Rate My Professor Amanda Bretman

Amanda Bretman is Professor of Behavioural Ecology in the School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, at the University of Leeds, where she also holds the position of Dean of Research Quality and serves as Academic Institutional REF Lead. She earned her BSc, MRes, and PhD from the University of Leeds. After completing her doctorate, Bretman undertook postdoctoral research positions at the Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter (Cornwall Campus), from 2006 to 2011, and at the School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, until 2012. She returned to the University of Leeds in 2013 as an Academic Fellow, progressed to Lecturer in 2017, Associate Professor in 2020, and full Professor in 2023. Bretman is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology.

As an evolutionary ecologist, Bretman's research examines the evolution of sexual behaviour and plastic responses to social environments using insect model systems, primarily Drosophila fruit flies and Gryllus crickets. She employs a combination of behavioural assays and molecular approaches, including transcriptomics and RNAi, to explore reproductive behavioural plasticity, socio-sexual interactions, effects of social contact versus isolation, sexual selection, behavioural genetics, and thermal effects on reproduction, with implications for climate change impacts on fertility. Her highly cited publications include 'Seminal fluid protein allocation and male reproductive success' (Current Biology, 2009), 'The impact of climate change on fertility' (Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2019), 'Plastic responses of male Drosophila melanogaster to the level of sperm competition increase male reproductive fitness' (Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2009), 'Natural and sexual selection in a wild insect population' (Science, 2010), 'Quick-change artists: male plastic behavioural responses to rivals' (Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2011), 'Males use multiple, redundant cues to detect mating rivals' (Current Biology, 2011), and recent works such as 'Systematic approaches to assessing high-temperature limits to fertility in animals' (Journal of Experimental Biology, 2024) and 'Ageing effects of social environments in ‘non-social’ insects' (Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 2024). In October 2024, she presented her Inaugural Professorial Lecture on her scientific career.