The Resilient Entomologist

School of Biological Sciences, The University of Bristol, UK  

[drlucyalford]

My latest paper is out in Insect Science (IF 3.605) were we studied the impact of landscape intensification on the thermal tolerance of carabid beetles and the role of behavioural thermoregulation. Results suggest that enhanced behavioural thermoregulation may impede an acclimatory response in carabid beetle thermal tolerance. Physiological mechanisms involved in thermal tolerance may not be under climate-induced selection pressures, with implications for the long-term evolutionary potential of carabid thermal tolerance. Read the full article here. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1744-7917.13044

[drlucyalford]

Results in brief: Measuring the evolutionary potential of a winter-active parasitic wasp to climate change

Beneficial parasitoid wasps possess low adaptive potential to survive in a changing climate

In temperate areas, many insects are remaining active year-round as a result of warming winters. This could see newly winter-active insects increasingly vulnerable to unpredictable cold conditions in winter. To better understand how a beneficial insect, the parasitoid wasp Aphidius avenae, may respond to cold stress events, we measured the heritability of cold tolerance in the parasitoid. Results revealed low heritability estimates for parasitoid cold tolerance. This suggests that the parasitoids have low adaptive potential against cold stress. As a result, individuals may be more dependent on adaptive phenotypic plasticity to survive in a changing climate. Read more here. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-020-04761-2

[drlucyalford]

Results in brief: Why is there no impact of the host species on the cold tolerance of a generalist parasitoid?

Choice of aphid host does not impact the cold tolerance of the emerging parasitoid

For aphid parasitoids, the aphid host represents the sole source of nutrients for the developing immature. Because of this, host quality is an important factor affecting immature development and is known to affect a variety of life history traits including fecundity, longevity and offspring sex ratio. Interestingly, the study found no effect of aphid host species on the cold tolerance of the emerging parasitoid. It is possible that host manipulation by the immature parasitoid may help to influence the temperatures experienced during development, therefore removing any effect of aphid host on parasitoid cold tolerance. Read more here. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinsphys.2017.10.008

[drlucyalford]

Results in brief: The effect of landscape complexity and microclimate on the thermal tolerance of a pest insect

Pest insects and their predators may respond differently to landscape and climate change

Landscape complexity significantly alters the local microclimate and the temperature tolerance of aphid pests. Intensively farmed ‘homogenous’ landscapes were found to be warmer, on average, but with greater temperature fluctuations. Aphids originating from simplified landscapes were found to have a reduced tolerance to cold temperatures. The study highlights that future changes to land use could have implications for the temperature tolerance and adaptability of insects. Furthermore, not all insect species respond in a similar way to changes in microhabitat and microclimate. This could disrupt important predator–prey relationships and the ecosystem service they provide. Read more here. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1744-7917.12460

[drlucyalford]

Results in brief: Potential Host Manipulation by the Aphid Parasitoid Aphidius avenae to Enhance Cold Tolerance

Parasitoids may manipulate the behaviour of their host to help survive cold temperatures

During parasitoid development, the immature parasitoid is confined to the host and must therefore withstand the environmental conditions experienced by the aphid host. Interestingly, the study found that parasitized aphids displayed different behaviours to healthy aphids when exposed to unfavourable cold temperatures. It is possible that the parasitoid is manipulating aphid behaviour to avoid the unfavourable temperatures. Read more here. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0168693

[drlucyalford]

Results in brief: Improving methods to measure critical thermal limits in phloem-feeding pest insects

Laboratory measures of cold tolerance may be underestimating the true level of cold tolerance

Phloem-feeding insects such as aphids feed on the phloem sap of plants.  This diet of phloem sap is high in sugars, which act as cryoprotectants, helping the insect to persist at low temperatures. However, measures commonly used to predict the cold tolerance of phloem-feeding insects are performed with the insect dethatched from the plant on which it would normally feed. For this reason, such measurements may be inadvertently underestimating the cold tolerance of the insect. Read more here.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/eea.12410

[drlucyalford]

Results in brief: Comparing thermal tolerance across contrasting landscapes: first steps towards understanding how landscape management could modify ectotherm thermal tolerance

