School of Biosciences

My interest is in the dynamics of predator-prey interactions involving generalist predators. The choices made by such predators are complex and the result of interactions between a range of spatial and temporal biotic and abiotic factors. Given the limitations of laboratory-based prey choice experiments we concentrate instead on developing techniques for measuring the strengths of trophic interactions directly in the field. Previously this involved prey-specific monoclonal antibodies and these continue to be valuable. However, we were amongst the first to realise the potential of PCR to amplify prey DNA from field-caught predators and are at the forefront in developments in this field. Recently we have led the way by developing multiplex systems to analyse each predator for multiple prey targets in a single PCR step. Current projects include (amongst many others):

• Examining the responses of carabid predators to many prey simultaneously using molecular gut analyses plus spatial network analyses (with Rothamsted Reasearch).
• A phylogenetic analysis of common earthworm species revealing extraordinary levels of cryptic diversity, plus development of molecular markers for different lineages/species of earthworm to track predation on them by invertebrate and vertebrate predators.
• Analysis of interception by predators of vibrational sexual communication signals between planthoppers and confirmation of predation in the field using molecular diagnostics.

I have a particular interest in slugs and their natural enemies. Advice on slug control in the garden.

Current Staff

Postdocs

• Dr Victoria San Andres (Spanish Government Fellowship, working on intraguild predation)
• Dr Lucija Jelaska (Croatian government funding, working on trophic interactions between carabids and their prey in woodlands and transmission of heavy metals along food chains)
• Dr Meta Virant-Doberlet (Marie Curie Fellow, “Breaking the code: interception and exploitation of intraspecific vibrational communication between insects by generalist predators”)

PhD students

• Ms Renata Medeiros-Mirra (“The Impacts of climate change on the foraging ecology and migration behaviour of seabirds”)
• Ms Joanne Bluemel (“Vibration communication and speciation by hybridization: a new way to create a species”)
• Mr Adam Powell (“Tradeoffs between predation and scavenging in generalist predators”)
• Ms Azniza Mahyudin (“Analysis of the population genetics and diets of cave-roosting bats in Sabah”)
• Ms Frauke Krueger (visitor from University of Kiel, working on the diets of Myotis bats in Germany)

Erasmus student

• Ms Marta Ramires Madueno (working on invertebrates in the diets of reptiles)

Grant Awarding Bodies

Current funding:

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

European Union

Spanish Government

Croatian Government

Malaysian Government

German Government

Portuguese Government

De Sangosse Ltd.

Funding for other recent research:

Natural Environment Research Council

Environment Agency

Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Countryside Council for Wales

Current and Recent Collaborations

National Institute of Biology, Ljubljana, Slovenia

University of Bergen, Norway

University of Technology Darmstadt, Germany

University of Innsbruck, Austria

University of Barcelona, Spain

University of Kiel, Germany

Federal Biological Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry (BBA), Braunschweig, Germany

University of Kentucky

United States Department of Agriculture

National Museum of Wales, Cardiff

University of Bristol

Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust

Institute of Arable Crops Research, Rothamsted