Blog Welcome to the FERG blog! We share various goings-on, publications and adventures here, and all sorts else. Check out some of our recent posts in the carousel below, or scroll further down for some categories. Subscribe to email updates here: Type your email… Subscribe FERG News January 2026 2026-01-01 FERG Yearly Round-up 2025 2025-12-17 New preprint: Arthropod predator nutrient content changes with crop sowing period with implications for biocontrol 2025-12-15 FERG News December 2025 2025-12-02 FERG News November 2025 2025-11-04 PHD STUDENTSHIP: Integrating molecular dietary analysis, nutritional ecology and network inference to assess ecosystem service trade-offs in omnivorous beetles 2025-10-28 FERG News October 2025 2025-10-02 Jordan secured NERC-FAPESP funding with Raul Costa-Pereira to kickstart new UK-Brazil collaborative research! 2025-09-16 Happy Peer Review Week! 2025-09-16 Max Tercel’s visit from Cibio, Portugal! 2025-09-10 FERG joined NEG in hosting EcoNet 2025! 2025-09-10 FERG News September 2025 2025-09-04 Jordan awarded RES Alfred Russel Wallace Award 2025-08-25 Check out Jordan’s talk about nutritional networks for entoLIVE on YouTube! 2025-08-19 Check out Ainsley’s new article out in The Conversation! 2025-08-11 New preprint: Ecoacoustics for context-rich direct and indirect trophic interaction data and ecological network construction 2025-08-07 FERG News August 2025 2025-08-04 NEW PAPER: Threatened endemic arthropods and vertebrates partition their diets with non-native ants in an isolated island ecosystem 2025-08-01 Rosy published in the British Arachnological Society Newsletter! 2025-08-01 NEW PAPER: Aquatic biological invasions exacerbate nutritional and health inequities 2025-08-01 Basem published some of his previous research on chickpea Ascochyta blight! 2025-08-01 NEW PAPER: Spatio-temporal variation in diet among age and sex cohorts of a model generalist bird species, the great tit Parus major: new insights revealed by DNA metabarcoding 2025-08-01 NEW PAPER: Bridging digestive physiology and ecology for a more integrative understanding of invertebrate predators 2025-08-01 FERG News July 2025 2025-07-24 FERG News June 2025 2025-06-08 New preprint: Dietary RNA: diagnostic and functional RNA offer a potential paradigm shift for molecular dietary analyses 2025-06-06 Send us your crab spider photos and samples! 2025-05-20 Will co-authors new paper on ant thermal limits 2025-05-11 NEW PAPER: ScannerVision: Scanner-based image acquisition of medically important arthropods for the development of computer vision and deep learning models 2025-05-09 FERG News May 2025 2025-05-01 Ainsley and Jack co-author new paper on the decline of UK fisheries 2025-04-13 Congrats to Rosy on being elected RES Student Rep! 2025-04-02 Our nutritional networks paper shortlisted for the 2024 Elton Prize! 2025-03-20 Ben and Jordan become Open Research Champions for Newcastle University! 2025-02-21 Our recent spider paper featured on the cover of Oikos 2025-02-12 Happy International Day of Women and Girls in Science! 2025-02-11 SPECIAL ISSUE: Advances in insect biomonitoring for agriculture and forestry 2025-01-07 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 2025-01-06 Jordan interviewed about spider nutrition for The Naked Scientists 2024-11-27 PHD STUDENTSHIP: Assessing ecosystem service trade-offs in omnivorous generalist beetles using network inference, molecular dietary analysis and nutritional networks 2024-11-18 Congrats to Will for winning a presentation award at the Fera Symposium! 2024-11-06 New preprint: Identifying the Fusarium species involved in foot rot disease of faba beans in the UK using a combined molecular and microbiological approach 2024-10-28 NEW PAPER: Prey nutrient content is associated with the trophic interactions of spiders and their prey selection under field conditions 2024-10-22 Jordan’s visit to Stano Pekár and Masaryk University 2024-10-11 Romuald Tcheutchoua’s visit for wasp gut analysis 2024-09-17 NEW PAPER: Networking nutrients: How nutrition determines the structure of ecological networks 2024-07-01 Congrats to Ben for receiving an Open Research Commendation! 2024-06-24 NEW PAPER: Understanding trophic interactions in a warming world by bridging foraging ecology and biomechanics with network science 2024-06-15 NEW PAPER: Ecology, natural history, and conservation status of Scolopendra abnormis, a threatened centipede endemic to Mauritius 2024-06-14 NEW PAPER: Biomonitoring of biocontrol across the full annual cycle in temperate climates 2024-06-08 NEW PAPER: Metabarcoding advances agricultural invertebrate biomonitoring by enhancing resolution, increasing throughput and facilitating network inference 2024-05-14 NEW PAPER: Identifying archived insect bulk samples using DNA metabarcoding: A case study using the long-term Rothamsted Insect Survey 2024-05-14 NEW PAPER: The case for open research in entomology: Reducing harm, refining reproducibility and advancing insect science 2024-02-13 NEW PAPER: Sources of prey availability data alter interpretation of outputs from prey choice null networks 2024-02-02 New preprint: Biomonitoring of biocontrol across the full annual cycle in temperate climates: post-harvest, winter and early-season interaction data and methodological considerations for its collection 2024-01-29 New preprint: Understanding trophic interactions in a warming world by bridging foraging ecology and biomechanics with network science 2023-12-18 New preprint: Metabarcoding advances agricultural invertebrate biomonitoring by enhancing resolution, increasing throughput, and