Evolution and ecology of life history traits in solitary wasps

Dynamic environments in which the availability of resources fluctuate frequently and habitat can become fragmented over short timescales provide extreme challenges for the organisms inhabiting them. In these environments, populations of organisms may be geographically structured in ways such that the extinction of small, local populations is not catastrophic for the global population as a whole. One such structure is defined by Levins' metapopulation concept, in which local extinctions and recolonisations are balanced to prevent overall extinction. Hymenoptera, the insect order comprising bees, wasps, and ants, is thought to be the most speciose on the planet, occupying a variety of environmental conditions and exhibiting myriad life history strategies. Solitary wasps are essential for the functioning of ecosystems through processes including predation, pollination, and seed dispersal, yet remain largely understudied. Blakeney Point, on the coast of Norfolk in the UK, provides an ideal location for the study of solitary wasps in a dynamic coastal environment. This project will explore whether such species in challenging conditions live in a metapopulation structure, and identify behavioural and genomic adaptations to the landscape, with important implications for our understanding of other organisms inhabiting fragmented landscapes and providing much-needed knowledge on understudied taxa.