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Dr Peter Mayhew 
Senior Lecturer


PURE Staff link York Research Database

Evolution and Ecology of Insects

Little known taxa make up the majority of species on Earth, and help determine the way planetary ecology functions. No group exemplifies this better than the insects. I am interested in understanding the origins of this diversity, in terms of its richness and phenotypic complexity, and also its significance and how to maintain it. To study origins we need to compile datasets on species’ traits, their relationship to other species and when they appeared and disappeared (Figure 1), and then interrogate them using appropriate statistical approaches.

Figure 1. A dated phylogeny of insect families used for comparative analysis of their diversity

To understand how to maintain insect diversity we need first to discover how it is spatially distributed. This means sampling insects from different environments and asking what environmental characteristics explain their distributions (Figure 2).

Figure 2. The Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil is a biodiversity hotspot where the insect fauna is strongly determined by physical and other environmental characteristics. Understanding these determinants helps inform conservation strategies to protect them.

When species decrease in number or range, we need to understand what forces may be driving that, and what it means for humans. This involves monitoring what changes are taking place in the environment, how they might affect the species concerned, and how this might affect other species and also people (Figure 3).

Figure 3. The Dark Bordered Beauty moth is probably England’s rarest moth. It has declined extensively in range and abundance because of loss of its habitat which is also important for other species. The species is also culturally important to people in the UK because it has been the focus of natural history interest for nearly two centuries.

My overall goal is to better understand what makes the planet a diverse place, the consequences of that diversity, and whether and how we might choose to maintain it. 

Contact details

Dr Peter Mayhew
Senior Lecturer
Department of Biology - Room B/C/013
University of York
Heslington
York
YO10 5DD

Tel: 01904 328644

https://mayhewgroup.wordpress.com/