BBSRC National Bioscience Research Infrastructure: Rothamsted Insect Survey
Lead Research Organisation:
Rothamsted Research
Department Name: UNLISTED
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Technical Summary
The Rothamsted Insect Survey (RIS) is a unique NBRI tasked with strategic surveillance and monitoring of pest beneficial and non-target invertebrates across Great Britain as well as curating the world’s most extensive long-term standardised invertebrate time series and archive for global collaboration. Our work is fundamental to inform biodiversity and pest management research policy climate change and landscape impacts.
Planned Impact
unavailable
Organisations
- Rothamsted Research (Lead Research Organisation)
- UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD (Collaboration)
- MANCHESTER METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF READING (Collaboration)
- UK Centre For Ecology & Hydrology (Collaboration)
- Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS (Collaboration)
- Crop Health and Protection (Collaboration)
Publications
Bell J
(2024)
How aphids fly: Take-off, free flight and implications for short and long distance migration
in Agricultural and Forest Entomology
Blumgart D
(2023)
Floral enhancement of arable field margins increases moth abundance and diversity.
in Journal of insect conservation
Bourhis Y
(2023)
Explainable neural networks for trait-based multispecies distribution modelling-A case study with butterflies and moths
in Methods in Ecology and Evolution
Evans L
(2024)
Population links between an insectivorous bird and moths disentangled through national-scale monitoring data
in Ecology Letters
Luke SH
(2023)
Grand challenges in entomology: Priorities for action in the coming decades.
in Insect conservation and diversity
Romanowski H
(2024)
Swift sampling of farmland aerial invertebrates offers insights into foraging behaviour in an aerial insectivore
in Wildlife Biology
Saleh Ziabari O
(2023)
Aphid male wing polymorphisms are transient and have evolved repeatedly.
in Evolution; international journal of organic evolution
| Description | Written evidence submitted by Rothamsted Research: Rothamsted Insect Survey (INS0020) Insect decline and UK food security Inquiry The Rothamsted Insect Survey's Contribution to Insect Decline Research |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://committees.parliament.uk/event/18023/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session/ |
| Description | Drivers and Repercussions of UK Insect Declines (DRUID) |
| Amount | £2,000,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | NE/V00686X/1 |
| Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 01/2021 |
| End | 12/2024 |
| Description | Envision DTP "Reclaiming the night sky for moths: what drives the flight-to-light response and how can this be mitigated?" |
| Amount | £90,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2023 |
| End | 04/2027 |
| Description | High speed imaging camera for cross-disciplinary animal, plant and soil sciences research and knowledge exchange |
| Amount | £186,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 07/2023 |
| Description | SWBIO DTP: Long-term changes in the abundance and phenology of migrating insects as potential drivers of population change in insectivorous birds and bats |
| Amount | £90,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2021 |
| End | 10/2025 |
| Description | SWBIO-DTP Flight-to-light and the decline in British moths |
| Amount | £90,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Exeter |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2019 |
| End | 09/2023 |
| Description | SWBio DTP - 'Understanding the roles of behavioural ecology, genes, plant hosts and fuel for flight to predict the migratory range of aphids' |
| Amount | £90,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 08/2023 |
| End | 09/2027 |
| Title | Client-Orientated Data Warehouse for Servicing Data Request |
| Description | We have created a data warehouse that will service online data requests for all RIS daily data from 1990-2017 - i.e. millions of insect records. Currently, the warehouse exists as a prototype on our intranet and is undergoing extensive testing before release. This warehouse communicates with our database without the intervention of RIS staff, and provides the most comprehensive data to academics, growers and industry. A query can be called which creates a derived catch data file and an associated meta data file. Currently, we are working on the protocols to deliver a file to the client and should release the first version online in 2021 |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The impact could be profound in that we expect the warehouse to ease pressure on Rothamsted Insect Survey staff who have provided data to clients in the past. We also expect that data from the RIS will increase in use, given the simplicity of deriving data in an automated way. |
| URL | https://insectdatabase.rothamsted.ac.uk/login |
