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Eating out in Britain: the feeding habits of non-native pitcher plants

Recent work from Bournemouth University indicates that these non-native pitcher plants are consuming bumblebees but their current impact is limited.

In a bog in Dorset grow a small patch of the strange, alien like forms of the invasive pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea. It is adapted to the poor soils of American wetlands and therefore supplements its diet with insect prey, luring them in with the promise of sweet nectar.

bog1

Photo by Anita Diaz

It is not every day that an invasive plant species also counts as predator and this can prove a challenge for management. The pitchers are one such case and a research team from Bournemouth University have been investigating the impact these invaders are having on the native bumblebees. They have done this by looking at the contents of the pitcher’s

traps.

Their results showed that no rare bumblebee species were found in the sampled pitchers from 2012-14. In 2013 the pitchers were found to be consuming a considerable amount of bumblebees (101 bees in the 170 pitchers sampled), however, very few bumblebees were caught in 2012 and 2014. Bumblebees also seem to be attracted to pitchers where the pitchers grow in higher density, suggesting that the bumblebees are treating the pitchers as they would another floral resource, despite individuals being trapped.

It is quite probable that the bumblebees feed off the flowers of the pitcher plants, as they do in the plant’s native America, as well as the nectar from traps. It is also likely you see flowers online due to the low capture rate of pitchers (around 1 in 100 insects get caught), and the majority of visiting bumblebees are getting a ‘free meal’ in a bog habitat with limited other resources.

‘It could very well be that the sugar rich solution produced by the pitchers, coupled with the low trapping rate of pitchers, is worth the risk to our native bees’ Dr Liz Franklin

bee in pitcher

Photo by Anita Diaz

It is important to prevent the spread of invasive plants like S. purpurea, as they can have a drastic impact on our native plant life and wildlife, however in a sensitive bog habitat with Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) status, removal could cause severe damage to the native habitat and risk the further spread of the invasive.  It is hoped that this work will help inform when and where management of S. purpurea is needed in its invasive populations around Europe

Although further work needs to be done on the interactions between invasive pitcher plants and their native prey, the pitchers might not be as bad for our bogs and their fauna as first thought, although it will be important to keep an eye on them.

 

Want to find out more, visit our open access article

Franklin E, Evans D, Thornton A, Moody C, Green I, Diaz A. Exploring the predation of UK bumblebees (Apidae, Bombus spp.) by the invasive pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea: examining the effects of annual variation, seasonal variation, plant density and bumblebee gender. Arthropod-Plant Interactions.:1-0.

 

 

FMC researcher speaks to UN on the impact of media on women in science

Dr Shelley ThompsonOn 10 February, the Faculty of Media and Communication’s Dr Shelley Thompson gave an intervention to a UN event on the impact of media on gender and science.

The conference was held simultaneously in New York City at the UN Headquarters and Malta at the Ministry of Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties. Speaking from Malta, Shelley discussed some of the early findings of her research on the under representation in news of women scientists as experts on nanotechnology. She also linked her work to broader research on under representation of women’s voices in news and politics.

The event was part of the UN’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science, which aims to raise awareness of gender bias in the sciences. It was chaired by Malta’s Minister of Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties,  Dr Helena Dalli, MP, and featured speakers from around the world, including UN ambassadors, politicians, policymakers, NGOs, women scientists, and girls aspiring to be scientists.  ​

Shelley is a member of the Centre for Politics and Media Research, which engages in interdisciplinary research from a range of fields to consider pressing questions in 21st Century politics.

Latest Major Funding Opportunities

The following funding opportunities have been announced. Please follow the links for more information:

Arts and Humanities Research Council, GB

The AHRC invites applications for its Follow-on Funding for Impact and Engagement Scheme (FoF): Highlight Notice for AHRC’s Four Themes, which seeks to encourage innovative applications that explore new, unanticipated, pathways to impact which have emerged or evolved from research undertaken under AHRC’s four Themes: Science in Culture; Translating Cultures; Digital Transformations; and Care for the Future.

Maximum award: £100,000. Closing date: 4pm, 26/04/17.

Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council, GB

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council invites applications for the David Phillips fellowships, which provide support for researchers to establish their first independent research group. Applicants must show high potential and be able to demonstrate they are on an upward trajectory, with clear evidence of strong scientific outputs and leadership qualities required to establish their own fully independent programme of research. Awards are for five years, and include personal salary and a significant research support grant to enable fellows to establish their own independent research group. Please check call details for eligibility.

