The range of organisms covers insects like cinnabar moth, leaf miners feeding on grass and plants and rabbits and pests of cereals. A wide range of opportunities for manipulative field experiments, laboratory and greenhouse trials, and theoretical work on the dynamics of these interactions. Students should have a general interest in whole organism biology. Some background in ecology and quantitative biology would be an advantage. Several techniques of cell biology are being used to investigate functional aspects of 'model' neural systems.
Emphasis is placed upon solution of concise, key problems in cell physiology and neurobiology.
The mycophagous nematode Aphelenchus avenae is frequently found in samples of soil taken at random. The individuals of each such isolate are all females, reproducing pathenogenetically as a clone, and differ in their life history traits such as rate of population increase, their temperature optima, and their fungal-food preferences. One project is analysing new populations of A.avenae to find clones with strong preferences for feeding on aggressive plant pathogenic fungi. Another project aims to explore the extent to which populations of A.avenae may have endosymbiont micro-organisms manipulating their reproduction. Initially, a survey of nematode populations will reveal the extent of this trait using molecular techniques, and could be extended to seeking differences between nematode clones showing different life history traits.