Don't miss our weekly PhD newsletter | Sign up now Don't miss our weekly PhD newsletter | Sign up now

  How do invertebrate communities recover from pesticide exposure?


   Cardiff School of Biosciences

This project is no longer listed on FindAPhD.com and may not be available.

Click here to search FindAPhD.com for PhD studentship opportunities
  Dr I Vaughan  No more applications being accepted  Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

About the Project

Project Background 

There are widespread concerns about possible insect declines in terrestrial and freshwater environments. Non-target effects of pesticides in both agricultural and garden settings may play an important role in declines, affecting both beneficial insects and aquatic species via runoff from the land. These effects may be poorly characterised, however, often extrapolating from laboratory-based chemical exposures, studying individual pesticides (cf. the cocktail of chemicals often used in practice) or focusing on individual taxa (e.g. honeybees). Moreover, the speed and extent to which invertebrate communities recover following pesticide exposure is poorly understood. 

This project takes advantage of a unique opportunity to study pesticide impacts on whole invertebrate communities. The island of Guernsey is in the processes of banning pesticides, whilst neighbouring Channel Islands will continue their use, forming a robust experimental design with treatment and control islands. NERC has recently awarded funding to study the response of pollinating insects to the pesticide ban, and this PhD will extend this to look at the response of freshwater communities on the island, and compare them to terrestrial insects.  

 The Guernsey study system will be supported by UK-wide data on river invertebrates and pesticide concentrations generated by the NERC-funded LTLS-FE project (https://water.leeds.ac.uk/fwq-programme/ltls-freshwater-ecosystems/) in which Cardiff University is a partner. This will allow study of pesticide effects and recovery at a national scale.  

 Project Aims and Methods 

Using a combination of fieldwork and existing data sets, the project aims to: 

  • Assess the speed and extent of recovery of invertebrate communities from pesticide impacts 
  • Compare the response of terrestrial and freshwater invertebrate communities 
  • Look at responses in both individual taxa and community composition, and ecological traits and overall functional diversity.  

There is great scope to tailor the aims of the PhD within this general framework, and the student would be encouraged to take an active role in this with the supervisory team. For example, the role of pesticides alongside other stressors (e.g. excess nutrients) could be studied, looking at multiple stressor effects, or the similarities between recovery from pesticide exposure and other pollutants could be evaluated. 

  Co-Supervisor: Prof. Jane Memmott, Bristol University, School of Biological Sciences  

Co-Supervisor: Dr Miranda Bane, Bristol University, School of Biological Sciences

Candidate requirements 

The project would suit an ecologist, preferably with some prior experience of: i) working with terrestrial and/or freshwater invertebrates, and ii) data analysis using R software. 

  

Training 

The student will be based at Cardiff University, with regular trips to Bristol University (only ~1h away) and with fieldwork in the Channel Islands. All necessary training will be provided by the supervisory team and their research groups, supplemented by additional targeted training as required. 

How to Apply

For information on how to apply for postgraduate study at Cardiff University, please follow this link

 https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research/programmes/programme/biosciences-phd-mphil-md

When applying, please ensure that you include on the Cardiff application form the project title you are applying for, the supervisor and note ‘NERC DTP’ under the source of funding. 

IMPORTANT: When uploading the Personal Statement, please ensure that you download and use the NERC personal statement form provided under the heading 'How do I apply' at the following link: Apply — NERC GW4+ (nercgw4plus.ac.uk). Personal statements which are not written on the NERC GW4+ Personal Statement form will not be considered during the short-listing and interview process"

The application deadline is Tuesday 9 January 2024 at 2359 GMT. Interviews will take place from 26 February to 8 March 2024. For more information about the NERC GW4+ Doctoral Training Partnership please visit https://www.nercgw4plus.ac.uk

Biological Sciences (4)

Funding Notes

Studentships starting in September 2024 will provide the student with a stipend for 3.5 years, payment of their university tuition fees, a Research and Training and Support Grant (RTSG) of £11,000 and an individual training budget of £3,250. The stipend for 2024/25 will be the amount for 2023/24 (£18,622 p.a.) plus an annual inflation adjustment

How good is research at Cardiff University in Biological Sciences?


Research output data provided by the Research Excellence Framework (REF)

Click here to see the results for all UK universities

Where will I study?