PhD fellowship: Modelling the association of a carabid beetle predator and
its slug prey
Location: IACR Long Ashton Research Station, University of Bristol, Bristol
Starting date: end of 1999
Duration: 3 years
Closing date for application: 25 May 1999
Student Background and Training:
This project will suit a graduate with a good mathematics degree, or a
biology graduate who is
interested in mathematics and computer simulations. Training will be
provided in a wide range
of skills in mathematical modelling, computer simulation, animal ecology and
agro-ecology.
Description of the project
Slugs are considerable pests in agriculture. Unfortunately, chemical control
of slugs
is unreliable and has unwanted environmental impact. Studies at Long
Ashton, in
collaboration with Cardiff, have shown that slugs are important prey for the
naturally
present carabid beetle. The abundance of slugs and carabids appear to be
associated.
Moreover, the evidence is that predation by beetles modifies the spatial
patterns of
slugs and reduces their densities during the main period of beetle activity.
Objectives
1. Produce a simulation model, based on knowledge of carabid and slug
behaviour, which
can qualitatively and quantitatively reproduce the carabid-slug spatial
association.
2. Provide new insights into the spatial and temporal dynamics of slug
populations.
Approach
The project will proceed in 4 significant steps:
1. An individual-based model will be produced to describe (i) predator
movement, with
estimates of diffusion rates and rates of turning following prey
consumption, and
(ii) rates of prey consumption.
2. The model will then be independently tested and validated through a field
experiment
in which the densities of the carabid and slug populations will be
manipulated.
3. The validated model will then be refined for inclusion in a spatially
explicit model
of slug population dynamics currently being produced in a collaborative
project
with the University of Newcastle. The test for this model should be to
reproduce
the patterns of slug and carabid association previously observed at Long
Ashton.
4. If time permits, the predation sub-model will then be extended to
describe carabid-slug
interactions between years.
Please send / e-mail your CV to:
Dr Mikhail Semenov
IACR Long Ashton Research Station
University of Bristol
Long Ashton, Bristol BS41 9AF
e-mail:[log in to unmask]
tel: 01275 392181
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