Maximum award: £1million. Closing date: 4pm, 11/05/17.

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council invites applications for its Future Leader Fellowships, which will provide support for researchers wishing to undertake independent research and gain leadership skills. The Fellowship will support the transition of early stage researchers to fully independent research leaders.

Maximum award: £300,000. Closing date: 4PM, 11/05/17.

Medical Research Council, GB

The Department of Biotechnology DBT) in India, in collaboration with Department of International Development (DFID), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Medical Research Council (MRC), are pleased to announce a second joint call to fund global health research addressing the health needs of women and children globally. Research  will impact the ability to prevent, diagnose and manage prevalent chronic and infectious diseases facing women and their unborn children in low- and middle-income settings. Research addressing these health issues will aim to have a positive effect on the life-course of the mother and her unborn children. Proposals should only address the following issues; Anaemia (including Iron, Folate and B12 deficiency related conditions); Sexually transmitted diseases; Gestational diabetes mellitus and; Hypertensive disorders. To support the development of these trilateral partnerships a £4000 travel grant will be available to successful applicants after the concept proposal stage in order to support the full proposal development process. Interested parties must submit a concept proposal by 4pm, 12/04/17.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: Invited full proposals by 4pm 14/09/17.

Natural  Environment Research Council, GB

NERC, the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and India’s Department of Science and Technology (DST) jointly invite proposals to a new three-year research programme to improve water quality. The programme aims to improve water quality by providing a better understanding of the sources and fate of different pollutants and by supporting the development of management strategies and technologies to reduce pollution levels. Proposals are sought for collaborative research projects involving researchers from both the UK and India. Interested parties must submit a notice of intent by 4pm, 30/03/17 to be eligible.

Maximum award: £450,000 (80% fEC) for UK component with equivalent in terms of research effort from DST for the Indian Component. Closing date: 4pm 26/04/17.

Royal Society, GB

The Royal Society offers Newton International Exchanges to international researchers with funding towards travel, subsistence and research expenses for either a one-off short visit to explore opportunities for building lasting networks, or for bilateral visits to strengthen emerging collaborations. Awards are currently available to researchers in Malaysia, Mexico, South Africa, Thailand and Turkey. Collaborations should focus on a single project with an overseas-based scientist (“the Applicant”) and UK-based scientist (“the Co-applicant”).

Maximum award: £12,000. Closing date: 15/03/17

If you are interested in submitting to any of the above calls you must contact RKEO with adequate notice before the deadline. Please note that some funding bodies specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your RKEO Funding Development Officer . You can set up your own personalised alerts on Research Professional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your Faculty’s Funding Development Officer in RKEO or view the blog post . If thinking of applying, why not add notification of your interest on Research Professional’s record of the bid so that BU colleagues can see your intention to bid and contact you to collaborate.

 

HSS Ignited by FHSS Research Seminar

Thank you very much to all who presented and attended the FHSS Research Seminar this Wednesday. It took a slightly different format with four presenters (Professor Alison McConnell, Associate Professor Carol Clark, Dr Jonny Branney and Dr Clare Killingback) sharing their research findings in short five minute slots using images, narratives, altmetrics, and Ignite style presentations (http://www.ignitetalks.io/).

It was great to have a bite-size selection of research topics which attracted an audience from across disciplines. It was a fun, friendly atmosphere which led to a lively discussion and buzz around current research.

We plan to run a similar session again so we’re looking for volunteers. If you are interested in getting involved please email Clare at: ckillingback@bounemouth.ac.uk

Many thanks to everyone.

Meet the Entrepreneur event

The Business School and BU Centre for Entrepreneurship were delighted to welcome Olly Whittle, founder of BudiPay, to the EBC on the afternoon of the 15th Februay.

This seminar, the third in the current series of Meet the Entrepreneurevents, provided a great opportunity for students and staff to hear about Olly’s personal journey as an entrepreneur and learn more about his own experiences as a business owner and his approach to funding and growing an innovative business in the UK and Internationally.

BudiPay is a group peer-to-peer payment app which helps people transfer money using their smartphones. Olly is concentrating on growth opportunities in emerging markets such as Malaysia where traditional banks are typically inaccessible to rural communities. Olly has begun negotiations with the top private banks in Malaysia to offer BudiPay’s core technology to facilitate scenarios such as payroll and reimbursement. A payroll accounting company Malaysia helps companies keep track of finances, reduce errors, and provide accurate information.

