Climate impacts on Arctic plant-pollinator networks: developing a thermally sensitive trait-based framework

Supervisor: Dr Richard Gill (Imperial College London, UK)

Co-supervisors: Dr Keith Larson (Umeå University, Sweden); Ass. Prof. Jonas Lembrechts (Utrecht University); Prof. Jason Tylianakis (University of Canterbury, New Zealand & Imperial College London, UK)

How ecological interactions, such as plant-pollinator networks, are being impacted and re-shaped by climate change is surprisingly poorly understood. This is primarily due to our limited knowledge of the underlying mechanisms determining how populations and interacting partners respond to climatic variation. Addressing this for plants and pollinators requires better quantification of how thermally sensitive traits (e.g., the degree to which aspects of phenology, morphology and behaviour are influenced by environmental temperature) mediate interactions. We must therefore be able to map trait response data to detailed observations of individual-level interactions with both macro- and microclimate data when studied across environmental gradients. By bringing such data together we will improve our understanding of how environmentally driven changes to ‘functional trait space’ in space and time can determine plant-pollinator network architecture, turnover, and partner co-extinctions. Ultimately, understanding these outcomes will better inform targeted conservation efforts to safeguard ‘at risk’ interactions, and improve accuracies in predicting pollination provision.

The overarching aim of this PhD project is to determine how the population dynamics of pollinators and their host plants respond to environmental factors (particularly temperature). From this we will quantify the level of plasticity and how this underpins trait space and carry-over effects, and together how these insights can be used to predict restructuring or even robustness of the plant-pollinator networks under climate change. The student will directly survey, sample, and study a plant-pollinator community located in Arctic Sweden and will already have access to 8-years of high-resolution data (2017 onwards). Taking advantage of a transect spanning an elevational gradient the student will study plant-pollinator interactions across a microclimatic gradient using a space-for-time approach. The project will involve collecting field data at a stunning Arctic location (3 months per year), processing of samples in the lab (techniques in microscopy, morphometrics, molecular analysis), and data analyses and modeling.

The student will benefit from joining an established long-term project and will be collaborating with an international team of researchers. The project will be guided by the objectives described above, but we will work closely with the student in developing specific ecological and evolutionary questions that most motivate them. The project will also look at the opportunity of harnessing AI approaches to detecting and estimating interaction probabilities. Moreover, by joining the Gill lab at Imperial College they will be surrounded by world leaders in ecology evolution and conservation.

For additional background, a selection of publications relating to the project can be found by following these links: 1. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14368; 2. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14253; 3. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.17251; 4. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15767

To Apply:

Please send Richard Gill ([Email Address Removed]) your CV, a cover letter explaining why you are suitable for the position (max. 2 A4 pages; font size 11), and details of 2-3 referees.