facilitating network inference 2023-12-12 PHD STUDENTSHIP: Building belowground invertebrate trophic networks for soil health monitoring using metagenomics and ecoacoustics 2023-12-12 PHD STUDENTSHIP: The impact of artificial light at night on optimal foraging, trophic networks and ecosystem services 2023-11-06 PHD STUDENTSHIP: Rustling up something to eat: investigating predator-plant interactions as indirect drivers of ecosystem services 2023-11-04 NEW CHAPTER: A roadmap for biomonitoring in the 21st century: merging methods into metrics via ecological networks 2023-10-17 New preprint: The case for open research in entomology: reducing harm, refining reproducibility and advancing insect science 2023-10-10 EcoNet2023 and research visit to HUJI 2023-09-10 Jordan shortlisted for national postdoc award 2023-09-09 New preprint: Sources of prey availability data alter interpretation of outputs from prey choice null networks 2023-07-31 Open Research Award for Jordan and FERG! 2023-07-30 NEW PAPER: Temporal variation in spider trophic interactions is explained by the influence of weather on prey communities, web building and prey choice 2023-07-30 Primer time: a rollercoaster ride through metabarcoding PCR primer design 2021-03-29 People & Places FERG News Outputs Opportunities Achievements Informal articles
New preprint: Arthropod predator nutrient content changes with crop sowing period with implications for biocontrol 2025-12-15
PHD STUDENTSHIP: Integrating molecular dietary analysis, nutritional ecology and network inference to assess ecosystem service trade-offs in omnivorous beetles 2025-10-28
Jordan secured NERC-FAPESP funding with Raul Costa-Pereira to kickstart new UK-Brazil collaborative research! 2025-09-16
New preprint: Ecoacoustics for context-rich direct and indirect trophic interaction data and ecological network construction 2025-08-07
NEW PAPER: Threatened endemic arthropods and vertebrates partition their diets with non-native ants in an isolated island ecosystem 2025-08-01
NEW PAPER: Spatio-temporal variation in diet among age and sex cohorts of a model generalist bird species, the great tit Parus major: new insights revealed by DNA metabarcoding 2025-08-01
NEW PAPER: Bridging digestive physiology and ecology for a more integrative understanding of invertebrate predators 2025-08-01
New preprint: Dietary RNA: diagnostic and functional RNA offer a potential paradigm shift for molecular dietary analyses 2025-06-06
NEW PAPER: ScannerVision: Scanner-based image acquisition of medically important arthropods for the development of computer vision and deep learning models 2025-05-09
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 2025-01-06
PHD STUDENTSHIP: Assessing ecosystem service trade-offs in omnivorous generalist beetles using network inference, molecular dietary analysis and nutritional networks 2024-11-18
New preprint: Identifying the Fusarium species involved in foot rot disease of faba beans in the UK using a combined molecular and microbiological approach 2024-10-28
NEW PAPER: Prey nutrient content is associated with the trophic interactions of spiders and their prey selection under field conditions 2024-10-22
NEW PAPER: Networking nutrients: How nutrition determines the structure of ecological networks 2024-07-01
NEW PAPER: Understanding trophic interactions in a warming world by bridging foraging ecology and biomechanics with network science 2024-06-15
NEW PAPER: Ecology, natural history, and conservation status of Scolopendra abnormis, a threatened centipede endemic to Mauritius 2024-06-14
NEW PAPER: Metabarcoding advances agricultural invertebrate biomonitoring by enhancing resolution, increasing throughput and facilitating network inference 2024-05-14
NEW PAPER: Identifying archived insect bulk samples using DNA metabarcoding: A case study using the long-term Rothamsted Insect Survey 2024-05-14
NEW PAPER: The case for open research in entomology: Reducing harm, refining reproducibility and advancing insect science 2024-02-13
NEW PAPER: Sources of prey availability data alter interpretation of outputs from prey choice null networks 2024-02-02
New preprint: Biomonitoring of biocontrol across the full annual cycle in temperate climates: post-harvest, winter and early-season interaction data and methodological considerations for its collection 2024-01-29
New preprint: Understanding trophic interactions in a warming world by bridging foraging ecology and biomechanics with network science 2023-12-18
New preprint: Metabarcoding advances agricultural invertebrate biomonitoring by enhancing resolution, increasing throughput, and facilitating network inference 2023-12-12
PHD STUDENTSHIP: Building belowground invertebrate trophic networks for soil health monitoring using metagenomics and ecoacoustics 2023-12-12
PHD STUDENTSHIP: The impact of artificial light at night on optimal foraging, trophic networks and ecosystem services 2023-11-06
PHD STUDENTSHIP: Rustling up something to eat: investigating predator-plant interactions as indirect drivers of ecosystem services 2023-11-04
NEW CHAPTER: A roadmap for biomonitoring in the 21st century: merging methods into metrics via ecological networks 2023-10-17
New preprint: The case for open research in entomology: reducing harm, refining reproducibility and advancing insect science 2023-10-10
New preprint: Sources of prey availability data alter interpretation of outputs from prey choice null networks 2023-07-31
NEW PAPER: Temporal variation in spider trophic interactions is explained by the influence of weather on prey communities, web building and prey choice 2023-07-30