A good fellowship application takes time to craft, so if you are thinking of coming to the UK and are interested in climate change effects on insect reproduction - including different life stages, eggs, micropyles, imaging, microscopy, thermal limits, ecological physiology, plants and microclimates and more - now is the time to think about it! There are different schemes to consider, depending on eligibility criteria:
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I have been so busy over the last semester, that time as flown by, and I have not written to introduce Luke Crosby on this blog. Luke worked with me for a summer internship in 2020, and then in spring 2023 as a research assistant. I am absolutely delighted that Luke has started his PhD with me thanks to a University of Lincoln studentship. Since last October, Luke has been growing kale to feed lab and field populations of the large white butterfly (also known as cabbage white, Pieris brassicae). He also been extracting data from articles for a meta-analysis we are working on, as part of a larger collaboration with members of the Special Topics Network on Thermal Fertility Limits. This is a very lively and active community working on heat stress effects on reproduction. Welcome Luke, it's great to have you on board! It all started with an email in late August 2022. I wrote to Nina Fatouros at Wageningen University and Research (WUR), to ask her for some images (SEMs) of Pieris brassicae eggs. Over a few brief email exchanges, we discovered that we both shared an interest on insect eggs, and that we could learn from each other's different angles (mine on the evolution of reproductive traits, Nina's on plant-insect interactions). Nina invited me to apply for a Visiting Scientist Fellowship at WUR and then fast forward to 30th January 2023, I found myself on a train crossing the Channel heading for Wageningen, the Netharlands. I spent four intense (and fun) weeks at the Biosystematics Group, WUR. Nina, her PhD student Liana Greenberg, and I, drafted some hypotheses on latitudinal and climatic gradients effects on eggs of populations of Pieris spp. Nina and Liana have collected Pieris napi from across Europe, from Wageningen to Spain. Nina also has two stable populations of Pieris rapae and brassicae, which she has kept in the lab for a number of generations. I then spent several days in the company of Marcel Giesbers, a very knowledgeable SEM technician, to image Pieris eggs using Cryo SEM, which was a lot of fun (oh, and talking of Dutch cheeses with Marcel...). I have learnt a lot about plant-insect interactions (and dusted off my two botany exams taken decades ago), started a collaboration with an amazing colleague, and visited the Netherlands for the first time! I was made to feel at home by every member of the Biosystematics group, and I am indebted to Nina, Klaas, Eric, Liana, Wilma, Marcel, Patrick, Jordy, and everyone else at WUR + WEES for inviting me to give a talk. I really hope to be able to come back soon. With the simulated heatwaves experiments well under way, and the behavioural experiments finally progressing, we can breathe a sigh of relief. Since Sofia Gigliotti joined us in April 2022, we have been so busy preparing experiments, sourcing caterpillars and setting up the field study, that this is my first post in four months and Sofia has left us! However, it is a sign that we have been working very hard to make our British Ecological Society-funded large project work.
Jamie Smith has been in charge of looking after the Pieris brassicae pupae. He has released them in their field enclosure and they have mated, produced eggs and the caterpillars have successfully hatched. He has then set up the simulated heatwave experiments and is attempting cross-matings between heated individuals and controls. Fingers crossed it works out! Meanwhile Electra is investigating the behavioural thermoregulation of caterpillars. Originally we were hoping to use large white (P. brassicae) too, but we had to source some new ones when the first batch died - I do wonder whether our heated diapause caused them physiological stress (see for example, this new work by Nielsen et al 2022 on Pieris napi). Electra has worked against all odds as two more batches of caterpillars did not make it! She is now working with a third batch sourced from the wild, and things are finally looking better. |
AuthorGraziella Iossa Archives
August 2023
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