Summary
Research Interests
The scientific interests of my research group are on a broad scale. Our research generally involves the study of insect 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 human activities affect insect populations, biodiversity, and function. We primarily study the effects of how agricultural practices and climate change independently and in combination impact bees. This has involved focusing on how specific factors, such as aspects of habitat loss, chemical applications and temperature changes can influence individual molecular responses, physiology, behaviour(s) and fitness, and how this scales to shape populations and communities.
Whilst not wedded to a particular study organism/system, social insects (bumblebees in particular) have been the focus 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 provides vital ecosystem functions and crucial ecosystem services important for human welfare.
Another driving interest of ours is to understand how we can eavesdrop on pollination signals to reduce pollination deficits and improve the management of pollinator populations.
Click here to see my personal research website
Selected News from the Group
Data collected with ex Masters and PhD student Ross Gray is contributing to a very valuable study revealing the variable responses of individual species to tropical forest degradation led by Rob Ewers.
Aoife's second paper from her PhD is now out in Ecology Letters giving a perspective on how we can use individual trait-based frameworks to understand plant-pollinator responses to environmental change. Amazing work!
Great to collaborate with the Webster group in Uppsala, who led a study using bumblebee genomes to study population genetic diversity in vulnerable species.
See our paper modelling how competition between larvae in annual social insects, like bumblebees, can help predict colony growth dynamics and investment strategies.
Check out the recent X-polli:nation paper that has come from a project on empowering young school pupils by educating them on the diversity and importance of insect pollinators and how to create habitats to support them using learning tools inspired by citizen science approaches. The aim was also to engage young people with the UN Sustainability goals.
Congrats to Danny Kenna; who after finishing his PhD has landed a great job at Defra, and also published a third chapter from his thesis on how temperature can modulate the effects of pesticide toxicity on behaviours in different ways in the journal Global Change Biology.
As part of the BBC's Inside Science show, Rich spoke to Radio 4 about the emergency use of neonicotinoid insecticides - 12 minutes into the show
Aoife's 1st publication from her PhD on the importance of trait turnover in structuring Arctic plant-pollinator relationships is now published in Functional Ecology.
Round of applause for Aoife whose blog relating to the JAE paper was featured on: International Women’s Day 2023 – Animal Ecology in Focus.
Congrats to Andres and Aoife for their paper finding evidence for increasing stress in bumblebees over the 20th century, and revealing how climatic conditions can contribute to this. Out in Journal of Animal Ecology. The paper received a lot of press interest including ITV & Channel 4 evening news, BBC Radio 4, Washington Post, and The Guardian
Check out our paper showcasing genome sequencing of specimens dating back to the late 19th century, in collaboration with the Barnes group from NHM London. Out in Methods in Ecology & Evolution
Celebrating UN World Bee Day 2022, Rich was interviewed by the BBC in the Arctic. Click to see the video.
Current Group (see 'research' page for more details)
NERC funded DTP PhD students: Aoife Cantwell-Jones (in 4th year)
Dept. PhD: Catherine Parry (in 3rd year)
PhD funded by CB Dennis, Bee Insurance Ltd & BBKA: Kieran Storer (in 1st year)
PhD co-supervisor: Monika Yordanova (Sup. Peter Graystock, CB Dennis funded); Mahika Dixit (Sup. Will Pearse, Imperial, NERC)
Masters students: Daisy Mitchell, Matthew Li
Previous Group Members
Independent Fellow hosted by Gill lab: Dr Peter Graystock
Associated Fellow: Dr Jacob Johansson
NERC funded PDRA: Dr Andres Arce
Grantham funded PDRA: Dr Kirsty Yule
NERC funded DTP PhD students: Dr Danny Kenna (2017-2021); Dylan Smith (2014-2019)
BBSRC funded PhD student: Dr Ana Ramos-Rodrigues (2016-2020)
BBSRC funded PhD student (co-supervised): Dr Joe Palmer (Sup. Dr Vincent Jansen, RHUL, BBSRC, 2019-2023).
