PHDSS021 Combined impacts of multiple environmental stressors on survivorship and reproduction.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that stressful processes act in combination to negatively impact on humans and wildlife. Multiple stressors are therefore thought to be major contributors to the global biodiversity crisis, whereby it is often the case that specific cause-effects relationships do not adequately explain observed population declines – with actual impacts on wildlife often larger than expected. Although challenging, it is essential that such effects are better understood in order to protect biodiversity. Model species that are cost effective, easy to maintain under laboratory conditions, have a short lifecycle (allows analysis of reproductive/transgenerational effects), as well as being representative for a large number of species provide excellent opportunities for investigating complex issues. An ideal test species that fulfils these criteria is the gastropod mollusc, Lymnaea stagnalis. Being a freshwater species, it also confers an additional advantage of representing some of the most threatened ecosystems globally. In this project we will investigate the combined impacts of pollutants and predation stress on growth and reproduction, including analysis of transgenerational effects, therefore contributing to the development of our growing understanding of the interactive effects of multiple stressors on natural systems. The successful candidate will receive training in key areas of ecology and ecotoxicology.