Moving Beyond Climate in Predicting Crop Pest and Disease Invasions - Biosciences - NERC GW4+ DTP Studentship

This project is one of a number that are in competition for funding from the NERC Great Western Four+ Doctoral Training Partnership (GW4+ DTP). The GW4+ DTP consists of the Great Western Four alliance of the University of Bath, University of Bristol, Cardiff University and the University of Exeter plus six Research Organisation partners: British Antarctic Survey, British Geological Survey, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the Met Office, the Natural History Museum and Plymouth Marine Laboratory. The partnership aims to provide a broad training in earth and environmental sciences, designed to train tomorrow’s leaders in earth and environmental science. For further details about the programme please see http://nercgw4plus.ac.uk/

The studentships will provide funding for a stipend which is currently £14,553 per annum for 2017-2018, research costs and UK/EU tuition fees at Research Council UK rates for 42 months (3.5 years) for full-time students, pro rata for part-time students.


Location: Penryn Campus, Cornwall


Project description:

This studentship will tackle the challenge of how to predict crop pests and disease (CPP) invasions, while seizing a unique opportunity to ask the fundamental question of what determines where species live.

Climate is often used to predict which pests will invade and where, and the severity of impacts, but can fail because pests sometimes colonise new climatic conditions 1,2. This challenges a central assumption in ecology, particularly biogeography and climate change ecology, that climate is the predominant factor determining where species live. However, there are few opportunities to test the assumption with independent data for sufficient species to yield generalizable results. This studentship will use exceptional data for CPPs to ask when and why climate does not govern species distributions, and the implications for interactions between CPP and recipient community. The project is also novel in addressing climatic associations of invertebrates and microbes, which have received scant attention1.

Project Aims and Methods:

The student will first ask whether CPPs, using hundreds of examples, have invaded new climate conditions, (‘niche expansion’), or have not invaded climate that is occupied in the historic range (‘niche under-filling’).

For CPPs displaying niche expansions/under-filling and which affect crops Eden exhibits (potentially Fall Armyworm and Bronze bug among others) the student will address previously irresolvable issues:

1,High spatial resolution data* on CPP presence and absence*, climate, crop distributions, vegetation, and soil will be used to identify non-climatic range limitations

2, CPP abundance data* will be used to examine environmental controls on CPP outbreak intensity

3, Data on CPP crop condition* (irrigation, fertilisation, pesticide use, crop strain, climatic favourability) will be used to investigate how host plants govern CPP ranges

4, Data on invasive spread* will be used to ask if CPPs undergo niche expansion when invasions begin (suggesting pre-existing adaptation), or later (suggesting evolution)

*Data not usually available for invasions, but available for CPPs from CABI: >250,000 bibliographic records of CPPs, maps, international plant clinic network, and African invasion monitoring system.

Finally, the student will identify CPPs poised to invade, or invade further, and invasion pathways, drawing on horizon-scanning expertise of Dr Helen Roy.

Candidate:

• Strong quantitative skills and desire to develop these further
• Interest in crop health, public outreach, stakeholder engagement, food security, poverty alleviation, global change
• Experience in managing large data sets
• Interest in knowledge exchange to, and long-term consultation with, end-users
• Possible desire to travel and work with farmers in developing countries

Case Award Description:

The studentship is in collaboration with the Eden Project (hereafter ‘Eden’), and will study (not necessarily exclusively) Eden’s key exhibition crops: chocolate, tea, coffee, tomatoes, bananas, and cereals. Eden educates the public and schools about sustainable agriculture, provides degree programmes for horticulturalists, and supports agricultural producers worldwide. As an end-user, Eden will use the project to improve its own pest/disease management, design new exhibitions and teaching, and raise its international profile.

Training:

The student will be trained by Exeter, CABI, and CEH supervisors in species distribution modelling, big data, invasion pathways, consensus-based decision making, and by Eden’s pest and disease specialists in crop health. The student will develop undergraduate teaching at Eden (following Exeter’s LTHE training and with mentorship from RE). The student will learn public engagement through developing an interactive exhibit and co-constructing a module for school children with Eden. The student will study the management needs of farmers in developing countries (facilitated by Eden and CABI). The PhD offers skills for an impactful career in research, applied ecology, or teaching.