I will be starting in as a QUADRAT PhD candidate in October 2020 and I couldn’t be more excited to start my project and return to academia after working various administration jobs for the last few years, since finishing my MSc.
I find the vast amount of diversity found in nature amazing and astounding. However, I am anxious about the effect that climate change is having on our planet. This is why I’m so happy to undertake a project that attempts to understand how and why species differ in their ability to survive the challenges they face due to climate change, using beetles as a study species.
Previously, I undertook projects that explored how the vast diversity that species have is employed to tackle climate change,by looking at what genes are associated with the different levels of plasticity that N.crassa (red bread mould) strains demonstrate in response to temperature changes. This was undertaken through lab experiments in Jyvaskyla, Finland, where I undertook my MSc.
I also had the opportunity to undertake an additional project in Trinidad and Tobago, looking at the behavioural plasticity displayed by (Poecilia reticulata) guppies in response to density changes, while assisting with research on a project about density-dependent dispersal also in guppies. These projects were conducted using wild species and fieldwork. Trinidad was a beautiful country with a rich culture that I would not have otherwise experienced, if it were not for this fieldwork opportunity which I was extremely grateful for.
I’m looking forward to the following few years to further dig into what factors contribute to species differences in their ability to respond to climate change, and to explore Scotland and Aberdeen. I have never visited Scotland before and am excited to live here for the next few years and see the amazing sites it had to offer.
