Environmental Biology Research

Head: Professor Nick Battey

Environmental biology has more than 20 academic staff, whose research focuses on various aspects of pure and applied whole organism biology. We have two main research themes:

Horticulture and applied ecology

Our environment is under increasing pressure from human population growth, habitat destruction and climate change. We apply scientific principles to sustain food production in agricultural environments and also conserve biodiversity in both natural and semi-natural ecosystems. Management of these important issues depends upon the application of ecological principles. Our research interests include urban biodiversity, crop protection, conservation and improvement of horticultural genetic resources, insect-plant interactions, landscape ecology, restoration ecology and conservation biology. Current research strength in Biodiversity information management is reflected in projects databasing the diversity of life (at a global scale) and crop genetic resource diversity , for world collections of cocoa and the national collection of apples. Staff from this group published Gardening in the Global Greenhouse: The Impacts of Climate Change on Gardens in the UK, a major review of the impacts of anthropogenic climate change in a garden environment.

Molecular ecology and evolution

Molecular data are used to study the ecology and evolution of plants, animals and microbes. We have a major strength in the use of DNA sequence data to construct molecular phylogenies to unravel patterns in the evolution of biodiversity including responses to climate change. We also make extensive use of molecular ecology to understand structure, dispersal and history of populations in plants and animals. Several of us are investigating the links between particular genes, phenotypes and the environment, in order to understand the genetic basis of adaptation. This research also involves members of the QBAS section and covers experimental studies of many different organisms, but also the development and application of theory and quantitative analysis methods.

Further information about the research interests of individual staff members can be found in the table below.

Academic Staff		Research Interests
Dr Phil Baker		Vertebrate Conservation Horticulture and Applied Ecology
Professor Nick Battey		Floral Development, Soft Fruit Technology Horticulture and Applied Ecology
Dr Amanda Callaghan		Applied Ecology, Insecticide Resistance, Ecotoxicology, Aquatic Toxicology, Entomology, Freshwater Biology, Stress responses, Molecular Ecology, Microarrays Molecular Ecology and Evolution
Professor James Cook		Symbiosis and coevolution, Sex ratios and mating systems, Insect-plant interactions, Figs and fig wasps Molecular Ecology and Evolution
Dr Alastair Culham		Evolutionary responses to climate change, Plant Phylogeny, Plant and Fungal Taxonomy, DNA barcoding & molecular markers. Molecular Ecology and Evolution
		Plant biotechnology, Cupin superfamily of proteins, Gene expression in plants, Transgenic plants
Dr Mark Fellowes		Applied Ecology Horticulture and Applied Ecology
Dr Bob Froud-Williams		Weed Biology Horticulture and Applied Ecology
Professor Paul Hadley		Cocoa and Apple identification and collection management, cocoa crop production, soft fruit technology Horticulture and Applied Ecology
Dr Paul Hatcher		Biological Control, insect conservation, Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, IPM, weeds, Rumex, grasslands Horticulture and Applied Ecology
Dr Julie Hawkins		Plant Evolution, Plant Conservation, Plant DNA certification, Taxonomy, Wildlife trade and conservation, Molecular phylogenetics, Molecular Ecology and Evolution
Dr Graham Holloway		Applied ecology, Horticulture and Applied Ecology
Dr Louise Johnson		Evolution, genetics, intragenomic conflict, genomics, levels of selection, genome defence Molecular Ecology and Evolution
Dr Stephen Jury		Taxonomy, florisitics, Mediterranean plants, Moroccan flora, Umbelliferae, Herbarium curation, Climate change and regional floras Horticulture and Applied Ecology
Dr Jonathan Mitchley		Applied Ecology, habitat restoration, botanical survey Horticulture and Applied Ecology
Professor Mark Pagel		Evolution, computational biology, language evolution, phylogeny, Markov chain Monte Carlo Molecular Ecology and Evolution
Dr M. Alejandra Perotti		Genes and environment, Forensic biology, Acarology, Mites, endosymbiotic bacteria, Wolbachia Molecular Ecology and Evolution
Dr Glynn Percival		Arboriculture, Enterprise Horticulture and Applied Ecology
Dr Colin Prescott		Vertebrate pests and their control Horticulture and Applied Ecology
		Ecological modelling, plant diseases, dispersal of pathogens, fungicide resistance Horticulture and Applied Ecology
Professor Richard Sibly		Metabolic ecology, population ecology, microarrays, Daphnia Horticulture and Applied Ecology
Research Fellows		Research Interests
		Gardens and microclimate. Urban vegetation and mitigation of effects of climate change. Physiological responses of ornamental plants to water deficits. Establishment of ornamental plants. Horticulture and Applied Ecology
Dr Nicholas Cryer		Genotypic analysis of plant diversity Horticulture and Applied Ecology
		Environmental physiology of cocoa, co-ordinator of the International Cocoa Quarantine Centre Horticulture and Applied Ecology
		Scientific Curator for the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale Horticulture and Applied Ecology
Dr Yuri Roskov		Biodiversity Information Systems, operational manager of Species 2000 and ILDIS Horticulture and Applied Ecology
		Web design and database development (Online and CD-ROM), image analysis Horticulture and Applied Ecology
		Plant genetic transformation, Plant cryopreservation, Somaclonal variation Horticulture and Applied Ecology