Mark Painter, Business Development Manager for the Business School, said, ‘I was delighted Olly was able to visit BU and talk to us today. I had heard Olly speak before and I knew his story and insights into starting and growing a business would be of huge interest to students’. Mark added, ‘I was also really pleased that we were joined by a group of students from the BU International College’.

The next Meet the Entrepreneur event will be held at the Talbot Campus on Friday 24th March and will feature Gary Seneviratne, co-founder of Addio. Further details can be found at www.bucfe.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three tales of sexual intrigue from Kip Jones

C4nQP3CXUAAICo9 ‘True confessions: Why I left a traditional liberal arts college for the sins of the Big City’ by Kip Jones has been published today in Qualitative Research Journal (QRJ)

Three tales of sexual intrigue from Kip Jones.  A story, a reminiscence, and a scene from a film.

By means of several auto-ethnographic stories (including a scene from a working script for a proposed film), the author interrogates numerous ideas and misconceptions about gay youth, both past and present. 

Being straight or being gay can be viewed within the wider culture’s need to set up a sexual binary and force sexual “choice” decision-making for the benefit of the majority culture. Through the device of the fleeting moment, this essay hopes to interrogate the certainties and uncertainties of the “norms” of modernity by portraying sexuality in youth.

Also available as a draft on Academia.edu

Latest Major Funding Opportunities

The following funding opportunities have been announced. Please follow the links for more information:

Economic and Social Research Council

ESRC and the Welsh Government invite proposals for a Wales Centre for Public Policy. The centre will bring together the ministerial expert advice function currently provided by the Public Policy Institute for Wales (PPIW) with the functions of a newly established What Works Centre, to be known as What Works Wales.  The centre and its component parts will be established from October 2017 and run until September 2022, subject to a satisfactory interim review.

Maximum award: £6.1 million. Closing date: 4pm, 16/03/2017

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

The Engineering and Physical Science Research Council invites expressions of interest for its Supergen leaders energy networks programme. This is the first of a two-stage process designed to launch the next phase of the Supergen Programme. This stage features a competition to identify the appropriate ‘Research Leader’ for a future Supergen hub, in Energy Networks. Up to £150K is available for this initial stage of the process, which will cover the six months that the successful applicant will build their consortia. This can be used to buy-out teaching (if required), fund networking activities, workshops and general admin support during this period.  Expressions of interest are due by 23/03/17.

Maximum award: £150,000. Closing date: 4pm 20/04/17

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council invites expressions of interest for its call on supergen leaders in bioenergy. This is the first of a two-stage process designed to launch the next phase of the Supergen Programme. This stage features a competition to identify the appropriate ‘Research Leader’ for a future Supergen hub, in Bioenergy. Up to £150K is available for this initial stage of the process, which will cover the six months that the successful applicant will build their consortia. This can be used to buy-out teaching (if required), fund networking activities, workshops and general admin support during this period.  Expressions of interest are due by 23/03/17.

Maximum award: £150,000. Closing date: 4pm 20/04/17

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council invites expressions of interest for its call on supergen leaders in offshore renewable energy. This is the first of a two-stage process designed to launch the next phase of the Supergen Programme. This stage features a competition to identify the appropriate ‘Research Leader’ for a future Supergen hub, in Offshore Renewable Energy. Up to £150K is available for this initial stage of the process, which will cover the six months that the successful applicant will build their consortia. This can be used to buy-out teaching (if required), fund networking activities, workshops and general admin support during this period.  Expressions of interest are due by 23/03/17.

Maximum award: £150,000. Closing date: 4pm 20/04/17

Medical Research Council

The Medical Research Council, under the biomedical catalyst programme, invites proposals for its call on regenerative medicine research committee. This opportunity supports translation of fundamental discoveries toward benefit to human health. The Biomedical Catalyst: Regenerative Medicine Research Committee (RMRC) provides support for high quality proposals that may underpin or progress the development of  regenerative medicine therapies to improve human health. The RMRC: Supports confidence in concept studies that if successful will promote the translation of fundamental discoveries toward benefits to human health, thereby accelerating the transition from discovery research to mature translational development projects; Funds preliminary work or feasibility studies to establish the viability of an approach, through addressing focussed research questions needed to unlock progress in pre-clinical development and/or early clinical testing of novel regenerative medicine therapies; Forms part of the MRC’s Translational Research Strategy and forms part of the Biomedical Catalyst funding stream, operating in conjunction with the Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme. Funding is at 80% fEC.

