Staff Profile:Dr Robbie Girling

Name:

Dr Robbie Girling

Job Title:

Associate Professor

Responsibilities:

• Head of Department of Sustainable Land Management
• Deputy Director of the Graduate Institute of International Development, Agriculture and Economics
• Programme director for the MSc in Research for Agriculture, Ecology and Environment

Areas of Interest:

My research focuses on investigations into the ecology of insects found in both agricultural and forestry ecosystems and my specific areas of expertise are in plant-insect interactions, and insect behavioural and chemical ecology.

I study the ecological interactions of insects that are either pests or that provide beneficial ecosystem services (pest regulation, pollination etc). One focus of my research is to develop our understanding of how anthropogenic factors impact on these insects and the ecosystem services and disservice that they provide. This can be through changes in land use management, or as a consequence of pollution, particularly ground-level air pollution.

I manage a NERC-funded Free-Air Diesel and Ozone Enrichment (FADOE) platform, which was designed and built in collaboration with researchers at UKCEH Edinburgh. This platform is located at the University of Reading’s Sonning Farm and enables field-scale evaluation of ozone and diesel exhaust pollution on insect and plant ecology. It is open to use by the wider environmental science research community and I would welcome enquiries from academics who wish to make use of the FADOE platform in their research.

My other research focus is on developing our understanding of the ecological processes and interactions that occur amongst pest and beneficial insect species and to use that knowledge to contribute to the development of agroecological approaches for pest control This includes: i) the enhancement of natural biological controls (conservation biological control), ii) the development of tools for Integrated Pest Management (IPM), and iii) the evaluation of changes to pest and pollination services and disservices provided by novel farming system approaches, with a particular focus on temperate silvoarable agroforestry.

Research projects:

The little things that run a polluted world – 2021-23 (Leverhulme Trust Fellowship – James Ryalls)
The effects of two common air pollutants (diesel exhaust and ozone) on plant VOC mediated Interactions – 2020-22 (Finnish Cultural Foundation Fellowship – Adedayo Mofikoya)
Deciphering how common air pollutants impact on pest regulation services – 2020 (RETF)
A novel Free-Air Diesel and Ozone Enrichment (FADOE) research platform – 2019-20 (NERC)
Ecological Intensification of Smallholder Farms in Kenya – 2018-2019 (GCRF Development of Equitable Partnerships Project Fund)
Does air pollution inhibit the recruitment of plant bodyguards? – 2018-2019 (BES)
Degradation of Odour signals by air pollution: chemical Mechanisms, plume dynamics and INsect-Orientation behaviour (DOMINO) – 2016-20 (NERC)
Optimising Subsidiary Crop Applications in Rotations (OSCAR) – 2012-2016 (EU FP7)
Coordinating Organic Plant Breeding Activities for diversity (COBdaeRA) – 2013-2016 (CORE organic/Defra)
Does diesel pollution compromise an insect’s ability to smell a flower's scent? – 2012-2015 (Leverhulme Trust)

PhD students:

Georgia England (2020-2024): Love isn’t in the air: Assessing how air pollution interrupts insect sex pheromone signalling (NERC SCENARIO DTP)
Rene Micor (2019-2024): Nutraceutical properties of honeys from stingless bees and honeybees from three ecosystems (UPLB-University of Reading)
Laura James (2019-2023): Investigating the Impact of Volatile Organic Compounds Released by Plants in Response to Biotic and Abiotic Stressors under ambient and elevated CO2 conditions (VOC–Plant–Stress–CO2) (Leverhulme Trust)
Stuart Edwards (2017-2022): Pests, plants and parasitoids: how does climate variability affect tri-trophic interactions in crop producing ecosystems? – (BBSRC Berry Gardens CTP)
Fiona Gierer: Improving our understanding of residue behaviour in pollen, nectar and bee products (Syngenta)
Tom Staton (2017-2021): Evaluating how plant community composition influences natural enemy biodiversity and pest regulation services in temperate agroforestry systems (NERC QMEE CDT, The Woodland Trust)
Patricia Ortega-Ramos (2017-2021): Investigations into the ecology of cabbage stem flea beetle in winter oilseed rape crops (Rothamsted-Reading Alliance)
Matthew Kaan Alkan (2016-2021): Exploring the mechanistic rationale of plant-pollinator communication disruption by ozone (NERC SCENARIO DTP)
Emem Kingsley-Umana (2016-2021): Evaluation of pheromone-based techniques for the monitoring and control of mealybug pests on cocoa farm (University of Port-Harcourt)
Richard Sands (2014-2018): The population ecology of oak processionary moth (Defra/Forest Research)
Christine Reitmayer (2011-2015): Effects of diesel exhaust pollution on behaviour, neurobiology and forager success in honey bees (Apis mellifera) (The Gerald-Kerkut Charitable Trust)

Research groups / Centres:

Centre for Agri-Environmental Research

Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Research Division

Publications:

Y

Jump to: 2022 | 2021 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2011 | 2010 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2004

Number of items: 38.

