has acted as an evaluator for Canada Foundation for Innovation, the NERC, numerous EU Research Councils, and is currently:

• on the Editorial Board for Freshwater Biology
• Editor for the FBA News, membership magazine of the Freshwater Biological Association