Dr Richard J. Gill

Summary

Research Interests

Please find my research group website on insect ecology & evolution here: www.gillinsectresearch.com

The scientific interests of my research group are on a broad scale, but our research generally involves the study of animal responses to environmental stressors to address ecologically applied issues, as well as taking an evolutionary biology approach to understanding trends in ecology. 

In particular we are interested in how anthropogenic influences, primarily land-use change and associated activities, affect animal populations and biodiversity. This has involved focusing on how specific factors, such as aspects of habitat loss or chemical applications associated with agricultural practices, can influence individual physiology, behaviour(s) and fitness measures and how this can scale up to shape populations and communities.

Terrestrial invertebrates have been the group used to address our questions, and whilst not wedded to a particular study organism/system, social insects have been the focus of much of our research. Their large and intricate societies exhibit efficient and often complex cooperative behaviours making them not only interesting for the study of animal behaviour, but also a dominant insect group in the environment that provide vital ecosystem functions and crucial ecosystem services important for human welfare.

Here is a short video introducing one of the topics that we are interested in studying - threats to insect pollinators:

Please see my research page for further details.

 

News

The third season of our Arctic bumblebee project will be starting in May. The project welcomes Michael Tansley, Sebastian Pipins and Alan Ward 

Rich Gill has been involved in a recent National Geographic funded project getting schools involved in insect pollinator surveys. https://www.opalexplorenature.org/natgeo

Danny Kenna's research was covered by Reuters film team. Click Here

Recent publications

Smith et al. (2020) Insecticide exposure during brood or early-adult development reduces brain growth and impairs adult learning in bumblebees. in Proc. Roy. Soc. B. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2019.2442 

Samuelson, Gill & Leadbeater (in press) Urbanisation is associated with reduced Nosema sp. infection, higher colony strength and higher richness of foraged pollen in honeybees. in Apidologie,

Kenna*, Cooley* et al. (2019) Pesticide exposure affects flight dynamics and reduces flight endurance in bumblebees. in Ecology & Evolution.

Colgan*, Fletcher*, Arce* et al. (2019) Caste- and pesticide-specific effects of neonicotinoid pesticide exposure on gene expression in bumblebees. in Molecular Ecology. doi:10.1111/mec.15047

Current Group (see 'research' page for more details)

Independent Fellow hosted by Gill lab: Dr Peter Graystock

Associated Fellow: Dr Jacob Johansson

NERC funded PDRA: Dr Andres Arce

BBSRC funded PhD student: Ana Ramos-Rodrigues (in 4th year)

NERC funded DTP PhD student: Daniel Kenna (in 3rd year)

PhD co-supervisor for: Joe Palmer (Sup. Dr Vincent Jansen, RHUL), BBSRC

In collaboration: Dr Victoria Mullin (NHM London)

Masters students: Michael Tansley, Aoife Cantwell-Jones, Connor Lovell, Henrique Galante Nunes de Sousa, Sarah Hudson, Sebastian Pipins, Alan Ward

Previous Group Members

Grantham funded PDRA: Dr Kirsty Yule

NERC funded DTP PhD student: Dylan Smith (2014-2019)

BBSRC PhD student: Leonie Gough

Erasmus visiting Masters student: Illaria Pretelli

Masters project students: Emma Eatough, Xeuni Bian, Lottie Gibbons, Rach Dawson, Freja Gjerstad, Chloe Sargent and Stephen Bishop (2019); Jacob Birkenhead, Marcus Rhodes, Tara Cox, Libby Bates, Miranda Burke, Flo Coulmance--Gayrard (2018); Koorosh McCormack, Cecylia Watrobska, Nicholas Tew, Elspeth MacKeller, Jenny Dawson, John Paterson (2017), Ross Gray, Laura Bentley, Chun (Harris) Tso (2016); Jiajun (Stanley) Yu, Katie Taylor, Sarah Gougeon (2015), Emma Randall, Thomas David (2014)

3rd year project students: Daisy Burris, Megan Chan, Hazel Cooley (2017), Phillip Bischoff, Cecylia Watrobska (2016); Shona Crawford-Smith, Ross Gray, Henry Clifford (2015), Jessica Clarke, Abby Simms (2014)

Selected Publications

Journal Articles

More Publications