Maximum award: not specified. Closing date: 15/03/17

The Medical Research Council invites proposals for its new investigator research grant in neurosciences and mental health. This supports researchers who are capable of becoming independent principal investigators and who are ready to take the next step towards that goal within the area of neurosciences and mental health. Applicants are expected to combine time spent on the NIRG with a portfolio of other activities, such as time spent on other research grants or clinical duties, teaching, administration duties, or other time spent in faculty.

Maximum award: not specified. Closing date: please check call information for details.

The Medical Research Council invites applications for its partnership grant in neurosciences and mental health. Partnership grants provide core funds for one to five years to support partnerships between diverse groupings of researchers and can be used for infrastructure support, platform activities and for bringing together managed consortia or multidisciplinary collaborations. The grant will fund such items as: Studentship allocations; Research centres; Equipment and materials; Networking/collaboration; Directed grants to institutions, research groups etc; Institutional development; Hosting conferences.

Maximum award: not specified. Closing date: please check call information for details.

The Medical Research Council invites applications for its programme grants in neurosciences and mental health. Programme grants provide larger, longer term (five years) and renewable programme funding. They aim to help the medical science community to ‘think bigger’. A programme is defined as a coordinated and coherent group of related projects, which may be developed to address an inter-related set of questions across a broad scientific area.

Maximum award: not specified. Closing date: please check call information for details.

Natural Environment Research Council

The Natural Environment Research Council invites proposals for its third environmental risks to infrastructure innovation funding call, which supports innovation projects that apply existing research to industry challenges. Preference is given to the following topics: tools and methods to help understand the propagation of impacts of environmental hazards as a result of interdependencies between infrastructure assets, including from international connections and supply chains; the impact of sequences of hazard events or combinations of hazards on the infrastructure system; space weather impacts on UK infrastructure; lightning impacts on UK infrastructure; scour of structures in rivers and estuaries. Expressions of interest are due by

Maximum award: not specified. Closing date: Please check individual competition details.

Royal Society

The Royal Society invites proposals for its scientific meetings. These two-day meetings drive forward discussion between science and other topics that have previously been beyond the scope of a traditional Discussion Meeting. Our scientific programme offers a unique opportunity for you to present an international, two-day conference in your field, with the chance for publication in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society following the event.

Maximum award: Not specified. Closing date: 03/04/17

If you are interested in submitting to any of the above calls you must contact RKEO with adequate notice before the deadline. Please note that some funding bodies specify a time for submission as well as a date. Please confirm this with your RKEO Funding Development Officer You can set up your own personalised alerts on Research Professional. If you need help setting these up, just ask your School’s/Faculty’s Funding Development Officer in RKEO or view the recent blog post here. If thinking of applying, why not add notification of your interest on Research Professional’s record of the bid so that BU colleagues can see your intention to bid and contact you to collaborate.

Sport Management academic appointed Editor in Chief of International Sport Journal

Earlier this month senior academic Dr Andrew Adams who is in the Department of Sport and Physical Activity accepted the role of Editor in Chief for the Taylor and Francis Journal Managing Sport and Leisure. Dr Andrew Adams takes on the editorship at a time when the journal has just been listed in the Emerging Sources Citation Index, which is the first stage to being included in SSCI and gaining an impact rating. The journal has a remit to publish high quality research articles to inform and stimulate discussions relevant to sport and leisure management globally. Dr Adams is well equipped to drive this journal forwards having published across both of the fields of sport and leisure in a variety of international journals, and has has organised and convened international sport, and international leisure conferences here at BU in the last two years.

Making BU the home for this journal is another statement of recognition for both the Department of Sport and Physical Activity and Bournemouth University as a whole and further reinforces BU’s growing national and international recognition for sport and leisure research that has implications for professional practice. Fusion is well served in the Department of Sport and Physical Activity by having this journal edited here by Andrew at BU

If any BU staff are interested in submitting a paper Dr Adams is more than happy to discuss their project with them – it may also be the case that discussing an idea may lead to publication and collaboration cross-departmentally and even cross-disciplinary.

The current edition can be found at: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rmle21/current