| Title | Complete revision of our database Paul version 1.0 in line with historic records and new taxonomies. Upgrade to Paul version 2.0 |
| Description | The RIS runs two national trap networks comprising ˜80 light-traps and ˜16 suctions traps that generate half a million new records annually. The RIS hosts the most comprehensive standardised long-term data on insects in the World, with 50 million insect records held in its database named 'Paul'. During lockdown, and in readiness for the data warehouse, we embarked on a data cleaning and validation exercise for RISdb. We revised the aphid taxonomy that was featured in our Journal of Animal Ecology paper in 2015 and provided a new British checklist for psyllids published in the Entomologist's Gazette in 2021. Moth taxonomy is more stable and is regularly updated, but the extensive metadata associated with the light trap network required further validation. A forensic analysis of our database records indicated that we did not have all 'missing days' noted where a trap was not operational for some reason. An exhaustive examination of our paper records against all the database records revealed that there were some 78,000 non trapping days missing from the database, mostly from the 1960s and 1970s. We have corrected these records and removed duplicated data, |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Paul is a our database that drives our new https://insectdatabase.rothamsted.ac.uk/login behind the scenes. Now that is launched, Paul will continue to feed data into that resource and provide an essential back-up for all data requests. |
| URL | https://insectsurvey.com/ |
| Description | CHAP, a UK Agri-Tech Centre funded by Innovate UK |
| Organisation | Crop Health and Protection |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We provided aphid samples and identification expertise |
| Collaborator Contribution | Tom Ashfield provided a digital microscope phenotyping platform and scanned aphids to understand different wavelenghts present. |
| Impact | We progressed a methodology of identifying a limited number of species to species level using phenotyping technology |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | CHAP, a UK Agri-Tech Centre funded by Innovate UK |
| Organisation | Crop Health and Protection |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We provided aphid samples and identification expertise |
| Collaborator Contribution | Tom Ashfield provided a digital microscope phenotyping platform and scanned aphids to understand different wavelenghts present. |
| Impact | We progressed a methodology of identifying a limited number of species to species level using phenotyping technology |
| Start Year | 2022 |
| Description | DRUID Project collaborator - CEH |
| Organisation | UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | We will provide evidence and expertise for an analysis of insect declines for the DRUID project, exploiting all of our resources. |
| Collaborator Contribution | As part of the DRUID project, funded by NERC and led by Bill Kunin at Leeds, the team will study insect declines. Full project collaborators are Leeds, CEH, Reading and Rothamsted (NE/V006916/1). Although we have had collaborations with CEH before, this is new and a direct link to Richard Pywell, Claire Carvell and their staff. |
| Impact | None yet |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | DRUID Project collaborator - LEEDS |
| Organisation | University of Leeds |
| Department | School of Geography Leeds |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We will provide evidence and expertise for an analysis of insect declines for the DRUID project, exploiting all of our resources. |
| Collaborator Contribution | As part of the DRUID project, funded by NERC and led by Bill Kunin at Leeds, the team will study insect declines. Full project collaborators are Leeds, CEH, Reading and Rothamsted (NE/V006916/1) |
| Impact | None yet |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | DRUID Project collaborator - Reading |
| Organisation | University of Reading |
| Department | School of Agriculture, Policy and Development Reading |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We will provide evidence and expertise for an analysis of insect declines for the DRUID project, exploiting all of our resources. |
| Collaborator Contribution | As part of the DRUID project, funded by NERC and led by Bill Kunin at Leeds, the team will study insect declines. Full project collaborators are Leeds, CEH, Reading and Rothamsted (NE/V006916/1) |
| Impact | None yet |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Evolutionary time-series of species communities using genomic data (Professor of Evolutionary Biology Timothy G. Barraclough) |
| Organisation | University of Oxford |
| Department | Department of Zoology |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Samples taken weekly from a network of suction traps across England are available for study from an archive that dates back to 1973, providing a remarkably systematic sample of migrating UK insects at a height of 12.2 m. (collaborators: Dr James Bell (PI) and Chris Shortall, entomologist and curators the Insect Survey and use it to investigate spatial and temporal ecological dynamics of UK insects). |
