Profile | Working with natural systems for sustainable futures

Dr Peter Kennedy

Research Fellow

p.kennedy@exeter.ac.uk

07977 221071

Environment and Sustainability Institute desk 93, 2.03

Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9FE, UK

Overview

I am a behavioural ecologist interested in how insect behaviour affects their survival in a heterogenous and changing environment. My research has focussed on beneficial insects, in particular social and pollinating insects, the ecosystem services they provide, and the interaction of mutliple factors - whether natural or man-made - on their survival. To this end, I utilise a range of technologies to study the movements and foraging patterns of insects. Since 2017, this has included the invasive Asian hornet.

I am a member of the Environment and Sustainability Institute.

Link to my Google Scholar page: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=IqVCWCAAAAAJ&hl=en

Qualifications

1990 PhD (University of Bristol) Thesis: 'The effect of molluscicides on the abundance and distribution of ground beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) and other invertebrates'.
1985 BSc Biology (University of Southampton)

Career

2013 to present Research Fellow in the Environment and Sustainability Institute
2010 - 2013 BBSRC postdoctoral researcher, Rothamsted Research
2008 - 2010 Commercial Business Development Specialist, Rothamsted Research
2007 Seasonal Bee Inspector, National Bee Unit, APHA
2005 - 2007 Terrestrial Field Ecology Specialist, Syngenta
1998 - 2005 Ecotoxicology Study Director, Syngenta
1993 - 1998 MAFF/PSD postdoctoral researcher, Rothamsted Research
1989 - 1992 NERC postdoctoral researcher, University of Aberdeen

Research group links

Environment and Sustainability

Research

Research projects

BBSRC-Follow-on-Fund project: 'VespAI - an alert system for invasive Asian hornets based on artificial intelligence'; 2023 - 2024

Univ Exeter IDSAI research award: 'VespAlert: developing an automatic detection system for surveillance of the invasive Asian hornet, Vespa velutina'; 2022-2023

BBSRC-funded project: 'Asian hornets: measuring and modelling the new emerging threat to managed and wild pollinators'; 2020 - 2023.

EU Interreg Atlantic Area programme project: 'Atlantic-POSitiVE: Conservation of Atlantic pollination services and control of the invasive Vespa velutina'; 2019 - 2023.

Defra-funded project: 'Assessing the impact of the Asian hornet (Vespa velutina); 2019.

Defra-funded project: 'Evaluation of off-the-shelf technologies for their potential to track Asian hornets (Vespa velutina); 2017 - 2018.

BBSRC-funded project: 'A systems approach to understanding the impacts of sublethal doses of neonicotinoids on bumblebees and honeybees'; 2014 - 2017.

BBSRC/IPA-funded project: 'Honeybee population dynamics: Integrating the effects of factors inside the hive and in the landscape'; 2010 - 2013.

Research networks

Member of the Velutina Task Force of the international, non-for-profit research association and network COLOSS since 2017.

Publications

Journal articles

Poidatz J, Chiron G, Kennedy P, Osborne J, Requier F (2023). Density of predating Asian hornets at hives disturbs the 3D flight performance of honey bees and decreases predation success. Ecol Evol, 13(3). Abstract. Author URL.

O'Shea-Wheller TA, Curtis RJ, Kennedy PJ, Groom EKJ, Poidatz J, Raffle DS, Rojas-Nossa SV, Bartolomé C, Dasilva-Martins D, Maside X, et al (2023). Quantifying the impact of an invasive Hornet on Bombus terrestris Colonies. Commun Biol, 6(1). Abstract. Author URL.

Horn J, Becher MA, Johst K, Kennedy PJ, Osborne JL, Radchuk V, Grimm V (2021). Honey bee colony performance affected by crop diversity and farmland structure: a modeling framework. Ecol Appl, 31(1). Abstract. Author URL.

