Simon Leather
Alma materUniversity of Leeds (BSc) University of East Anglia (PhD)
Scientific career
InstitutionsForestry Commission, Imperial College London, Harper Adams University
ThesisAspects of the ecology of the bird cherry-cat aphid Rhopalosiphum padi L (1980)
Doctoral advisorTony Dixon

Simon R Leather Hon.FRES (13 March 1955 - 27 September 2021)[1][2] was an entomologist in the UK, he was Professor of Entomology at Harper Adams University, Honorary Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society and an expert in aphids and applied entomology.[3]

Education and career

Leather had a childhood interest in insects[4] and was educated at King George V School (Hong Kong) and Ripon Grammar School, he studied BSc Agricultural Zoology at the University of Leeds, graduating in 1977; and a PhD on the ecology of the bird cherry-oat aphid at the University of East Anglia, graduating in 1980. He was a Royal Society postdoctoral fellow in Finland, working on the bird cherry-oat aphid, he moved back to UEA and then worked at the Forestry Commission.[5]

In the early 1990s he moved the Silwood Park campus of Imperial College London to be a lecturer, rising to Reader in Applied Ecology, in 2012 Leather moved to Harper Adams University to be Professor of Entomology.[6]

Academic activities

Leather did extensive research into integrated pest management of insect pests in agriculture, horticulture and forestry[7] and he was a member of the UK government's Tree Health and Plant Biosecurity Taskforce.[8]

His work on aphids includes the discovery in pea aphids of cannibalistic behaviour.[9]

Leather has also carried out research in urban ecology, looking at the biodiversity value of roundabouts for over 10 years in Bracknell Forest.[10]

He was an advocate of the need for specialist training in entomology and taxonomy[11] and before his move to Harper Adams University was concerned that his then unique (in the UK) Masters courses in Entomology, Integrated Pest Management and Plant Pathology would cease on his eventual retirement.[12] In 2009 he coined the phrase 'institutional vertebratism' to describe the bias of scientific research funding to vertebrate animals, rather than the more numerous invertebrates.[13]

In late 2012 Leather joined Twitter with the account handle @entoprof[14] and in 2013 he started a personal blog Don't forget the roundabouts. He talked and wrote about new platforms for non-academic science communication that are available online.[15][16]

Books

Honours and awards

References

  1. ↑ "Tributes paid to Harper Adams Professor Emeritus Simon Leather". Harper Adams University. 29 September 2021. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  2. ↑ "The Seven Ages of an Entomologist – Happy 60th Birthday to Me". Don't Forget the Roundabouts. 13 March 2015.
  3. ↑ "Staff Directory - Professor Simon Leather | Harper Adams University". www.harper-adams.ac.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  4. ↑ Key, Roger (9 December 2013). "Book review: Working in Entomology". rsb.org.uk/biologist. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  5. ↑ "Professor Simon Leather - NBN Conference 2017". National Biodiversity Network. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  6. ↑ "Harper Adams welcomes entomology experts". Harper Adams University. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  7. ↑ Leather, Simon. "Pest management – it isn't just about the killing". The Conversation. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  8. ↑ Elston, Charlotte (9 November 2012). "Plantwise Blog: Research Teams and Scientists Working to Stem Ash Dieback Fungus". blog.plantwise.org. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  9. ↑ Marshall, Michael. "Zoologger: Baby vampire aphids drink parents' blood". New Scientist. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  10. ↑ "Roundabouts can be so much more than just traffic-calming devices | ialeUK - International Association for Landscape Ecology". iale.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  11. ↑ "National Insect Week: The power of bugs". The Independent. 20 June 2010. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  12. ↑ "Little buzz about entomology". Times Higher Education (THE). 15 January 2009. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  13. ↑ Leather, S. R. (1 August 2013). "Institutional vertebratism hampers insect conservation generally; not just saproxylic beetle conservation". Animal Conservation. 16 (4): 379–380. doi:10.1111/acv.12068. ISSN 1469-1795. S2CID 8449443.
  14. ↑ "Simon Leather 🔶🇪🇺 (@EntoProf) | Twitter". twitter.com. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  15. ↑ Saunders, Manu E.; Duffy, Meghan A.; Heard, Stephen B.; Kosmala, Margaret; Leather, Simon R.; McGlynn, Terrence P.; Ollerton, Jeff; Parachnowitsch, Amy L. (2017). "Bringing ecology blogging into the scientific fold: measuring reach and impact of science community blogs". Royal Society Open Science. 4 (10): 170957. Bibcode:2017RSOS....470957S. doi:10.1098/rsos.170957. PMC 5666276. PMID 29134093.
  16. ↑ Mitchley, Jonathan (18 December 2013). "Why I Joined the Twitterati: Blogs, Tweets & Talks – Making Entomology Visible". Don't Forget the Roundabouts. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  17. ↑ Leather, S. R.; Walters, K. F. A.; Bale, J. S. (1993). The Ecology of Insect Overwintering. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511525834. ISBN 9780521417587.
  18. ↑ Leather, S. R. (18 January 2018). Leather, Simon R; Hardie, Jim (eds.). Insect Reproduction. CRC Press. doi:10.1201/9781351073608. ISBN 978-1-351-07360-8.
  19. ↑ "Insects on cherry trees". Pelagic Publishing. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  20. ↑ Leather, Simon R., ed. (7 December 2005). Insect Sampling in Forest Ecosystems. doi:10.1002/9780470750513. ISBN 9780470750513.
  21. ↑ Insects: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. 2022. ISBN 978-0-19-884704-5. Retrieved 29 September 2021. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  22. ↑ "Professor Simon Leather". Royal Entomological Society. 2 August 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  23. ↑ "Harper Adams University professor named president of the Amateur Entomological Society". Harper Adams University. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  24. ↑ "Insect Conservation and Diversity". Royal Entomological Society. 4 July 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  25. ↑ "Annals of Applied Biology". Wiley Online Library. doi:10.1111/(ISSN)1744-7348. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
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