| Collaborator Contribution | This project will develop new tools and pilot data for evolutionary time-series of multi-species assemblages. Specifically, it will reconstruct genomic change over the last 50 years for 8 fungal and 8 insect species as exemplars, and devise computational and statistical tools to analyse the new type of data that will emerge. The goal is to develop methodology and pilot data that will later be used in large UKRI grant bids to compile a 50-year genomic evolutionary time series for whole biota of fungi and insects associated with crops in the UK (i.e. many 100s of species). The project will connect evolutionary and computational expertise at Oxford with two valuable resources: emerging genome data and technology linked to the Darwin Tree of Life project (of which Univ Oxford is a key partner); and unique 50-year collections of fungi (with partner CABI) and insects (with partner Rothamsted Research) from systematic samples of the UK biota. |
| Impact | Only just started |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Moth population modelling |
| Organisation | Manchester Metropolitan University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Data and expertise, editing manuscript |
| Collaborator Contribution | Analysis, writing manuscript |
| Impact | Paper in press. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Use of image recognition and deep learning methods |
| Organisation | Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation |
| Country | Brazil |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | We have offered aphid and parasitoid samples, photographs and identifiaction expertise and have constructed an experiment to test deep learning accuracy |
| Collaborator Contribution | Prof. Dr. Rafael Rieder and and Prof. Telmo Júnior, University of Passo Fundo (UPF) and Douglas Lau - Embrapa Trigo - CNPT are willing to collaborate on automatic identification of aphids and parasitoids and have offered deep learning methods |
| Impact | None yet |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Advancing pre-season and within-season rolling forecasts for the virus yellows aphid vector Myzus persicae |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A Talk to the European Sugar Beet IIRB SEMINAR 2023 under the title "The use of weather data in crop management on the 5th December 2023 Faculty Club, Begijnhof 14, B - 3000 Leuven, Belgium |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.iirb.org/workshop/iirb-workshop-2019/venue-1 |
| Description | EntoLive The Rothamsted Insect Survey NBRI: From Microscopes to Machine Learning |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The story of the Rothamsted Insect Survey (RIS) starts back in 1964 at a time when the Beetles released Can't Buy Me Love' and that finishes sometime in the future when entomology might look quite different. The RIS monitors many groups of insects using its 12.2 m suction-trap and light-trap data networks. James discusses insect declines and the work of the RIS. James is joined by Dr Yoann Bourhis who talks about the DRUID (Drivers and Repercussions of UK Insect Declines) NERC-funded project and demonstrates a citizen science app that uses machine learning to predict where species might be, extending our knowledge about current species distributions. Dr James R. Bell is a Principal Scientist and Head of the RIS, a BBSRC National Bioscience Research Infrastructure. James is a quantitative ecologist with expertise in entomology having published widely on beetles, spiders, aphids, moths and many other things besides. James is senior author on Practical Field Ecology: A Project Guide which offers a comprehensive, accessible introduction to experimental design, field monitoring skills for plants and animals, data analysis, interpretation and reporting. The book is now in its second edition. Dr Yoann Bourhis is an ecosystems modeller, with expertise in machine learning. Yoann's main activity is as a post-doc on the DRUID project, funded by NERC. DRUID will take an unprecedented amount of citizen science data to underpin evidence-based policies to help nature. A key paper relating to Yoann's presentation was published in Methods in Ecology and Evolution earlier this year and demonstrates how it is possible to use machine learning to understand the distribution of insects using their life history traits (e.g. wing length, host plants etc) and environmental drivers (temperature, rainfall etc) to predict new distributions of insects. It is hoped that this new knowledge will guide recorders to sites where the species is predicted but no survey has yet confirmed the presence of that species. Yoann has developed an app and we invite you to contribute your experience and expertise. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://biologicalrecording.co.uk/2023/09/21/rothamsted-insect-survey/ |
