Native and invasive ladybirds in a changing U.K. climate

Scientific background. Climate change and invasive species have been described as
a "deadly duo". We have the potential to explore the interacting effects of these
drivers of biodiversity change using ladybirds as a model system. Some native U.K.
ladybirds have declined in recent years, in part as a result of the establishment and
spread of an invasive ladybird, Harmonia axyridis. Climatic factors are likely to affect
ladybird behaviour, physiology, and interactions with other species - including prey
and competitors - and are therefore likely to affect the abundance and stability of
native ladybird populations. There is now a need to understand how native ladybird
species respond to the combined threats of invasive species and a changing climate.
This project will ask how native and invasive ladybirds are impacted by the changing
U.K. climate. The aims are to evaluate how the changing climate - including
increasing summer temperature, periods of are extreme heat, and milder winter
temperatures - impacts behaviour, population growth and stability of native and
invasive ladybirds; to evaluate physiological responses to thermal stress; and to
assess how temperature mediates direct interactions between native and invasive
ladybirds.
Methodology. Experimental approaches will include laboratory experiments using
controlled temperature rooms and incubators and field trials. There will also be
opportunities to investigate ladybird physiological responses to temperature at a
cellular level, using metabolomics. Additionally, the large-scale and long-term
datasets held by the Biological Records Centre within CEH will provide an
opportunity for correlative modelling approaches to inform the mechanistic
experimental approaches.
Training. Training will be provided in experimental design, behavioural assays, insect
biology, and data collection and analysis, as well as the presentation of results and
writing scientific publications. There will be opportunities to investigate ladybird
physiological responses to temperature at a genetic and cellular level, using
transcriptomics and metabolomics; training will be provided.