Plant and Invertebrate Spatial Dynamics and Community Scaling
		Victoria Smith Supervisors: David Bohan & John Cussans (Rothamsted Research), Alistair Murdoch, Simon Mortimer Plants and invertebrates are the foundation of biodiversity in terrestrial eco-systems, including ones shaped by agricultural practices. Temporal and spatial variability in the incidence, abundance and community structuring of these organisms drives the dynamics of species at higher trophic levels; most notably mammals and birds The project will manipulate the spatial and community structuring of farmland weeds and evaluate the resulting communities of invertebrates, in particular aphid predators, pollinators and granivores It also aims to analyse the ecology of plant and invertebrate structuring for spatial patterns of species abundance and community diversity that may be scaled-up to larger areas. PROJECT DETAILS The work will be conducted at Rothamsted Research, Harpenden. Field investigations will be used to study the responses of particular invertebrate groups to manipulated weed patches of varying diversity and spatial arrangement. The study is funded by ...Conducted at ... and Lawes Agricultural Trust