The dynamics of insect biodiversity in novel British landscapes

In this PhD project, you will use CEH, RHS and other databases to quantify to
establishment rates of insects at different spatial scales (from local communities
to the whole country), and over different lengths of time. These rates will be
compared with rates of extinction, investigating the circumstances under which
overall diversity is declining or increasing. You will also use a combination of
your own fieldwork (including at RHS gardens) and citizen science projects
(gathering feedback from gardeners and others), and further analysis of existing
data, to examine the dynamics of particular insect colonists. This will allow you
to analyse rates of distribution change since establishment in Britain, geographic
trends in the abundances of invaders, and the relative contributions of climate,
human-mediated dispersal (including the horticultural trade), and novel
environments (habitat change, habitat heterogeneity, horticultural plantings
and naturalised plants) to the establishment of species.