2022

• Staton, T., Walters, R., Breeze, T. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8929-8354, Smith, J. and Girling, R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8816-8075 (2022) Niche complementarity drives increases in pollinator functional diversity in diversified agroforestry systems. Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment. ISSN 0167-8809 (In Press)
• Reitmayer, C. M., Girling, R. D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8816-8075, Jackson, C. W. and Newman, T. A. (2022) Repeated short-term exposure to diesel exhaust reduces honey bee colony fitness. Environmental Pollution, 300 (1). 118934. ISSN 0269-7491 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2022.118934
• Girling, R. D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8816-8075, Breeze, T. D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8929-8354 and Garratt, M. P. (2022) Advancing conservation biological control as a component of IPM of horticultural crops. In: Collier, R. (ed.) Improving integrated pest management in horticulture. Burleigh Dodds, Cambridge. ISBN 9781786767530
• Ryalls, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2015-3605, Langford, B., Mullinger, N., Bromfield, L., Nemitz, E., Pfrang, C. and Girling, R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8816-8075 (2022) Anthropogenic air pollutants reduce insect-mediated pollination services. Environmental Pollution, 297. 118847. ISSN 0269-7491 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2022.118847
• Ryalls, J. M. W. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2015-3605, Staton, T., Mullinger, N. J., Bromfield, L. M., Langford, B., Pfrang, C., Nemitz, E., Blande, J. D. and Girling, R. D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8816-8075 (2022) Ozone mitigates the adverse effects of diesel exhaust pollutants on ground-active invertebrates in wheat. Frontiers in ecology and evolution, 10. 833088. ISSN 2296-701X doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.833088
• Staton, T., Breeze, T. D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8929-8354, Walters, R. J., Smith, J. and Girling, R. D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8816-8075 (2022) Productivity, biodiversity trade-offs, and farm income in an agroforestry versus an arable system. Ecological Economics, 191. 107214. ISSN 0921-8009 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107214

2021

• Creissen, H. E., Jones, P. J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3464-5424, Tranter, R. B. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0702-6505, Girling, R. D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8816-8075, Jess, S., Burnett, F. J., Gaffney, M., Thorne, F. S. and Kildea, S. (2021) Identifying the drivers and constraints to adoption of IPM amongst arable farmers in the UK and Ireland. Pest Management Science, 77 (9). pp. 4148-4158. ISSN 1526-4998 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.6452
• Staton, T. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0597-0121, Walters, R., Smith, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8761-8556, Breeze, T. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8929-8354 and Girling, R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8816-8075 (2021) Management to promote flowering understoreys benefits natural enemy diversity, aphid suppression and income in an agroforestry system. Agronomy, 11 (4). e651. ISSN 2073-4395 doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11040651
• Kansime, M. K., Girling, R. D., Mugambi, I., Mulema, J., Odour, G., Chacha, D., Ouvrard, D., Kinuthia, W. and Garratt, M. (2021) Rural livelihood diversity and its influence on the ecological intensification potential of smallholder farms in Kenya. Food and Energy Security, 10 (1). e254. ISSN 2048-3694 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/fes3.254
• Staton, T., Walters, R. J., Smith, J., Breeze, T. D. and Girling, R. D. (2021) Evaluating a trait-based approach to compare natural enemy and pest communities in agroforestry versus arable systems. Ecological Applications. e02294. ISSN 0051-0761 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2294