Landscape simplification may impact how a beneficial insect responds to temperature stresses

Landscape composition was shown to influence the local microclimate and the temperature tolerance of parasitoid wasps. The study found that parasitoids from more intensively farmed landscapes had an increased tolerance to cold temperatures. Based on these findings, landscape management practices could look to create sheltered microclimates within the landscape to reduce the physiological costs of thermal tolerance and help parasitoid wasps withstand unfavourable cold temperatures. Read more here. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/icad.12153

[drlucyalford]

It is always exciting to develop new skills and expand your research in new directions. During my time at the University of Glasgow, I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to try my hand at confocal microscopy. As someone who came very close to pursuing a career in art instead of science, I found confocal microscopy a great way to combine my love of both science and art. I view the resultant images as beautiful pieces of artwork. In my latest paper recently accepted in Pest Management Science, I use confocal microscopy to map neuropeptide binding within the aphids. Who knows, maybe one day I will hang this image alongside the Schieles and Basquiats.

[drlucyalford]

In the latest University of Glasgow MCSB podcast, Anir Pandit and I got to talk to Professor Neil Bulleid who is the Institute Director and Professor of Cell Biology. Not only did I learn all about Neil’s exciting research into protein folding, but also that Neil has incredibly good taste in music, if I do say so myself!

[drlucyalford]

Anir Pandit and I have recently taken over running the podcast series at the University of Glasgow’s Institute of Molecular, Cell and Systems Biology. Our first guest was Professor Lynne Regan who holds a Chair in Interdisciplinary Science at the Centre for Synthetic & Systems Biology at the University of Edinburgh. Her research interests include protein-protein interactions and the ways in which the affinity and specificity of such interactions can be manipulated. I particularly enjoyed the quick fire question round where I got to find out more about Lynne’s interests and hobbies outside of science (and her love of The Rolling Stones. What can I say? Lynne most definitely has taste!)

[drlucyalford]

In my latest paper, I ask why does the choice of host have no effect on the thermal tolerance of the emerging parasitoid? This is particularly interesting since parasitoid wasps of the Genus Aphidius are confined to the aphid host during development, making the host the sole source of nutrients for the developing parasitoid. Choice of host is known to impact a variety of parasitoid life history traits. So why not parasitoid cold tolerance? Read more here at the Journal of Insect Physiology. 

[drlucyalford]

nEUROSTRESSPEP: Novel biocontrol agents for insect pests from neuroendocrinology

nEUROSTRESSPEP features in the latest edition of IPC Magazine. Here, Professor Shireen Davies of the University of Glasgow discusses the research currently being conducted within this Horizon 2020 funded consortium, of which I am a part. A full pdf of the article can be found here.

[drlucyalford]

I am deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Sir Patrick ‘Pat’ Bateson, professor of ethology at the University of Cambridge. I consider it an honour to have had him as a lecturer during my undergraduate days studying Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge. His kindness and charisma left a lasting impression on me. So enthralled was I in one of his brilliant lectures on development and behaviour, that I absent-mindedly found myself playing with my hoop earrings (I must apologise for my choice of earrings; this was the 2000s!). To my absolute horror, my fiddling caused one earring to fling out of my ear with such force that it bounced off Patrick mid-flow and landed at his feet! He simply bent down to pick up my earring and returned it to me with a twinkle in his eyes and a little smirk on his lips, all the while continuing his lecture completely unfazed. Needless to say, whilst this memory still fills me with obvious mortification, the overriding feeling is one of great affection towards the kind-hearted and good-humoured prof who inspired me greatly as an undergraduate and subsequent scientific career.

[drlucyalford]

Young Researcher of the Month

I am honoured to feature as the University of Glasgow’s Young Researcher of the Month for July 2017. In the article, found here, I talk about my career to date and how I attempt to keep my personal life as creative as possible. The article reads as follows:

“When I grow up I want to be Jimmy Page or Emma Peel”. Unfortunately for me, one of those options involved a dragon emblazoned satin suit and a doubleneck Gibson SG and the other, a Lotus Elan and a charming English Gentleman for a sidekick.  I therefore settled upon a somewhat more realistic life plan and instead obtained a degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge. It was during my time at Cambridge that my love for all things creepy crawly developed. I focused both my undergraduate projects on the damselfly Calopteryx splendens under the kind supervision of Doctors William Foster and Farnon Ellwood, and spent many happy summer months waist deep in the River Usk in South Wales studying dragonfly mating behaviour.

