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Professor Jane Stout

VP for Biodiversity & Climate Action (Provost's Office)
Professor of Ecology (Botany) (Botany)
      
Profile Photo

Professor Jane Stout

VP for Biodiversity & Climate Action (Provost's Office)

 

Professor of Ecology (Botany) (Botany)

Jane is an internationally renowned expert on pollinator and pollination ecology, and a prominent voice for biodiversity and its value. Her research seeks to understand how land management practices, including agriculture and urbanisation, affect ecological processes and the benefits of nature for humans. Jane works across disciplines, and with a broad range of stakeholders in public and private organisations, to improve environmental policy and practice. She leads a large team of researchers in the Plant-Animal Interactions Research group in Botany, in the School of Natural Sciences in Trinity. She is co-founder and Chair of the Board of the Irish Forum on Natural Capital www.naturalcapitalireland.com, and co-founder and deputy Chair of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan www.pollinators.ie Blog: campusbuzz.blog
  Bees   Behavioural and evolutionary ecology   Biodiversity   Biodiversity and Conservation   Biological Invasion   Ecology   Entomology   Environmental biology   Insects   Invasive Alien Species   Land Use Planning/Policy   natural capital   Pollination   Pollinators   Sustainable Agriculture   Weeds
Project Title
 For-ES Accounting for Forest Ecosystem Services in Ireland
From
2021
To
2025
Summary
Forestry provides timber, but also supports biodiversity and supplies other public benefits, including carbon capture to tackle climate change. To provide a sustainable supply of multiple benefits from Irish forests, this project will co-develop tools for foresters to enable robust and transparent management decision-making. A Natural Capital Accounting approach will be used at specific forest sites, which will enable quantification of forestry stocks (the amount, location and condition of forest habitats), and flows of ecosystem services (in terms of commercial timber production, carbon sequestration, water retention, biodiversity and recreation) and benefits. By assessing the quantity, quality and location of forest stocks, flows of commercial timber production, carbon sequestration, water retention, biodiversity and recreation will be determined. This will be modelled under different land management scenarios to provide managers will the information they need to fulfil multiple objectives at both site and estate level. This is the first project to combine Natural Capital Accounting with Bayesian Belief Network modelling of ecosystem service supply to support a structured decision-making approach in an Irish context.
Funding Agency
DAFM
Project Title
 Nature+ Energy
From
2020
To
2024
Summary
Nature+Energy is founded on the idea that wind farms have the potential to provide so much more than renewable energy. If managed properly, the biodiversity on onshore wind farms has the potential to take additional carbon out of the atmosphere, to improve the resilience of ecosystems to climate change and to enhance the provision of ecosystem services, such as pollination, water filtration and habitat provision. There is much potential to enhance nature"s contributions to people through improving our understanding of how habitat quality, diversity and connectivity can be enhanced by wind farm land-management for conservation.Nature+Energy will develop new ways of accounting for the value of nature on onshore wind farms. We will design a state-of-the-art environmental monitoring system that will revolutionise how we measure and monitor biodiversity on wind farms. We will develop a sector-specific Natural Capital Accounts, Decision Support Tools and Biodiversity Action Plans to facilitate the enhancement of biodiversity and to mitigate the effects of wind farms on key species. A graduate training programme will be co-developed by industry and academia partners with the goal of building human capacity in natural capital accounting, and will be key in delivering the upskilling required to facilitate Ireland"s transition to a net-zero society and economy. By focusing on solutions for overcoming the twin problems of climate change and biodiversity loss, this project gives us the opportunity to showcase how researchers and industry can work together to develop genuine win-win scenarios for the economy, society and the environment. https://www.marei.ie/project/natureenergy/
Funding Agency
SFI
Programme
MaREI
Project Title
 Farm Zero C
From
2019
To
2023
Summary
Farm Zero C is a collaboration between Carbery, BiOrbic, UCD, TCD, MTU, Teagasc and others to create a climate-neutral, economically-viable dairy farm. The project takes a holistic approach, combining a range of technologies and practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase the productivity and resilience of the farm. https://biorbic.com/farm-zero-c/