2019

• Creissen, H., Jones, P., Tranter, R., Girling, R., Jess, S., Burnett, F., Gaffney, M., Thorne, F. and Kildea, S. (2019) Measuring the unmeasurable? A method to quantify adoption of integrated pest management practices in temperate arable farming systems. Pest Management Science, 75 (12). pp. 3144-3152. ISSN 1526-4998 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.5428
• Reitmayer, C. M., Ryalls, J. M. W., Farthing, E., Jackson, C. W., Girling, R. D. and Newman, T. A. (2019) Acute exposure to diesel exhaust induces central nervous system stress and altered learning and memory in honey bees. Scientific Reports, 9. 5793. ISSN 2045-2322 doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-41876-w
• Staton, T., Walters, R. J., Smith, J. and Girling, R. D. (2019) Evaluating the effects of integrating trees into temperate arable systems on pest control and pollination. Agricultural Systems, 176. 102676. ISSN 0308-521X doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2019.102676
• Gierer, F., Vaughan, S., Slater, M., Thompson, H. M., Elmore, S. and Girling, R. D. (2019) A review of the factors that influence pesticide residues in pollen and nectar: future research requirements for optimising the estimation of pollinator exposure. Environmental Pollution, 249. pp. 236-247. ISSN 0269-7491 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2019.03.025

2018

• Staton, T., Walters, R., Smith, J., Chesshire, H. and Girling, R. (2018) A cost-effectiveness analysis of temperate silvoarable systems: what contribution do ecosystem services make? In: 4th European Agroforestry Conference: Agroforestry as Sustainable Land Use, 28-30 May 2018, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, pp. 297-301.

2017

• Eivazian Kary, N., Mohammadi, D. and Girling, R. (2017) New reports on dixenic associations between the symbionts of entomopathogenic nematodes, Photorhabdus and Xenorhabdus, and non-symbiotic bacteria. Journal of Crop Protection, 6 (4). pp. 497-511. ISSN 2251-9041
• Fradgley, N. S., Creissen, H. E., Pearce, H., Howlett, S. A., Pearce, B. D., Döring, T. F. and Girling, R. D. (2017) Weed suppression and tolerance in winter oats. Weed Technology, 31 (5). pp. 740-751. ISSN 0890-037X doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/wet.2017.46

2015

• Lusebrink, I., Girling, R. D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8816-8075, Farthing, E., Newman, T. A., Jackson, C. W. and Poppy, G. M. (2015) The effects of diesel exhaust pollution on floral volatiles and the consequences for honey bee olfaction. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 41 (10). pp. 904-912. ISSN 0098-0331 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-015-0624-4
• Lampkin, N. H., Pearce, B. D., Leake, A. R., Creissen, H., Gerrard, C. L., Girling, R., Lloyd, S., Padel, S., Smith, J., Smith, L. G., Vieweger, A. and Wolfe, M. S., (2015) The role of agroecology in sustainable intensification. Scottish Natural Heritage

2014

• Smith, J., Girling, R., Wolfe, M. S. and Pearce, B. (2014) Agroforestry: integrating apple and arable production as an approach to reducing copper use in organic and low-input apple production. In: Agriculture and the Environment X: Delivering Multiple Benefits from our Land: Sustainable Development in Practice, 15-16 Apr 2014, Edinburgh, Scotland, pp. 278-284.

2013

• Girling, R., Lusebrink, I., Farthing, E., Newman, T. A. and Poppy, G. M. (2013) Diesel exhaust rapidly degrades floral odours used by honeybees. Scientific Reports, 3. 2779. ISSN 2045-2322 doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/srep02779
• Hanley, M. E., Girling, R., Felix, A. E., Olliff, E. D., Newland, P. L. and Poppy, G. M. (2013) Olfactory selection of Plantago lanceolata by snails declines with seedling age. Annals of Botany, 112 (4). pp. 671-676. ISSN 1095-8290 doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mct003
• Williams, C. D., Dillon, A. B., Girling, R. and Griffin, C. T. (2013) Organic soils promote the efficacy of entomopathogenic nematodes, with different foraging strategies, in the control of a major forest pest: a meta-analysis of field trial data. Biological Control, 65 (3). pp. 357-364. ISSN 1049-9644 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2013.03.013
• Girling, R., Higbee, B. S. and Cardé, R. T. (2013) The plume also rises: trajectories of pheromone plumes issuing from point sources in an orchard canopy at night. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 39 (9). pp. 1150-1160. ISSN 0098-0331 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-013-0341-9

