Moths in the margins: developing and testing tools to determine the protection provided by agricultural field margins

PhD opportunity based at the UK Centre for Ecology Lancaster with degree award from Cardiff University

This project will address the real-world challenge of optimising the effectiveness of pesticide-impact mitigation strategies in the field. It will incorporate cutting edge interdisciplinary pollution science into on-the-ground conservation action, developing a methodological toolkit to measure the bioavailability, uptake and effects of pesticide spray drift on non-target Lepidoptera inhabiting farmland habitats.

This work is vital because current pesticide licensing procedures do not test a sufficient number of non-target species. This results in an under-estimation of the impacts of pesticides on wild populations (e.g. Lepidoptera) critical for maintaining important ecosystems. To assess the impact of pesticide exposure, we need methods that adequately measure true exposure levels of organisms over small spatial scales in the field, specifically allowing us to i) measure the effects of pesticide spray drift on non-target organisms, and ii) assess the effectiveness of pesticide impact mitigation measures, like field margins, that are used to reduce the amount of spray drift that reaches organisms living in/around farmlands.

The project will work at the interface of experimental ecotoxicology, genomics and conservation ecology under the supervision of experts in these complementary fields. The project will be based in UK CEH (UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology) in Oxfordshire, but will provide opportunities to spend extended time working at the RSPB and Cardiff University.