| Citation | Professor Linda Partridge is distinguished for her contributions to behavioural ecology and evolutionary biology through incisive experimental studies, particularly in 'Drosophila'. Her early work on avian habitat selection and feeding behaviour led to analyses of causes and consequences of feeeding specialisations. In studies on sexual selection in 'Drosophila', she showed that larger males have higher mating success in the laboratory and field, but that selection for body size reduces rate of larval development and survival, work which has led on to studies on the evolution of life histories. She has demonstrated that reproductive activity reduces lifespan of male 'Drosophila', and that mating per se incurs a substantial cost in females, shown to be caused by products of the accessory glands of males. These and other studies have given important results on the genetics of ageing: she has shown from selection experiments that adult survival and fertility in 'Drosophila' have a negative genetic correlation with larval development rate and survival. Her standing, leadership and dynamism have been widely recognised, for example as president of international science societies. |