2011

• Pope, T. W., Girling, R., Staley, J. T., Trigodet, B., Wright, D. J., Leather, S. R., van Emden, H. F. and Poppy, G. M. (2011) Effects of organic and conventional fertilizer treatments on host selection by the aphid parasitoid Diaeretiella rapae. Journal of Applied Entomology, 136 (6). pp. 445-455. ISSN 0931-2048 doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0418.2011.01667.x
• Cardé, R. T., Cardé, A. M. and Girling, R. (2011) Observations on the flight paths of the day-flying moth Virbia lamae during periods of mate location: do males have a strategy for contacting the pheromone plume? Journal of Animal Ecology, 81 (1). pp. 268-276. ISSN 0021-8790 doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2656.2011.01887.x
• Staley, J. T., Girling, R., Stewart-Jones, A., Poppy, G. M., Leather, S. R. and Wright, D. J. (2011) Organic and conventional fertilizer effects on a tritrophic interaction: parasitism, performance and preference of Cotesia vestalis. Journal of Applied Entomology, 135 (9). pp. 658-665. ISSN 0931-2048 doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0418.2010.01604.x
• Girling, R., Stewart-Jones, A., Dherbecourt, J., Staley, J. T., Wright, D. J. and Poppy, G. M. (2011) Parasitoids select plants more heavily infested with their caterpillar hosts: a new approach to aid interpretation of plant headspace volatiles. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 278 (1718). pp. 2646-2653. ISSN 0962-8452 doi: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.2725
• Fernández-Grandon, G. M., Girling, R. and Poppy, G. M. (2011) Utilizing insect behavior in chemical detection by a behavioral biosensor. Journal of Plant Interactions, 6 (2-3). pp. 109-112. ISSN 1742-9145 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/17429145.2010.544778

2010

• Girling, R., Ennis, D., Dillon, A.B. and Griffin, C.T. (2010) The lethal and sub-lethal consequences of entomopathogenic nematode infestation and exposure for adult pine weevils, Hylobius abietis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Journal of Invertebrate Pathology, 104 (3). pp. 195-202. ISSN 0022-2011 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jip.2010.04.003

2008

• Girling, R. and Hassall, M. (2008) Behavioural responses of the seven-spot ladybird Coccinella septempunctata to plant headspace chemicals collected from four crop Brassicas and Arabidopsis thaliana, infested with Myzus persicae. Agricultural and Forest Entomology, 10 (4). pp. 297-306. ISSN 1461-9555 doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1461-9563.2008.00379.x
• Zahn, D. K., Girling, R., McElfresh, J. S., Cardé, R. T. and Millar, J. G. (2008) Biology and reproductive behavior of Murgantia histrionica (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 101 (1). pp. 215-228. ISSN 0013-8746 doi: https://doi.org/10.1603/0013-8746(2008)101[215:BARBOM]2.0.CO;2
• Girling, R., Madison, R., Hassall, M., Poppy, G. M. and Turner, J. G. (2008) Investigations into plant biochemical wound-response pathways involved in the production of aphid-induced plant volatiles. Journal of Experimental Botany, 59 (11). pp. 3077-3085. ISSN 0022-0957 doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/ern163

2007

• Girling, R. and Cardé, R. T. (2007) Analysis and manipulation of the structure of odor plumes from a piezo-electric release system and measurements of upwind flight of male Almond Moths, Cadra cautella, to pheromone plumes. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 33 (10). pp. 1927-1945. ISSN 0098-0331 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-007-9349-3
• Girling, R., Turner, J. and Hassall, M. (2007) Do turning biases by the 7-spot ladybird, Coccinella septempunctata, increase their foraging efficiency? Behaviour, 144 (2). pp. 143-163. ISSN 1568-539X doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/156853907779947337

2006

• Girling, R. and Cardé, R. T. (2006) Analysis of the courtship behavior of the Navel Orangeworm, Amyelois transitella (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), with a commentary on methods for the analysis of sequences of behavioral transitions. Journal of Insect Behavior, 19 (4). pp. 497-520. ISSN 0892-7553 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10905-006-9041-4
• Girling, R., Hassall, M., Turner, J. G. and Poppy, G. M. (2006) Behavioural responses of the aphid parasitoid Diaeretiella rapae to volatiles from Arabidopsis thaliana induced by Myzus persicae. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 120 (1). pp. 1-9. ISSN 1570-7458 doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1570-7458.2006.00423.x

2004

• Girling, R. (2004) Foraging strategies of natural enemies of the peach-potato aphid Myzus persicae. PhD thesis, University of East Anglia.

This list was generated on Thu Jun 30 10:40:02 2022 UTC.

Qualifications:

BSc (Hons), University of Reading
PhD, University of East Anglia
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy