Hello! My name is Rebecca and I have just started my PhD journey based at Queen’s University Belfast, in the School of Biological Sciences. My project, titled “Animal Behaviour in a Changing World: Investigating the Effects of Multiple Stressors,” uses hermit crabs as a model species to explore how animals respond to simultaneous environmental challenges. I’ll examine behavioural changes at the individual level and also hope to shed light on how these responses might ripple through trophic interactions and affect broader ecosystems.
Growing up on the Devon coast, I spent my childhood scraping my knees to access rock pools, observing the hidden world of woodlice, and collecting insects. This fascination for the natural world lead me to study undergraduate Biology at the University of Oxford, with a growing focus on ecology and evolution. While there, I had the incredible opportunity to assist a mammal monitoring project in the Peruvian Amazon. Spending two months in a remote research camp taught me a lot about fieldwork, but it also highlighted to me the pervasive impacts of climate change. This was exemplified by the declining yields of Brazil nut trees, an important part of the local economy and forest conservation strategies. These towering trees rely on interactions with pollinators and dispersers, which make them vulnerable to environmental changes. Their plight is a reminder of how delicately balanced ecosystems are, and how even slight shifts can have cascading effects, with conservation and socio-economic implications.
Whilst completing my MSc in Conservation and Biodiversity at the University of Exeter, I was fortunate to visit Kenya and see its biodiversity in action. Yet, stood in the midst of elephants, my eye was instead drawn to the ants making their careful way along the branches of the whistling thorn acacia. I later learnt that this was an invasive species of ant that could be having profound impacts on the elephants and acacia ecosystem at large but was relatively research sparse. Witnessing the subtle but powerful influence of a small species reinforced how interconnected ecosystems truly are.
During my master’s research, under the supervision of Tom Tregenza and Rolando Rodríguez-Muñoz in their WildCrickets system, I explored how crickets adapt their behaviour to temperature changes through “behavioural thermoregulation.” By the end of the project, I knew that I wanted to continue studying behavioural responses to global change. But ecosystems face more than just temperature changes, and I couldn’t ignore the questions circling around my mind: What about other stressors? and How do impacts ripple through communities? This PhD project felt like a perfect fit to explore these complexities further… And I am excited to be returning to the rock pools of long childhood summers.
Outside of my research, you’ll probably find me exploring the outdoors or maybe designing tattoos inspired by bugs and plants. I am excited to start my new chapter in Belfast. I am always keen to grab a pot of tea and have a chat – feel free to reach out and email me!
