Michael Woodley of Menie (Behavioral Ecologist)

Michael Woodley of Menie is a behavioral ecologist. He majored in Ecology, Evolution, & Environmental Biology.  Woodley of Menie then attained a PhD in molecular ecology from Royal Holloway , University of London where he specialised in elucidating poorly researched aspects of the community ecology of the thale cress Arabidopsis thaliana.

What's with the funny name?

The inclusion of 'of' in my name relates to a Scottish territorial custom. My father (who is himself from a Scotts family which historically held land) became the (28th) feudal Baron of Menie (note that in Scotland, baronies are dignities that were [formerly] attached to land, these are not be confused with the peerage rank of baron in the UK, the Scottish equivalent of this is in fact a Lord of Parliament) in 1995, and was granted Arms by the Lord Lyon, King of Arms of Scotland on that basis, along with official recognition in the name of Michael Woodley of Menie, Baron of Menie. 

As his eldest son, I was also officially recognised in this surname, although in my case I can also add Younger, which signifies my status as his heir. The 'of' can be thought of as being equivalent to the nobiliary particles found in continental names, such as 'von' or 'zu' in Germany , or 'af' in Sweden. 

The use of territorial designations in Scotland is a very ancient custom, and owing to my Scotts heritage, it is a tradition that I am proud to be a part of. It has also helped in increasing the visibility of my work, as there are a number of (quite prominent) Michael Woodleys' out there, whose work used to get inadvertently bundled in with my own on platforms like Web of Science.