González-Cabrera J, Bumann H, Rodríguez-Vargas S, Kennedy PJ, Krieger K, Altreuther G, Hertel A, Hertlein G, Nauen R, Williamson MS, et al (2018). A single mutation is driving resistance to pyrethroids in European populations of the parasitic mite, Varroa destructor. Journal of Pest Science, 91(3), 1137-1144. Abstract.

Kennedy PJ, Ford SM, Poidatz J, Thiery D, Osborne JL (2018). Searching for nests of the invasive Asian hornet (Vespa velutina) using radio-telemetry. Communications Biology, 1 Abstract.

Henry M, Becher MA, Osborne JL, Kennedy PJ, Aupinel P, Bretagnolle V, Brun F, Grimm V, Horn J, Requier F, et al (2016). Predictive systems models can help elucidate bee declines driven by multiple combined stressors. Apidologie, 48(3), 328-339.

Horn J, Becher MA, Kennedy PJ, Osborne JL, Grimm V (2015). Multiple stressors: using the honeybee model BEEHAVE to explore how spatial and temporal forage stress affects colony resilience. Oikos, 125(7), 1001-1016. Abstract.

Rumkee JCO, Becher MA, Thorbek P, Kennedy PJ, Osborne JL (2015). Predicting Honeybee Colony Failure: Using the BEEHAVE Model to Simulate Colony Responses to Pesticides. Environ Sci Technol, 49(21), 12879-12887. Abstract. Author URL.

Becher MA, Grimm V, Thorbek P, Horn J, Kennedy PJ, Osborne JL (2014). BEEHAVE: a systems model of honeybee colony dynamics and foraging to explore multifactorial causes of colony failure. Journal of Applied Ecology

González-Cabrera J, Davies TGE, Field LM, Kennedy PJ, Williamson MS (2013). An amino acid substitution (L925V) associated with resistance to pyrethroids in Varroa destructor. PLoS ONE, 8(12). Abstract.

Becher MA, Osborne JL, Thorbek P, Kennedy PJ, Grimm V (2013). REVIEW: Towards a systems approach for understanding honeybee decline: a stocktaking and synthesis of existing models. JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY, 50(4), 868-880. Author URL.

Becher MA, Osborne JL, Thorbek P, Kennedy PJ, Grimm V (2013). Towards a systems approach for understanding honeybee decline: a stocktaking and synthesis of existing models. Journal of Applied Ecology, 50(4), 868-880. Abstract.

Griffiths GJK, Alexander CJ, Holland JM, Kennedy PJ, Perry JN, Symondson WOC, Winder L (2008). Monoclonal antibodies reveal changes in predator efficiency with prey spatial pattern. Mol Ecol, 17(7), 1828-1839. Abstract. Author URL.

Griffiths GJK, Alexander CJ, Birt A, Holland JM, Kennedy PJ, Perry JN, Preston R, Winder L (2005). A method for rapidly mass laser-marking individually coded ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in the field. ECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY, 30(4), 391-396. Author URL.

Winder L, Griffiths GJK, Perry JN, Alexander CJ, Holland JM, Kennedy PJ, Birt A (2005). The role of large-scale spatially explicit and small-scale localized processes on the population dynamics of cereal aphids. Bull Entomol Res, 95(6), 579-587. Abstract. Author URL.

Kennedy PJ, Conrad KF, Perry JN, Powell D, Aegerter J, Todd AD, Walters KFA, Powell W (2001). Comparison of two field-scale approaches for the study of effects of insecticides on polyphagous predators in cereals. Applied Soil Ecology, 17(3), 253-266. Abstract.

Chapters

Grimm V, Becher MA, Kennedy P, Thorbek P, Osborne J (2014). Ecological Modeling for Pesticide Risk Assessment for Honey Bees and Other Pollinators. In (Ed) Pesticide Risk Assessment for Pollinators, 149-162. Abstract.

Reports

Kennedy P, Osborne J (2023). A review of the success of the UK strategy to tackle the invasive insect Vespa velutina nigrithorax, the “Asian hornet”. 23 pages. Abstract.

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