About our research
We are broadly interested in the ecology of insects and how they interact with their environment. This research has two broad strands:
1) Investigating the costs and benefits of parasite defence mechanisms: These defences range from behavioural through to molecular, can act externally or internally and can even be deployed for the defence of others. Investing in defences brings obvious benefits but is also costly. We aim to uncover how animals balance these costs under different environmental and social contexts.
2) Functional ecology of insects in their environment: Insects play key roles in the environment as decomposers, herbivores, pollinators, predators and parasites. These functional roles are under threat with the current biodiversity crisis exacerbated by climate change. Our work addresses how insects function in their environments and how these roles can be preserved or enhanced during nature recovery or 'rewilding'.
1) Investigating the costs and benefits of parasite defence mechanisms: These defences range from behavioural through to molecular, can act externally or internally and can even be deployed for the defence of others. Investing in defences brings obvious benefits but is also costly. We aim to uncover how animals balance these costs under different environmental and social contexts.
2) Functional ecology of insects in their environment: Insects play key roles in the environment as decomposers, herbivores, pollinators, predators and parasites. These functional roles are under threat with the current biodiversity crisis exacerbated by climate change. Our work addresses how insects function in their environments and how these roles can be preserved or enhanced during nature recovery or 'rewilding'.
Nutrition, disease and life-histories
The amount of resources that animals choose to invest in reproduction, immune defences or growth can change depending on both intrinsic (sex, age, nutritional status) and extrinsic (parasites, predators, climate) factors. We are interested in how these intrinsic and extrinsic factors together shape how an animals schedules its reproduction, and the effects they can have on healthy ageing. The burying beetle, Nicrophorus vespilloides, is a carrion feeder that shows extensive parental care. In nature, burying beetles work as a pair to bury the carcass of a small bird or rodent and use it to provision dependent young. We have shown that reproduction is costly and speeds ageing, and that, when threatened with a parasitic infection, beetles respond by increasing their reproductive output. We have also shown that reproduction supresses the immune response and that immune traits respond differently to ageing (See Catherine Reavey). Our current research is focussing on how nutrition modulates these responses. We know that diet has drastic effects on longevity (See Ekhlas al Shareefi) and tolerance of infection (See Charlotte Miller) and we are currently investigating which diets are best for healthy ageing. |
Nutritional ecology of host-parasite interactions
Hosts represent a food source for their parasites, and hosts require the nutrients available in their food to mount a successful immune response when infected. This can lead to a conflict between parasites and their hosts, as the "ideal" food for hosts when infected might not be the "ideal" food for their parasites. This leads to the potential for parasites to manipulate the food choices made by hosts for their own benefit, or for hosts to be able change their diet to one that does not favour parasite growth, a form of "self medication". We have tested these ideas using both Spodoptera caterpillars (See Bobby Holdbrook and Catherine Reavey, in collaboration with Ken Wilson, Judith Smith and Steve Simpson) and in burying beetles (See Charlotte Miller and Ekhlas al Shareefi) using the geometric framework for nutrition. |
CREDIT: OLIVER KRUEGER
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Social immunity
As well as defending yourself from infection (personal immunity), immune responses can defend others (social immunity). Nicrophorus vespilloides produce an antibacterial exudate that they use to protect the carcass that feeds their offspring. Working with Rebecca Kilner, we have shown that this response is phenotypically plastic, is extremely costly to produce and provides huge benefits to larvae. We have also shown that larvae contribute to the protection of the carcass by producing antibacterial exudates of their own (see Catherine Reavey and Ana Duarte). Beetles also share the carcass with phoretic nematodes and mites and we have shown that the presence of mites changes the diversity of bacteria on the carcass, potentially playing a role in carcass defence (see Ana Duarte). |
Parental care
Burying beetles provide a tractable model for examining the costs and benefits of parental care. Working with Rebecca Kilner, we showed that different components of care were independently costly and that females bore greater costs than males. Recent work has found that parental care can alter multiple traits in offspring. Offspring that are reared without care seem to be poorer parents themselves, producing similar numbers of offspring but of a much smaller size. In contrast, a lack of care has very little effect on the offspring's immune responses (See Ekhlas al Shareefi). Parental care also seems to alter the size of the aposematic orange signal that beetles use to warn predators that they are distasteful (in collaboration with Carita Lindstedt, Rebecca Kilner and James Gilbert). |
CREDIT: OLIVER KRUEGER
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Insect Functional Ecology and Nature Recovery
Carrion beetles play a vital role in the ecosystem, rapidly cycling nutrients from small vertebrates back into the soil. This route of nitrogen into soils has been largely overlooked but is likely to be an important component of the 'brown' food web. Working with Tancredi Caruso, we have shown that beetles stabilise soil fauna and microbial growth during carrion decomposition. Not only is this vital for soil health but it helps to sequester carbon. Terrestrial insects are in decline, potentially impacting on the important functional roles they play in the environment, and so assessing how the environment can support their recovery is essential. Working with Lan Qie and Isobel Wright in collaboration with the Wilder Doddington project, we aim to survey the site for soil and terrestrial insect diversity and investigate how nature recovery during the process of wilding impacts insect functional ecology. |