Funding Agency
SFI
Programme
BiOrbic
Project Type
Challenge Prize
Project Title
 FOREST: Reimagining relations with nature
From
2021
To
2025
Summary
FOREST brings together research leaders across Botany, Economics, Engineering, Finance, Geography and Statistics to reimagine our relations with nature. People and nature are not separate - we are dependent on nature as our life support system. The systematic failure of economic, political, and financial systems to take nature into account has resulted in climate and biodiversity crises. Ireland is now seeking to transition away from highly carbon-dependent social and economic practices, towards sustainable practices, systems and behaviours that support the coexistence of flourishing human systems and natural environments. This project will investigate how to assign value to the natural world to create investment initiatives with ecological benefits, to encourage investors to actively invest in assets with environmental and societal benefits. It will examine the behavioural aspects and financial investment incentives that can be linked to the protection or restoration of forests. However, placing a financial value on nature is not enough to preserve it, there must also be policy initiatives, and stronger legal mechanisms which recognise the multiple benefits of forests such as carbon capture, biodiversity habitat, and recreation. The financial industry is beset by a focus on short term gains, caused by performance metrics, remuneration incentives and incomplete measures of value. Policy supports can to some extent address these market failures by creating incentives which incorporate the long term non-market and socio-cultural benefits of nature. To correctly design incentives, an understanding of different perspectives on the values and benefits of nature in the widest sense is key, particularly in terms of impacting on individual and collective action. Actions taken have consequences for environment, people, and economies, but are often only assessed through a single lens. Implementing the right action in the right place urgently requires a new kind of multi-disciplinary dynamic, and a way of integrating data measured on different scales. This research challenge is inherently multidisciplinary in nature and will be conducted in conjunction with researchers across a range of relevant disciplines. FOREST will use the increase in forestry in Ireland as a model system to explore the challenges associated with addressing climate and biodiversity issues, and examine potential solutions through a multi-disciplinary lens. It will recruit a team of PhD candidates to study as part of an interdisciplinary team to address complex human-nature relations and the social-economic-ecological challenges and opportunities associated with transitioning away from unsustainable to sustainable development pathways.
Funding Agency
TCD E3 Kinsella Multidisciplinary Challenge
Project Title
 Enhancing pollinator diversity through biodiversity-friendly management actions
From
Apr 2020
To
Mar 2024
Summary
Pollinators provide a crucial ecosystem service by facilitating the reproduction of wild plants, thus supporting a vast majority of global plant diversity. Pollinators are also important to food security, ensuring the successful pollination of many commercially important crops. However, pollinators are at risk, with 50% of Ireland's bee species in decline and 30% of species threatened with extinction. Agricultural intensification and other industrial developments are a major driver of decline, with an associated loss of forage plants and nesting habitats, contamination of soils and forage with pollutants, and disease transfer between wild and managed bee species. To address these issues, on-farm biodiversity enhancement measures and other schemes have been proposed. Many of these schemes are part of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan. These measures need testing for efficacy and economic sustainability, in commercial situations, both on farms and on other agri-food industrial sites. This project will survey pollinators and their forage plants on working farms of the Enterprise Partner and their suppliers, both where biodiversity management actions have been implemented, and where they have not. In addition, similar surveys will be conducted on industrial sites belonging to the Enterprise Partner. Cost-benefit analysis will be conducted for all financial and non-financial costs and benefits of biodiversity enhancement implementation. This will provide crucial ecological information on farmland biodiversity in Ireland and inform the business case for further biodiversity enhancement and pollinator conservation. As such, the project contributes to national policy on biodiversity conservation, natural capital assessment, and business and biodiversity.
Funding Agency
IRC and Kepak
Programme
Enterprise Partnership
Project Type
PhD Scholarship
Person Months
48

