Ants as ecosystem engineers: using ants to promote biodiversity

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

We are looking for an enthusiastic and ambitious student to develop an exciting project using fieldexperiments to quantify the relationship between meadow ants and management regimes, and howthese together affect biodiversity and soil function. The ideal candidate will enjoy interacting with bothacademics and stakeholders and will want to apply their scientific training to an important appliedquestion.Ants act as effective geoengineers, increasing habitat heterogeneity and constructing niches. Yellowmeadow ants, Lasius flavus, were historically common on pastures and promote biodiversity, forexample increasing floral species richness. Many modern farming practices reduce or eliminate theirpopulations.Belton House, a National Trust property including 650 hectares of historic wood pasture parkland, a UKpriority habitat, has areas hosting unusually high densities of meadow ants, but also other areas wherethey are entirely absent. Previous management of the site has resulted in some over-grazing and soilcompaction. The site is undergoing a period of management change, to a more biodiversity-friendlyapproach of mixed and lighter grazing.Objectives- To assess the impact of management regimes on ant populations, using controlled manipulations- To assess the role of soil-dwelling ants as agents of rehabilitation of compacted soil usingexperimental transplantation- To identify the ecological processes mediating the unusually high ant population densities at certainsites, using behavioural and genetic dataProject benefitsThe student will receive thorough postgraduate training supported by a multidisciplinary team ofsupervisors with strong research backgrounds and experience in postgraduate supervision. The studentwill gain ecological research skills including: empirical field techniques; cutting-edge laboratoryequipment techniques; spatial analysis methods. This study will provide novel data on the impact ofants on soil rehabilitation and ecosystem function, and on how grassland management impacts theseprocesses: it will benefit the academic ecology/evolution communities, policy-makers and landmanagers.