Cold-adapted species, including those restricted to mountains, are highly vulnerable to\u00a0climate change. For UK butterflies, cold-adapted species are similarly threatened by climate\u00a0change-mediated decline, with some species demonstrating range retractions concurrent\u00a0with recent warming. Consequently, upland species are becoming a priority for many\u00a0conservation organisations both in the UK and globally. However, developing adaptation\u00a0strategies for these species is hampered by a lack of a mechanistic understanding of\u00a0climate change impacts, a knowledge gap that needs addressing. Furthermore, as
\nclimate change can have complex and conflicting impacts during different stages of a\u00a0butterfly\u2019s life-cycle, studies need to consider the sensitivity of each stage to climate\u00a0variation, although this is rarely done. We are looking for an enthusiastic PhD candidate\u00a0interested in investigating how climate change is negatively affecting the persistence of a\u00a0threatened, climate-sensitive butterfly, the Mountain Ringlet in the Lake District. The\u00a0project will explore issues around which butterfly\u2019s stages (eggs, caterpillars, chrysalids\u00a0and adults) are more sensitive to temperature variation, how thermal tolerance differ\u00a0among populations along altitudinal gradients and which are the genetic bases of those\u00a0differences. The project also aims to explore potential mitigation measures by assessing\u00a0how active habitat management (e.g. controlled grazing) could increase the availability of\u00a0suitable microhabitat\/microclimate in the landscape, to enhance the persistence of the\u00a0Mountain Ringlet in the face of future climate change. The successful candidate will\u00a0develop skills in field ecology, thermal tolerance assays, molecular and statistical\u00a0modelling techniques. The student will be based at Lancaster under the supervision of Dr\u00a0Rosa Menendez and will be co-supervised by Dr Melanie Gibbs (CEH-Wallingford) and\u00a0Dr Steven Ewing (RSPB). As part of the project the student will spend time working in\u00a0close collaboration with RSPB (project Case-partner) and other conservation\u00a0organisations involved in habitat management in the Lake District.<\/p>\n
Applicants should hold a minimum of a UK Honours Degree at 2:1 level or equivalent in a\u00a0subject such as Biology, Ecology or Natural Sciences. Fieldwork experience in uplands\u00a0and a keen interest in insects will be advantageous.<\/p>\n
For further details please contact Dr Rosa Menendez: r.menendez@lancaster.ac.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cold-adapted species, including those restricted to mountains, are highly vulnerable to\u00a0climate change. For UK butterflies, cold-adapted species are similarly threatened by climate\u00a0change-mediated decline, with some species demonstrating range retractions concurrent\u00a0with recent warming. Consequently, upland species are becoming a priority for many\u00a0conservation organisations both in the UK and globally. However, developing adaptation\u00a0strategies for these species is… Read More »Climate change impacts on cold-adapted butterflies: discovering the mechanisms and testing potential mitigation approaches<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":363,"featured_media":5892,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[51],"tags":[44,12],"class_list":["post-5891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-51","tag-case","tag-lancaster"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/files\/2017\/10\/Rosa-Menendez-Image-400x400px.jpg?fit=400%2C400","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8kFzn-1x1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/363"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5891"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5893,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5891\/revisions\/5893"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/envision\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}