The Genetics of Migration lab was established in 2016 by Karl Wotton and is based at the Cornwall campus of the University Of Exeter. Our research focuses on spectacular long-distance migrations of insects and investigates how these tiny organisms move over vast distances and what are the ecological consequences of these movements.
If you are interested in PhD or Postdoc opportunities, or would like any further information, then please get in touch.
If you are interested in PhD or Postdoc opportunities, or would like any further information, then please get in touch.
Research Projects
Long-term monitoring and comparative analysis of migratory insect populations. We monitor insect movement through migration hotspots, including high mountain passes, islands and coastal areas. We have developed a number of methods to quantify the huge numbers of individuals involved and our emerging long-term datasets are used to investigate how environmental and geographic variation influences migrant numbers and species assemblages. We use our field sites to investigate a number of interactions between co-migrants and between migrants and resident species (predation, mutualisms, disease etc) in order to understand how these mobile ecosystems function.
Orientation and energetics in migratory hoverflies. Over 4 billion migratory hoverflies move over Britain each year. These species enter in spring, reproduce through summer and the subsequent generations leave in autumn, flying south to the Mediterranean basin. To achieve this, hoverflies may cover hundreds of kilometres in a single day and thousands of kilometres over the entire period. Yet we do not understand how they know when to leave, which way to head or how they power their journeys. To investigate these questions, we use state-of-the-art flight recording technology including flight-simulators, flight-mills and vertical-looking radar to investigate compass navigation and flight capabilities of migratory hoverflies:see here and here.
Environmental induction and genetic control of migration. We utilise transcriptomics and comparative genomics to identify the molecular determinants of migration in insects. In particular, this research aims to move our understanding of the genetics of migration from correlative studies, which identify genes potentially involved in migration, to a mechanistic understanding of how these factors actually function.
Hoverflies as dual ecosystem services providers ‘pollinators+’. Hoverflies visit many of the major global food crops worth around US$300 billion per year to the world economy. In addition, they provide ecosystem functions not seen in bees: crop protection from pests, recycling of organic matter and long-distance pollen transfer. We investigate a number of questions related to the ecological utilisation of hoverflies to improve agriculture: see here.
Orientation and energetics in migratory hoverflies. Over 4 billion migratory hoverflies move over Britain each year. These species enter in spring, reproduce through summer and the subsequent generations leave in autumn, flying south to the Mediterranean basin. To achieve this, hoverflies may cover hundreds of kilometres in a single day and thousands of kilometres over the entire period. Yet we do not understand how they know when to leave, which way to head or how they power their journeys. To investigate these questions, we use state-of-the-art flight recording technology including flight-simulators, flight-mills and vertical-looking radar to investigate compass navigation and flight capabilities of migratory hoverflies:see here and here.
Environmental induction and genetic control of migration. We utilise transcriptomics and comparative genomics to identify the molecular determinants of migration in insects. In particular, this research aims to move our understanding of the genetics of migration from correlative studies, which identify genes potentially involved in migration, to a mechanistic understanding of how these factors actually function.
Hoverflies as dual ecosystem services providers ‘pollinators+’. Hoverflies visit many of the major global food crops worth around US$300 billion per year to the world economy. In addition, they provide ecosystem functions not seen in bees: crop protection from pests, recycling of organic matter and long-distance pollen transfer. We investigate a number of questions related to the ecological utilisation of hoverflies to improve agriculture: see here.
Publications
GoogleScholar publications here
Media
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Coverage of our review of hoverflies as pollinators (2020) from the ScienceX news network
Our contribution to a collection of poetry and interviews from award-winning poet Fiona Benson and sound artists Mair Bosworth and Eliza Lomas called In the Company of Insects (2020): interview about our research with me and Will Hawkes with additional poems from children about hoveflies read at the Eden project. Coverage in The Guardian (2020) of our research into the migration flyway over Cyrpus. Coverage of our Current Biology hoverfly migration paper (2019) in Science and The New York Times. Feature article in Science News covering our work on mass migration |
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Contact details
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Karl Wotton
Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, UK Email: k.r.wotton@exeter.ac.uk Twitter @KoralWotton Exeter University profile |
