Overview
I am an ecologist interested in how species respond to environmental change. My research uses a combination of fieldwork and climate modelling to investigate the effects of microclimate on species’ abundance, distribution, and persistence within landscapes. Butterflies are a particular passion of mine, with their ecology and conservation forming a focus for much of my work. I am interested in understanding how butterflies can use microclimate variation in their environment to thermoregulate, and the potential that it may offer to buffer populations against climate extremes.
I study populations of the Silver-studded Blue butterfly (Plebejus argus) across a network of sites created by former mining activity here in Cornwall. These old mining sites provide an extensive network of successionally and topographically diverse habitats for investigating the influences of microclimate. Consequently, I also have a keen interest in the unique biodiversity of these culturally important, post-industrial sites.
I am supervised by Prof Richard ffrench-Constant, Dr Ilya Maclean, Dr Jon Bennie and Dr Adrian Spalding. Funding for my PhD research is provided by the University of Exeter College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Cornwall Butterfly and Moth Society, and Spalding Associates (Environmental) Ltd.
Mastodon
Qualifications
2018 - MRes Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Research, Imperial College London
2017 - BA (Hons) Natural Sciences (Zoology), University of Cambridge
Links
Publications
Key publications | Publications by category | Publications by year
Publications by category
Journal articles
Rhodes MW, Bennie JJ, Spalding A, Ffrench-Constant RH, Maclean IMD (2022). Recent advances in the remote sensing of insects.
BIOLOGICAL REVIEWS,
97(1), 343-360.
Author URL.
Arce AN, Cantwell‐Jones A, Tansley M, Barnes I, Brace S, Mullin VE, Notton D, Ollerton J, Eatough E, Rhodes MW, et al (2022). Signatures of increasing environmental stress in bumblebee wings over the past century: Insights from museum specimens.
Journal of Animal Ecology,
92(2), 297-309.
Abstract:
Signatures of increasing environmental stress in bumblebee wings over the past century: Insights from museum specimens
Abstract
Determining when animal populations have experienced stress in the past is fundamental to understanding how risk factors drive contemporary and future species' responses to environmental change. For insects, quantifying stress and associating it with environmental factors has been challenging due to a paucity of time‐series data and because detectable population‐level responses can show varying lag effects. One solution is to leverage historic entomological specimens to detect morphological proxies of stress experienced at the time stressors emerged, allowing us to more accurately determine population responses.
Here we studied specimens of four bumblebee species, an invaluable group of insect pollinators, from five museums collected across Britain over the 20th century. We calculated the degree of fluctuating asymmetry (FA; random deviations from bilateral symmetry) between the right and left forewings as a potential proxy of developmental stress.
We: (a) investigated whether baseline FA levels vary between species, and how this compares between the first and second half of the century; (b) determined the extent of FA change over the century in the four bumblebee species, and whether this followed a linear or nonlinear trend; (c) tested which annual climatic conditions correlated with increased FA in bumblebees.
Species differed in their baseline FA, with FA being higher in the two species that have recently expanded their ranges in Britain. Overall, FA significantly increased over the century but followed a nonlinear trend, with the increase starting c. 1925. We found relatively warm and wet years were associated with higher FA.
Collectively our findings show that FA in bumblebees increased over the 20th century and under weather conditions that will likely increase in frequency with climate change. By plotting FA trends and quantifying the contribution of annual climate conditions on past populations, we provide an important step towards improving our understanding of how environmental factors could impact future populations of wild beneficial insects.
Abstract.
Maclean IMD, Duffy JP, Haesen S, Govaert S, De Frenne P, Vanneste T, Lenoir J, Lembrechts JJ, Rhodes MW, Van Meerbeek K, et al (2021). On the measurement of microclimate.
METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION,
12(8), 1397-1410.
Author URL.
Hayes MP, Rhodes MW, Turner EC, Hitchcock GE, Knock RI, Lucas CBH, Chaney PK (2018). Determining the long-term habitat preferences of the Duke of Burgundy butterfly, Hamearis lucina, on a chalk grassland reserve in the UK.
JOURNAL OF INSECT CONSERVATION,
22(2), 329-343.
Author URL.
Publications by year
2022
Rhodes MW, Bennie JJ, Spalding A, Ffrench-Constant RH, Maclean IMD (2022). Recent advances in the remote sensing of insects.
BIOLOGICAL REVIEWS,
97(1), 343-360.
Author URL.
Arce AN, Cantwell‐Jones A, Tansley M, Barnes I, Brace S, Mullin VE, Notton D, Ollerton J, Eatough E, Rhodes MW, et al (2022). Signatures of increasing environmental stress in bumblebee wings over the past century: Insights from museum specimens.
Journal of Animal Ecology,
92(2), 297-309.
Abstract:
Signatures of increasing environmental stress in bumblebee wings over the past century: Insights from museum specimens
Abstract
Determining when animal populations have experienced stress in the past is fundamental to understanding how risk factors drive contemporary and future species' responses to environmental change. For insects, quantifying stress and associating it with environmental factors has been challenging due to a paucity of time‐series data and because detectable population‐level responses can show varying lag effects. One solution is to leverage historic entomological specimens to detect morphological proxies of stress experienced at the time stressors emerged, allowing us to more accurately determine population responses.
Here we studied specimens of four bumblebee species, an invaluable group of insect pollinators, from five museums collected across Britain over the 20th century. We calculated the degree of fluctuating asymmetry (FA; random deviations from bilateral symmetry) between the right and left forewings as a potential proxy of developmental stress.
We: (a) investigated whether baseline FA levels vary between species, and how this compares between the first and second half of the century; (b) determined the extent of FA change over the century in the four bumblebee species, and whether this followed a linear or nonlinear trend; (c) tested which annual climatic conditions correlated with increased FA in bumblebees.
Species differed in their baseline FA, with FA being higher in the two species that have recently expanded their ranges in Britain. Overall, FA significantly increased over the century but followed a nonlinear trend, with the increase starting c. 1925. We found relatively warm and wet years were associated with higher FA.
Collectively our findings show that FA in bumblebees increased over the 20th century and under weather conditions that will likely increase in frequency with climate change. By plotting FA trends and quantifying the contribution of annual climate conditions on past populations, we provide an important step towards improving our understanding of how environmental factors could impact future populations of wild beneficial insects.
Abstract.
2021
Maclean IMD, Duffy JP, Haesen S, Govaert S, De Frenne P, Vanneste T, Lenoir J, Lembrechts JJ, Rhodes MW, Van Meerbeek K, et al (2021). On the measurement of microclimate.
METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION,
12(8), 1397-1410.
Author URL.
2018
Hayes MP, Rhodes MW, Turner EC, Hitchcock GE, Knock RI, Lucas CBH, Chaney PK (2018). Determining the long-term habitat preferences of the Duke of Burgundy butterfly, Hamearis lucina, on a chalk grassland reserve in the UK.
JOURNAL OF INSECT CONSERVATION,
22(2), 329-343.
Author URL.
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