I quickly learnt that a career in entomology was for me, and so I embarked on a PhD at the University of Birmingham under the supervision of Professor Jeff Bale. My project was concerned with the pest aphid Myzus persicae and how its thermal tolerance varied throughout Europe. Since this aphid may exist as distinct asexual clones, each possessing unique thermal tolerance traits, as well as characteristics of insecticide resistance, this research provided information on how climate change could differentially affect clonal survival. In turn, this information has implications for the efficacy of insecticide treatment depending on the clonal dominance within a population. Jeff Bale was, and still is, a great source of inspiration to me, not to mention one of life’s great raconteurs. His wildly funny and amusing anecdotes meant that there was never a dull moment in the Bale Lab; tales involving stolen tractors, Roger Daltrey, (and, a personal favourite of mine) a case of mistaken identity following a hunting trip during the fearful reign of the Yorkshire Ripper.

Continuing on from my PhD, I was successfully awarded a Marie Curie IEF Fellowship to work with Professors Joan van Baaren and Françoise Burel at the University of Rennes I in France. Here, the research of my Fellowship built upon my background in entomology and pest control and was concerned with disentangling the relative effects of climatic conditions and landscape on the natural enemies of aphids in cereal fields. I was particularly interested in how we can better inform landscape management techniques to safeguard natural biological control in a changing climate (and, in my spare time, the relative merits of Champagne versus Vouvray).

Eager to expand my area of expertise in pest control, I was attracted to my current position here at the University of Glasgow which sees me perform research as a member of the Dow/Davies lab group and the wider Horizon 2020 funded research consortium nEUROSTRESSPEP. This research provides an exciting opportunity to address issues of pest control from a novel endocrinological direction and aims to develop ‘greener’ and more target-specific insecticidal agents utilising the insects own neuropeptide hormone.

Outside of my scientific pursuits, I like to keep my life as creative and active as possible. When I am not trekking in the Himalayas, Denali or my beloved Wales, I can be found indulging in some Egon Schiele inspired painting, or channelling my inner Wes Wilson and designing psychedelic gig posters for my rock-guitarist boyfriend who I was fortunate to marry in March of this year at Partrishow Church  amid the Welsh Black Mountains.  

If you would like to know more about my research and recent publications, you can visit my website at www.drlucyalford.weebly.com.

[drlucyalford]

Explorathon ‘16

A great pleasure for me as a scientist is to have the opportunity to inspire and encourage a love of science in others. For this reason, I wholeheartedly embrace all outreach activities offered to me. In September 2016, Glasgow University was to host a science spectacular as part the National Explorathon and the larger European-wide European Researchers’ Night. With my punnet of strawberries, GFP (green fluorescent protein) expressing Drosophila flies and fellow nEUROSTRESSPEPers in tow, I was ready to hit the Glasgow Science Centre to tell the world (or at least visitors to the Centre) all about pest insects and the research of nEUROSTRESSPEP. Whether chatting to the scientifically minded staff at the centre, or to the adorable toddlers fascinated by the creepy-crawlies, the evening proved to be thoroughly enjoyable and a roaring success. I am already eagerly awaiting next year’s event.

[drlucyalford]

CECE2016

I recently had the opportunity to present at the 28th Conference of European Comparative Endocrinologists held in Leuven, Belgium. As my first conference attendance since joining the nEUROSTRESSPEP research consortium, it proved a highly interesting and enjoyable affair. I even managed to squeeze in some time to delight in Belgian beer and chocolate whilst basking in glorious 30°C heat!

[drlucyalford]

My current research at the University of Glasgow as part of the Horizon 2020 funded programme nEUROSTESSPEP has been featured in a short video highlighting the ‘Euro Stars’ of the University of Glasgow and the importance of European collaboration. The full-length article can be read here.