Masters project students: Rona Learmonth, Yao Yao, Jacqui James, Moganavalli Kattan, George Allen, Elliott Parnell, Shengge Tong (2023); Yuming Shi, Fereozah Mahmood, Lucia Hudson, Suzannah Eggleston, Juliet Everson, Li Wang (2022); Sarah Hudson, Nerea Montes Perez, Claire Tsui, Charlotte McGinty, Oonagh Barker, Mahika Dixit (2021); Michael Tansley, Aoife Cantwell-Jones, Connor Lovell, Henrique Galante Nunes de Sousa, Sarah Hudson, Sebastian Pipins, Alan Ward (2020); 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)
Selected Publications
Journal Articles
Kenna D, Graystock P, Gill R, 2023, Toxic temperatures: bee behaviours exhibit divergent pesticide toxicity relationships with warming, Global Change Biology, Vol:29, ISSN:1354-1013, Pages:2981-2998
Arce A, Cantwell-Jones A, Tansley M, et al., 2023, Signatures of increasing environmental stress in bumblebee wings over the past century: Insights from museum specimens, Journal of Animal Ecology, Vol:92, ISSN:0021-8790, Pages:297-309
Mullin VE, Stephen W, Arce AN, et al., 2023, First large-scale quantification study of DNA preservation in insects from natural history collections using genome-wide sequencing, Methods in Ecology and Evolution, Vol:14, ISSN:2041-210X, Pages:360-371
Yordanova M, Evison SEF, Gill RJ, et al., 2022, The threat of pesticide and disease co-exposure to managed and wild bee larvae, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife, Vol:17, ISSN:2213-2244, Pages:319-326
Colgan TJ, Arce AN, Gill RJ, et al., 2022, Genomic signatures of recent adaptation in a wild bumblebee, Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol:39, ISSN:0737-4038, Pages:1-9
Kenna D, Pawar S, Gill R, 2021, Thermal flight performance reveals impact of warming on bumblebee foraging potential, Functional Ecology, Vol:35, ISSN:0269-8463, Pages:2508-2522
Smith D, Arce A, Ana RR, et al., 2020, Insecticide exposure during brood or early-adult development reduces brain growth and impairs adult learning in bumblebees, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Vol:287, ISSN:0962-8452
Kenna D, Cooley H, Pretelli I, et al., 2019, Pesticide exposure affects flight dynamics and reduces flight endurance in bumblebees, Ecology and Evolution, Vol:9, ISSN:2045-7758, Pages:5637-5650
Colgan TJ, Fletcher IK, Arce AA, et al., 2019, Caste- and pesticide-specific effects of neonicotinoid pesticide exposure on gene expression in bumblebees, Molecular Ecology, Vol:28, ISSN:0962-1083, Pages:1964-1974
Arce A, Ramos Rodrigues A, Yu J, et al., 2018, Foraging bumblebees acquire a preference for neonicotinoid treated food with prolonged exposure, Proceedings - Royal Society. Biological sciences, Vol:285, ISSN:1471-2954
Samuelson A, Gill RJ, Brown M, et al., 2018, Lower bumblebee colony reproductive success in agricultural compared with urban environments, Proceedings - Royal Society. Biological sciences, Vol:285, ISSN:1471-2954
Arce AN, David TI, Randall E, et al., 2016, Impact of controlled neonicotinoid exposure on bumblebees in a realistic field setting, Journal of Applied Ecology, Vol:54, ISSN:1365-2664, Pages:1199-1208
Gill RJ, Smith DB, Raine NE, et al., 2016, Exploring miniature insect brains using micro-CT scanning techniques, Scientific Reports, Vol:6, ISSN:2045-2322
Gill RJ, Baldock KCR, Brown MJF, et al., 2016, Protecting an Ecosystem Service: Approaches to Understanding and Mitigating Threats to Wild Insect Pollinators, Advances in Ecological Research, Vol:54, ISSN:0065-2504, Pages:135-206
Gill RJ, Raine NE, 2014, Chronic impairment of bumblebee natural foraging behaviour induced by sublethal pesticide exposure, Functional Ecology, Vol:28, ISSN:0269-8463, Pages:1459-1471
Bryden J, Gill RJ, Mitton RAA, et al., 2013, Chronic sublethal stress causes bee colony failure, Ecology Letters, Vol:16, ISSN:1461-023X, Pages:1463-1469
Gill RJ, Ramos-Rodriguez O, Raine NE, 2012, Combined pesticide exposure severely affects individual- and colony-level traits in bees, Nature, Vol:491, ISSN:0028-0836, Pages:105-U119