Page 1 of 8
Details Date
Ireland's National Bioeconomy Forum Expert Advisory Group member 2021
The Common Agricultural Policy post-2020: Irish Scientists Workshop member 2020
National Parks and Wildlife review Chair 2021
EU H2020 'Safeguard' project External Advisory Board Member 2021
Global Coalition of the Willing 'Promote Pollinators' Irish member representative 2018
Founder, former Chair and current Director, Irish Forum on Natural Capital www.naturalcapitalireland.com 2014
Co-leader of the Irish Pollinator Research Network 2016
Co-founder and Deputy Chair All-Ireland Pollinator Plan www.pollinators.ie 2014
External PhD Examiner University of Bristol (2006, 2017, 2018), Norwegian University of Life Sciences Ås Norway (2008), University of Northampton (2009, 2015), Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg (2009), University of Reading (2010, 2016), Queens University Belfast (2010, 2016), University of Queensland (2012), University of Limerick (2013), University of Southampton (2013), University of Leeds (2013), University of Stirling (2015), University of Newcastle (2016, 2018), University of Helsinki (2016), University of Sussex (2017, 2018, 2022), Leiden University (2017), University of Exeter (2019), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (2019) 2006
National Sustainability Research Coordination Group Member 2017
Royal Irish Academy (RIA) Praeger Grants Assessment Committee member 2020
National Horizon 2020 SC-2 Advisory Group member 2016
Journal of Pollination Ecology, co-founder and Editorial Board member 2009
FAO International Pollinator Initiative 2.0 Working Group Member 2017
Management Committee and WP leader COST Action Super-B 2014
External Examiner for MSc (Research) University of Nottingham (2015), University of KwaZulu Natal (2018) 2015
Future Earth Ireland National Committee Member 2016
Royal Irish Academy nomination to European Academies' Science Advisory Council working group on Ecosystem services, Agriculture and Neonicotinoids https://easac.eu/fileadmin/Reports/Easac_15_ES_web_complete_01.pdf 2013
Overall Rapporteur and Organising Committee member for European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Colloquium on "Towards holistic approaches to the risk assessment of multiple stressors in bees", Parma Italy 2013
Trustee, Bumblebee Conservation Trust 2013
BMC Ecology Journal Editorial Board Member 2013
External Examiner for MSc in Ecological Management and Conservation Biology Queens University Belfast 2011
PLoS ONE Journal Associate Editor 2008
Consultant, Bee conservation workshop - creating red data list for Irish bees, Trinity College Dublin 2005
Member, National Platform for Biodiversity Research, Ireland 2005
Associated Partner in EU integrated project on Assessing LArge scale Risks for biodiversity with tested Methods (ALARM) 2005
Language Skill Reading Skill Writing Skill Speaking
English Fluent Fluent Fluent
Details Date From Date To
Natural Capital Ireland (The Irish Forum on Natural Capital) 2014 present
British Ecological Society 1996 present
Royal Entomological Society 2015 present
Ecological Society of America 2014
International Bee Research Association 1998 2005
International Union for the Study of Social Insects (British Section) 1998 2003
Aurélie Babin, Frank Schurr, Sabine Delannoy, Patrick Fach, Minh Huyen Ton Nu Nguyet, Stéphanie Bougeard, Joachim R de Miranda, Maj Rundlöf, Dimitry Wintermantel, Matthias Albrecht, Eleanor Attridge, Irene Bottero, Elena Cini, Cecilia Costa, Pilar De la Rúa, Gennaro Di Prisco, Christophe Dominik, Daniel Dzul, Simon Hodge, Alexandra-Maria Klein, Jessica Knapp, Anina C Knauer, Marika Mänd, Vicente Martínez-López, Piotr Medrzycki, Maria Helena Pereira-Peixoto, Simon G Potts, Risto Raimets, Oliver Schweiger, Deepa Senapathi, José Serrano, Jane C Stout, Giovanni Tamburini, Mark JF Brown, Marion Laurent, Marie-Pierre Rivière, Marie-Pierre Chauzat, Eric Dubois, Distribution of infectious and parasitic agents among three sentinel bee species across European agricultural landscapes, Scientific Reports, 2024, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Gorman, C.E. and Martini, F. and Conroy, K. and