For the past year, Jordan has been leading the editorial work for a special issue of the journal Agricultural and Forest Entomology, titled “advances in insect biomonitoring for agriculture and forestry”. This has now been finalised and published, containing 11 excellent articles from across the world spanning this broad topic. Check out the full issueContinueContinue reading “SPECIAL ISSUE: Advances in insect biomonitoring for agriculture and forestry”
Author Archives: jordancuff
New preprint: Spatio-temporal variation in diet among age and sex cohorts of a model generalist bird species, the great tit Parus major, revealed by DNA metabarcoding
Check out this new preprint that Jordan contributed to, led by Dr Jenny Coomes: Spatio-temporal variation in diet among age and sex cohorts of a model generalist bird species, the great tit Parus major, revealed by DNA metabarcoding This preprint characterises the diet of the great tit, Parus major, using DNA metabarcoding and shows how itsContinueContinue reading “New preprint: Spatio-temporal variation in diet among age and sex cohorts of a model generalist bird species, the great tit Parus major, revealed by DNA metabarcoding”
Jordan interviewed about spider nutrition for The Naked Scientists
Check out Jordan’s interview for the podcast The Naked Scientists in which he talks about his recent work on the nutritional ecology of spiders in the field! The paper, published recently in Oikos, highlights how nutrients influence the trophic interactions of spiders in the field. The interview delves into the underpinning theory, including nutrient-specific foraging,ContinueContinue reading “Jordan interviewed about spider nutrition for The Naked Scientists”
PHD STUDENTSHIP: Assessing ecosystem service trade-offs in omnivorous generalist beetles using network inference, molecular dietary analysis and nutritional networks
Applications are open for a NERC funded PhD studentship (competition funded, so two rounds of selection, the second with the funder) on network inference, the nutritional and trophic ecology of ground beetles, and their provision of ecosystem services. This PhD will involve joining our (the Foraging Ecology Research Group) lively and growing group of PhD students hereContinueContinue reading “PHD STUDENTSHIP: Assessing ecosystem service trade-offs in omnivorous generalist beetles using network inference, molecular dietary analysis and nutritional networks”
Congrats to Will for winning a presentation award at the Fera Symposium!
Massive congrats to Will for winning the Best Early Researcher Presentation Prize at the Fera Science Symposium! This was the first talk Will has given in his PhD, so he’s off to a great start! Titled “Noisy eaters! Building belowground invertebrate trophic networks for soil health monitoring using metagenomics and ecoacoustics”, Will’s talk set outContinueContinue reading “Congrats to Will for winning a presentation award at the Fera Symposium!”
New preprint: Identifying the Fusarium species involved in foot rot disease of faba beans in the UK using a combined molecular and microbiological approach
Check out this new preprint led by our very own Basem Attar: Identifying the Fusarium species involved in foot rot disease of faba beans in the UK using a combined molecular and microbiological approach! The foot and root rot disease complex is a devastating broad bean productivity globally, including in the UK (the third largestContinueContinue reading “New preprint: Identifying the Fusarium species involved in foot rot disease of faba beans in the UK using a combined molecular and microbiological approach”
NEW PAPER: Prey nutrient content is associated with the trophic interactions of spiders and their prey selection under field conditions
Check out the latest paper from the group: Prey nutrient content is associated with the trophic interactions of spiders and their prey selection under field conditions! We show that the interactions of spiders relate to prey nutrient contents and this is likely driving prey preferences, which vary nutritionally between spider genera, life stages and sexes!ContinueContinue reading “NEW PAPER: Prey nutrient content is associated with the trophic interactions of spiders and their prey selection under field conditions”
Jordan’s visit to Stano Pekár and Masaryk University
Jordan has just returned from Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic where he gave a seminar and visited Stano Pekár’s Terrestrial Invertebrate Research Group. It was an excellent and inspiring trip filled with brilliant science, fantastic conversations and many beautiful castles (and even some exceptional Czech beer)! Jordan got to visit Lednice park, where variousContinueContinue reading “Jordan’s visit to Stano Pekár and Masaryk University”
Romuald Tcheutchoua’s visit for wasp gut analysis
The wonderful Romuald Tcheutchoua visited us for a couple of weeks from Seirian Sumner’s group at University College London to analyse the guts of wasps from farms across Cameroon! Romuald is looking at the provision of ecosystem services like crop pest biocontrol by wasps in agricultural systems (particularly predation of the devastating fall army worm),ContinueContinue reading “Romuald Tcheutchoua’s visit for wasp gut analysis”
NEW PAPER: Networking nutrients: How nutrition determines the structure of ecological networks
Check out this exciting new paper! Networking nutrients: How nutrition determines the structure of ecological networks We provide a synthesis on the interface between nutritional and network ecology and demonstrate its potential for ecological research. Nutrients determine the frequency and identity of interactions, and ecosystem services and function. They therefore also play a significant roleContinueContinue reading “NEW PAPER: Networking nutrients: How nutrition determines the structure of ecological networks”
Foraging Ecology Research Group 