Rebecca Kilner

Rebecca Kilner is a Professor in the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on the interplay between social behavior and evolution, particularly examining parental care mechanisms and their evolutionary implications. Using both field and laboratory experiments, she investigates adaptive divergence in burying beetles (Nicrophorus spp.) and employs experimental evolution to retrace adaptive pathways.

• Specializes in Evolutionary Biology, Behavioral Ecology, and Population Genetics
• Key methodologies: Genomics, theoretical modeling, and biomechanics
• Collaborates with entities like C-CLEAR DTP and British Antarctic Survey
• Studies ecological impacts on genetic variation and non-genetic inheritance

Her work explores how social behaviors act as hidden agents of natural selection, influencing genetic diversity, trait evolution, and reproductive isolation. Recent studies address niche construction principles, stress-induced mutualisms, and the intersection of phenotypic plasticity with ultra-local adaptation. She supervises projects involving ecological research on burying beetles and behavioral recording technologies.

Notable contributions include publications on social immunity, sibling competition, and evolutionary trade-offs in parental investment. Her group has demonstrated how parental care masks genetic conflicts and maintains variation through relaxed selection pressures.

• Email: rmk1002@cam.ac.uk
• Award: Godman-Salvin Prize (as collaborator on Nicholas B. Davies' award, 2022)