King, E. and Mcleod, R. and Obst, C. and Stout, J.C. and Donohue, I. and Buckley, Y.M., A decision methodology for site-level ecosystem accounting, Journal of Environmental Management, 366, (121814), 2024, Notes: [cited By 0], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Dalel Askri, Mathilde Pottier, Karim Arafah, Sébastien N Voisin, Simon Hodge, Jane C Stout, Christophe Dominik, Oliver Schweiger, Giovanni Tamburini, Maria Helena Pereira-Peixoto, Alexandra-Maria Klein, Vicente Martínez López, Pilar De la Rúa, Elena Cini, Simon G Potts, Janine M Schwarz, Anina C Knauer, Matthias Albrecht, Risto Raimets, Reet Karise, Gennaro di Prisco, Kjell Ivarsson, Glenn P Svensson, Oleksandr Ronsevych, Jessica L Knapp, Maj Rundlöf, Piero Onorati, Joachim R de Miranda, Michel Bocquet, Philippe Bulet, A blood test to monitor bee health across a European network of agricultural sites of different land-use by MALDI BeeTyping mass spectrometry, Science of The Total Environment, 2024, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Marion Laurent, Stéphanie Bougeard, Lucile Caradec, Florence Ghestem, Matthias Albrecht, Mark JF Brown, Joachim de Miranda, Reet Karise, Jessica Knapp, José Serrano, G Simon, Maj Rundlöf, Janine Schwarz, Eleanor Attridge, Aurélie Babin, Irene Bottero, CINI Elena, Pilar de La Rúa, Gennaro Di Prisco, Christophe Dominik, DZUL Daniel, Andrés García Reina, Simon Hodge, Alexandra M Klein, Anina Knauer, MAND Marika, Vicente Martínez López, Giorgia Serra, Helena Pereira-Peixoto, Risto Raimets, Oliver Schweiger, Deepa Senapathi, Jane C Stout, Giovanni Tamburini, Cecilia Costa, Tomasz Kiljanek, Anne-Claire Martel, LE Sébastien, Marie-Pierre Chauzat, Novel indices reveal that pollinator exposure to pesticides varies across biological compartments and crop surroundings, Science of the Total Environment, 2024, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Nasare, L.I. and Stout, J.C. and Kwapong, P.K., Beekeeping improves shea pollination and fruit set in West African agroforestry parklands, Ecological Solutions and Evidence, 5, (2), 2024, Notes: [cited By 0], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Maher, S. and Kelly, R. and Hodge, S. and O†Hora, E. and Ruas, S. and Ahmed, K.D. and Rotchés-Ribalta, R. and Gormally, M. and Moran, J. and Ã" hUallacháin, D. and Stout, J.C., POLLINATOR RESPONSES TO FARMLAND HABITAT FEATURES: ONE-SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL, Journal of Pollination Ecology, 36, (3), 2024, p29-46 , Notes: [cited By 0], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Bottero, I. and Dominik, C. and Schweiger, O. and Albrecht, M. and Attridge, E. and Brown, M.J.F. and Cini, E. and Costa, C. and De la Rúa, P. and de Miranda, J.R. and Di Prisco, G. and Dzul Uuh, D. and Hodge, S. and Ivarsson, K. and Knauer, A.C. and Klein, A.-M. and MÀnd, M. and Martínez-López, V. and Medrzycki, P. and Pereira-Peixoto, H. and Potts, S. and Raimets, R. and Rundlöf, M. and Schwarz, J.M. and Senapathi, D. and Tamburini, G. and Talaván, E.T. and Stout, J.C., Impact of landscape configuration and composition on pollinator communities across different European biogeographic regions, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 11, (1128228), 2023, Notes: [cited By 0], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Russo, L. and Ruedenauer, F. and Gronert, A. and Van de Vreken, I. and Vanderplanck, M. and Michez, D. and Klein, A. and Leonhardt, S. and Stout, J.C., Fertilizer and herbicide alter nectar and pollen quality with consequences for pollinator floral choices, PeerJ, 11, (e15452), 2023, Notes: [cited By 2], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Kavanagh, S. and Phelan, N. and Rodriguez-Gasol, N. and O' Brien, S. and Stout, J.C. and Fitzpatrick, Ã ., PROTECTING FARMLAND POLLINATORS: WHOLE FARM SCORECARD - EXPERIENCES AND RECOMMENDATIONS, Journal of Pollination Ecology, 34, (5), 2023, p312-328 , Notes: [cited By 0], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
Russo, L. and Stout, J.C., Manipulating network connectance by altering plant attractiveness, PeerJ, 11, (e16319), 2023, Notes: [cited By 0], Journal Article, PUBLISHED  DOI
  

