University of Sussex - PhD Biology

Life Sciences PhD Biology Studentship (2022)

What you get

This School-funded position covers Home tuition fees and a stipend at standard UKRI rates for 3.5 years. Applicants with overseas fee status will need to fund the difference between Home and International tuition fees. 

Type of award

Postgraduate Research

PhD project

Flower choices and pollen foraging in bees

Background and Research Questions

One third of crops grown worldwide benefit from pollination by insects, therefore plant-pollinator interactions are of significant importance to global food security. Bees visit flowers to collect pollen and nectar, which together comprise the entirety of their diet. Nutritional cues, such as sugar concentration, are used to assess the value of nectar rewards offered by flowers and guide bees’ foraging decisions. However, we still know little about how insects assess reward quality during pollen collection and the factors shaping foraging choices. In previous work we demonstrated that bees have pollen preferences [1] and learn to associate differences in pollen quality with floral cues such as petal colour [2].  However, the complexity of pollen as a food source means there are still many unanswered questions regarding the factors guiding flower choices. The successful candidate will work alongside existing members of the Nicholls lab, using a combination of behavioural taste assays, floral choice experiments and physiological methods (e.g. flow-through respirometry) to address the following research questions:

1) Do bees use taste to assess the nutritional quality of pollen?

2) How energetically and cognitively costly is it to switch between different flowers during pollen collection?

3) How do floral differences (e.g. floral morphology or reward volumes) affect pollen foraging decisions and plant pollination?

Research Implications

Improving understanding of pollen foraging choices will support conservation of wild pollinators and enable better design and management of agri-environments to ensure both that bees’ nutritional needs are met, and the pollination of crops and wildflowers is optimised.

Research Environment

The studentship will be based in the department of Evolution, Behaviour and Environment (EBE), in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Sussex, which has a strong track record in inter-disciplinary approaches to research and impact, and a wealth of expertise in insect behaviour and ecology. In the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF2014) 87% of Biological Sciences research at Sussex was rated as internationally excellent or higher. EBE has strong ties to other research groups at the University of Sussex, such as Neuroscience and Informatics, and our researchers collaborate with a range of external organisations, such as the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.

Situated within the Brighton and Lewes Downs UNESCO Biosphere, adjacent to the South Downs National Park, the University of Sussex campus is a short distance from the bustling city of Brighton, and just 60 miles from London. The candidate will receive training and support in conducting behavioural and physiological experiments, and will have access to apiaries, constant environment rooms for rearing insects, and greenhouses for growing plants and conducting semi-field experiments. 

[1] Nicholls & Hempel de Ibarra (2014)  Bees associate colour cues with differences in pollen rewards. Journal of Experimental Biology, 217(15), 2783-2788.

[2] Nicholls et al. (2015) Differences in color learning between pollen-and sucrose-rewarded bees. Communicative & Integrative Biology, 8(4), e1052921.

Eligibility

Eligible applicants will hold a 2:1 BSc in a relevant subject. A masters qualification is preferred but not essential. Candidates for whom English is not their first language will require an IELTS score of 6.5 overall, with not less than 6.0 in any section.

Deadline

How to apply

How to apply

Please submit a formal application using the online system at www.sussex.ac.uk/study/phd/apply attaching a CV, degree transcripts and certificates, statement of interest and two academic references.

On the application system select Programme of Study – PhD Biology. Please ensure you state the project title under funding and include the proposed supervisor’s name where required.

Contact us

For enquiries about the application process, contact Emma Chorley: lifesci-rec@sussex.ac.uk

For enquiries about the project, contact Dr Beth Nicholls e.nicholls@sussex.ac.uk

https://www.sussex.ac.uk/research/labs/nicholls-lab/