Projects
Honeybee research. How can increase the bee population?
Our research focuses on the question how we can increase the bee population. In recent years bee populations have been decreasing dramatically, which as huge consequences.
Currently there are two projects running in my lab.
- The first one focuses on the possible role of pesticides in bee decline.
- The second project aims to identify and feeding stimulants (phagostimulants) in bee pollen to enhance the uptake of artificial diets used to strengthen bee colonies.
PMI in Forensic Entomology. Research in social insects has shown that hydrocarbons found on the cuticle of insects are species specific as well as caste specific and hence could be a promising tool for establishing the PMI in forensic entomology.
When the cause of death is unknown in a criminal case, establishing the post-mortem interval (PMI) is very important. In basic terms, forensic entomology is the use of insects and their anthropod relatives that inhabit decomposing remains to aid legal investigation.
It is becoming more and more important in the last decade and is being used more frequently to determine the PMI when a medical pathologist is unable to do so (+72 hours after death).
However, the area is coming under scrutiny as determining a reliable time of death can be challenging even for the most experienced of forensic entomologists and more scientifically supported research is needed to strengthen the evidence and ensure creditability is restored.
Research in social insects has shown that hydrocarbons found on the cuticle of insects are species specific as well as caste specific and hence could be a promising tool for establishing the PMI in forensic entomology.
In this research project hydrocarbons are extracted from adults, eggs and larvae and analysed using a Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer to determine if these hydrocarbons are species specific. Another potential is to use the hydrocarbons to distinguish the different stages of the life cycle.
If they yield different specific hydrocarbon profiles for the 6 different life stages this is a much greater method of age identification than the current methods being used.
Another project related to this is the study in which we investigate the influence of legal highs on blow fly development and how this effects PM estimations. Here we observed the hydrocarbon profile of larvae fed on meat spiked with certain legal highs.
Hydrocarbons as recognition cues in insects. In our lab we focus on unravelling the role of hydrocarbons in nest mate recognition in ants, bees and other social insects.
Communication is fundamental to life at all levels between cells, organs, individuals, and societies.
The primary mode of communication in insects is chemical, and understanding how the cues and signals are encoded is one of the major challenges facing chemical ecologists of the 21st century.
Despite the importance of chemical communication, and the large amount of chemical data available, we still understand little of how recognition signals and cues are encoded by the myriad of compounds produced by social insects.
In our lab we focus on unravelling the role of hydrocarbons in nest mate recognition in ants, bees and other social insects.
Other projects carried out in collaboration.
Research in chemical ecology is a multidisciplinary approach and in my research I collaborate with various groups worldwide. Please click on the research groups below to find out more about my collaborators.
Dr Martin Steinbauer, La Trobe University, Australia
Dr Jeff Tomberlin, Texas A&M University, Texas, USA,
Dr Eric Benbow, University of Dayton, Dayton, USA
Dr Jens Amendt, Institut für Rechtsmedizin, Klinikum der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Germany
Dr Martin Hall, Natural History Museum, London, UK,
Dr Stephen Martin, Salford University,
Zheijang University, Hangzhou, China,