Page 1 of 17
Fitzpatrick U, Stout JC and Steering Group, ' All-Ireland Pollinator Plan 2021-25', National Biodiversity Data Centre, 2021, -, Protocol or guideline, PUBLISHED
Stout J.C., Ó Cinnéide, M. , Review of the NPWS 2021: Key findings and recommendations. Report to the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS),, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH), Government of Ireland., 2021, Report, APPROVED
King, U, and Stout, J.C., Discovering Trinity's Biodiversity: Report from the Biodiversity Audit Pilot Study, Trinity College Dublin, 2021, Report, PUBLISHED
Gaughran A and Stout J, Biodiversity Audit at Áras an Uachtaráin Final Report, 2020, Report, PUBLISHED
Fitzpatrick U, Stout JC and Steering Group, 'All-Ireland Pollinator Plan 2015-2020', National Biodiversity Data Centre, 2015, -, Protocol or guideline, PUBLISHED
EFSA , Towards holistic approaches to the risk assessment of multiple stressors in bees. EFSA Scientific Colloquium Summary Report 18, European Food Safety Authority, November, 2013, Notes: [doi: 10.2805/53269 http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/supporting/doc/509e.pdf ], Report, PUBLISHED

  


Award Date
Won most cited review award from the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (GFÖ) (2021) 2021
British Ecological Society Ecological Engagement Prize winner 2017
Elected Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society 2015
Elected Fellow of Trinity College Dublin 2011
My research explores relationships in nature, and between nature and people. I address causes and consequences of biodiversity loss across sectors and scales, applying my work to global challenges of climate change, food security, and human health. I make a unique and substantive contribution to pollinator ecology research and am at the forefront of this field worldwide. By disentangling relationships between pollinators and human activity, beyond crop pollination, my research enables more sustainable landscapes and livelihoods, and improved well-being. I founded the Irish Pollinator Research Network, and my research has shaped the field in a fundamental and enduring manner. This is evidenced by the excellent researchers I have trained, and by my research underpinning what was described by the Minister for Heritage as "the most successful conservation strategy in Ireland", the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan. I co-founded and co-lead this initiative, which has influenced management at thousands of sites across Ireland, and inspires action across the EU and beyond. Additionally, my research explores the value of ecosystems to society, and I have spear-headed transdisciplinary research on the natural capital approach, uniting environment, society and economy, as a mechanism for nature restoration. I have developed Natural Capital Accounting research, and my INCASE project has been pronounced as "game changing" by the Central Statistics Office. In the last five years, I have secured >€4million in research funding, from national and international sources. Last year, I led a multidisciplinary team to win a Trinity E3 Kinsella Challenge-Based award, led a collaboration with industry to win a DAFM Thematic Research award, and played leadership roles in the successful SFI Zero Emissions Challenge €2 million Prize and Nature+ Energy bids. I continue my trajectory of research excellence and impact by publishing in the world"s top journals (127 peer-reviewed journal papers, 16 so far in 2022, often with international authors, 83% in Q1 journals, including Nature and Science, and >5,000 citations). My reputation as a world-class researcher has earned me invitations to join collaborations all over the world, including in tropical Africa, where my work will improve the livelihoods of some of the world"s poorest people by changing habitat management. My research crosses disciplinary boundaries and sectors, and justifies my standing as a prominent voice for nature and its value in academia, policy, regulation, and practice. I founded Natural Capital Ireland, which, under my leadership, has successfully developed key research and action for business and policy in Ireland. My unique research profile has earned me invitations to lead initiatives (including Platform-Lead in the second phase of SFI Bioeconomy Centre, BiOrbic) and speak at national and international research, policy and public fora (including the EU Commission and Oireachtas Committees). I have led research that has, and will, transform the management of nature, from individual sites (e.g. Áras an Uachtaráin and Trinity Campus) to the national level (e.g. my review of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, which has the responsibility for Ireland"s nature conservation, led to its budget being doubled in 2022).