Investigating the effects of environmental change on tropical montane butterflies and moths and their ecological interactions

Project Rationale
Habitat degradation is a growing threat in tropical montane forests, and combined with climate change, is causing an unprecedented risk of extinction of montane species [1]. Given that montane forests in Peninsular Malaysia have been rapidly depleted due to agricultural expansion and urbanisation, assessing the impact of environmental change on montane biodiversity is imperative [2].
However, little research has attempted to assess how the insect communities respond to the degradation of Malaysian montane forests; and how these changes impact on their ecological interactions with other insect taxa, and plants, and the consequences for wider biodiversity. Studying these interactions and their indirect effects on other species could reveal an even greater impact of habitat degradation and climate change on montane biodiversity [3].
This project will combine well-established ecological research methods to assess Lepidopteran (butterfly and moth) diversity, distribution, and ecological interaction networks across multiple montane forest sites with varying levels of disturbance and fragmentation. These taxa are some of the best-known taxonomic groups, frequently used as indicator species in biodiversity surveys, and have multiple different interactions with other groups of species. The outcome of this project will provide the scientific basis to inform conservation management and mitigation in insect biodiversity hotspots.


Methodology
This PhD involves three elements:
1. Compare the composition and diversity of montane forest Lepidoptera along a human disturbance gradient (primary forest, secondary forest, tea plantation, rural and urban sites). Adults moths and butterflies will be collected using standard trapping methods, and larvae collected by searching vegetation. The student will use Bayesian multi-species occupancy modelling to determine their occupancy and detection probabilities at the meta-community (i.e. at all sites), community (i.e. at each site) and species level. The student will also compare the responses of different functional types and their feeding records to degradation; and compare the larval and adult occupancy and detection probabilities.

2. Create interaction networks for Lepidoptera and the species with which they interact. The student will focus on one or more interaction types, including insect-host plant, pollinator-plant, insect-parasitoid, to determine key species across interaction networks.

3. Compare and quantify how interaction networks for the Lepidoptera change across disturbance and elevational gradients, and predict impact of future environmental change on interactions and therefore, indirect effects on species with which the Lepidoptera interact.

This information will be used to identify important changes in ecological networks due to environmental change, and develop mitigation to inform conservation efforts.

Training
The INSPIRE DTP programme provides comprehensive personal and professional development training alongside extensive opportunities for students to expand their multi-disciplinary outlook through interactions with a wide network of academic, research and industrial/policy partners. The student will be registered at the University of Southampton and hosted at the School of Biological Sciences. The student will have access to world-class lab facilities, extensive academic networks and interdisciplinary opportunities.
The student will receive broad training in ecology and develop skills in relevant disciplines (taxonomy, molecular biology, landscape ecology). The student will gain important research skills in insect sampling techniques and data analyses (Bayesian statistical analyses, spatial data analyses, ecological network analyses). The student will receive specific training in insect sampling/handling and rearing.