| Description | High-tech slow-motion cameras for insect flight |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Application of slow-motion photography first enabled Eadweard Muybridge, a pioneering 19th-century photographer, to solve the mystery of a galloping horse. Today, Rothamsted's scientific challenges are no less profound and arguably harder to capture because biological and physical processes are much smaller in scale. The Phantom T4040 will enable research across plant pathology, soil erosion and insect behaviour. The extremely high specification will allow scientists to understand the spread of fungal pathogens by slowing down the explosion of fungal spores into the atmosphere. The rate and spread of ejected spores would provide insight into later deposition, electrostatic attraction, and spore release. Researchers are planning experiments to reveal strategic insights into aphid flight behaviour, a key deliverable for the Rothamsted Insect Survey (RIS NBRI). The Phantom T4040 will allow us to link morphological characteristics, like size and structure, to acoustic properties, providing a mechanistic understanding of how morphology and behaviour affect performance, catalysing landscape-level surveillance and providing new scientific knowledge. These scientific activities will elevate the science conducted in several of Rothamsted's long-running projects, platforms, and Institute Strategic Programmes. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.discover.ukri.org/bbsrc-impact-showcase-2023/ |
| Description | Human Cooperation and Insect Management - A Keynote Speech to the Royal Entomological Society's Sustainable Agroeculture SIG |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Human Cooperation and Insect Management James R. Bell, Suzanne Clark, Andrew Mead, Alice Milne |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.royensoc.co.uk/membership-and-community/special-interest-groups/sustainable-agriculture/ |
| Description | Invited Attendance at Insect Declines and Science event Chelsea Flower Show 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A RES garden to support insects and showcase how insect declines can be mitigated |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.royensoc.co.uk/chelsea/ |
| Description | Stakeholder meeting to share project findings with the sugar beet industry |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | 30th October 2023, BBRO (Mark Stevens; Alistair Wright) visited Rothamsted (James Bell, Dion Garrett, Andrew Mead) along with our project partners Cranfield (Toby Waine; John Beale) and Bristol (Taro Takahashi). We shared drone data, virus spread data and farmer behaviour data and analysis which changed the views of BBRO. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | The House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Gave evidence to Insect decline and UK food security inquiry. 7 June 2023 - Insect decline and UK food security - Oral evidence Insect numbers are difficult to quantify however recent research suggests that in the UK flying insects have declined by 60% in the past 20 years. Insects provide pivotal roles for UK food security including pollination and pest or weed regulation. There are also concerns that pest species may be increasing with negative impacts on crop yields. The Committee aims to build understanding of the role of insects in the UK food system and the economic impact of their decline and the associated risk to UK food security. It seeks to examine the evidence base for insect abundance in the UK, current drivers of insect loss and the Government's interventions to halt or reverse declines. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://committees.parliament.uk/event/18023/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session/ |
| Description | UK Govt Civil Service fast stream programme: insect declines and farming |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | More than 50 civil servants met outside at the Rothamsted Insect Survey suction-trap to discuss insect declines and farming, particualrly sugar beet. Additional attendees were from DEFRA, DSIT, BEIS |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Visit by Greg Clark MP, Katherine Fletcher MP, Stephen Metcalf MP of the Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Rothamsted Visit by House Of Commons Science, Innovation & Technology Committee members: Chair of the Committee Greg Clark MP, Katherine Fletcher MP and Stephen Metcalfe MP Accompanied by Secretariat Claire Kanja & Ian CruseTuesday 26th October 9:30-12:30 Inquiry Into Insect Decline And UK Food Security. Speakers: James Bell (lead and overview), Alice Milne (DRUID - insect declines), Gaetan Seimandi-Corda (OSR and beneficial parasitoids), Lawrence Bramham (BYDV), Izayana Sandoval-Carvajal (BYDV), Dion Garrett (flying insect ecology), Kelly Jowett (carabid ecology), Ishbel Hayes (moth declines and light pollution), Elliott Cornelius (moth vision and light pollution), Hannah Romanowski (bats) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |