Profile

Marcus Rhodes

Postdoctoral Researcher

M.W.Rhodes@exeter.ac.uk

Environment and Sustainability Institute

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

Overview

I am an ecologist interested in how species respond to environmental change. My research uses a combination of fieldwork and climate modelling to investigate the effects of microclimate on species’ abundance, distribution, and persistence within landscapes. Butterflies are a particular passion of mine, with their ecology and conservation forming a focus for much of my work. I am interested in understanding how butterflies can use microclimate variation in their environment to thermoregulate, and the potential that it may offer to buffer populations against climate extremes.

I study populations of the Silver-studded Blue butterfly (Plebejus argus) across a network of sites created by former mining activity here in Cornwall. These old mining sites provide an extensive network of successionally and topographically diverse habitats for investigating the influences of microclimate. Consequently, I also have a keen interest in the unique biodiversity of these culturally important, post-industrial sites.

I am supervised by Prof Richard ffrench-Constant, Dr Ilya Maclean, Dr Jon Bennie and Dr Adrian Spalding. Funding for my PhD research is provided by the University of Exeter College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Cornwall Butterfly and Moth Society, and Spalding Associates (Environmental) Ltd.

Mastodon

Qualifications

2018 - MRes Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Research, Imperial College London

2017 - BA (Hons) Natural Sciences (Zoology), University of Cambridge

Publications

Journal articles

ffrench-Constant R, Bennie J (In Press). Eyespot variation and field temperature in the Meadow Brown butterfly. Ecology and Evolution

Rhodes MW, Bennie JJ, Spalding A, Ffrench-Constant RH, Maclean IMD (2022). Recent advances in the remote sensing of insects. BIOLOGICAL REVIEWS, 97(1), 343-360. Author URL.

Arce AN, Cantwell‐Jones A, Tansley M, Barnes I, Brace S, Mullin VE, Notton D, Ollerton J, Eatough E, Rhodes MW, et al (2022). Signatures of increasing environmental stress in bumblebee wings over the past century: Insights from museum specimens. Journal of Animal Ecology, 92(2), 297-309. Abstract.

Maclean IMD, Duffy JP, Haesen S, Govaert S, De Frenne P, Vanneste T, Lenoir J, Lembrechts JJ, Rhodes MW, Van Meerbeek K, et al (2021). On the measurement of microclimate. METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, 12(8), 1397-1410. Author URL.

Hayes MP, Rhodes MW, Turner EC, Hitchcock GE, Knock RI, Lucas CBH, Chaney PK (2018). Determining the long-term habitat preferences of the Duke of Burgundy butterfly, <i>Hamearis lucina</i>, on a chalk grassland reserve in the UK. JOURNAL OF INSECT CONSERVATION, 22(2), 329-343. Author URL.

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