Scientific Publications
Lowe A., Jones L., Brennan G., Creer S., Christie L. de Vere N., (2022) Temporal change in floral availability leads to periods of resource limitation and affects diet specificity in a generalist pollinator Molecular Ecology.
Jones L., Lowe A., Ford C.R., Christie L., Creer S., de Vere N., (2022). Temporal Patterns of Honeybee Foraging in a Diverse Floral Landscape Revealed Using Pollen DNA Metabarcoding of Honey, Integrative and Comparative Biology.
Lowe A., Jones L., Witter L., Creer S., de Vere N. (2022). Using DNA Metabarcoding to Identify Floral Visitation by Pollinators. Diversity 14:236.
Lowe A, Jones L, Brennan G, Creer S., de Vere N. (2022). Seasonal progression and differences in major floral resource use by bees and hoverflies in a diverse horticultural and agricultural landscape revealed by DNA metabarcoding. Journal of Applied Ecology.
Henniges MC, Powell RF, Mian S, Stace CA, Walker KJ, Gornall RJ, Christenhusz MJM, Brown MR, Twyford AD, Hollingsworth PM, Jones L, de Vere N, Antonelli A, Leitch AR, Leitch IJ. (2022). A taxonomic, genetic and ecological data resource for the vascular plants of Britain and Ireland. Scientific Data 9:1.
Moughan, J., McGinn, K.J., Jones, L., Rich, T.C.G., Waters, E., de Vere, N., (2021). Biological Flora of the British Isles: Salvia pratensis. Journal of Ecology 1–20.
Jones, L., Twyford, A.D., Ford, C.R., Rich, T.C.G., Davies, H., Forrest, L.L., Hart, M.L., McHaffie, H., Brown, M.R., Hollingsworth, P.M., de Vere, N., (2021). Barcode UK: A complete DNA barcoding resource for the flowering plants and conifers of the United Kingdom. Molecular Ecology Resources 1–13.
Rowney, F.M., Brennan, G.L., Skjøth, C.A., Griffith, G.W., McInnes, R.N., Clewlow, Y., Adams-Groom, B., Barber, A., de Vere, N., Economou, T., Hegarty, M., Hanlon, H.M., Jones, L., Kurganskiy, A., Petch, G.M., Potter, C., Rafiq, A.M., Warner, A., Wheeler, B., Osborne, N.J., Creer, S., (2021). Environmental DNA reveals links between abundance and composition of airborne grass pollen and respiratory health. Current Biology 31, 1995-2003.
Kurganskiy, A., Creer, S., de Vere, N., Griffith, G.W., Osborne, N.J., Wheeler, B.W., McInnes, R.N., Clewlow, Y., Barber, A., Brennan, G.L., Hanlon, H.M., Hegarty, M., Potter, C., Rowney, F., Adams-Groom, B., Petch, G.M., Pashley, C.H., Satchwell, J., De Weger, L.A., Rasmussen, K., Oliver, G., Sindt, C., Bruffaerts, N., Skjøth, C.A., (2021). Predicting the severity of the grass pollen season and the effect of climate change in Northwest Europe. Science Advances 7, 1–12.
Jones, L., Brennan, G.L., Lowe, A., Creer, S., Ford, C.R., de Vere, N., (2021). Shifts in honeybee foraging reveal historical changes in floral resources. Communications Biology 4, 37.
Sheldon, E., Ironside, J., de Vere, N. & Marshall, R (2020) Singing under glass: Rapid effects of anthropogenic habitat modification on song and response behaviours in an isolated house sparrow Passer domesticus population. Journal of Avian Biology. 51, 3.
Brennan, G.L., Potter, C., de Vere, N., Griffith, G.W., Skjøth, C.A., Osborne, N.J., Wheeler, B.W., McInnes, R.N., Clewlow, Y., Barber, A., Hanlon, H.M., Hegarty, M., Jones, L., Kurganskiy, A., Rowney, F.M., Armitage, C., Adams-Groom, B., Ford, C.R., Petch, G.M., Creer, S., (2019). Temperate airborne grass pollen defined by spatio-temporal shifts in community composition. Nature Ecology & Evolution 3.
Potter, C., de Vere, N., Jones, L., Ford, C.R., Hegarty, M.J., Hodder, K.H., Diaz, A., Franklin, E.L., (2019). Pollen metabarcoding reveals broad and species-specific resource use by urban bees. PeerJ 7.
Hamston, T.J., de Vere, N., King, R.A., Pellicer, J., Fay, M.F., Cresswell, J.E., Stevens, J.R., 2018. Apomixis and hybridization drives reticulate evolution and phyletic differentiation in Sorbus L.: Implications for conservation. Frontiers in Plant Science 871, 1–13.
Moorhouse-Gann, R. J., Dunn, J. C., de Vere, N., Goder, M., Cole, N., Hipperson, H. & Symondson, W. O. C. (2018) New universal ITS2 primers for high-resolution herbivory analyses using DNA metabarcoding in both tropical and temperate zones. Scientific Reports, 8, 8542.
Wang, X., Gussarova, G., Ruhsam, M., de Vere, N., Metherell, C., Hollingsworth, P.M. and Twyford, A.D. (2018). DNA barcoding a taxonomically complex hemiparasitic genus reveals deep divergence between ploidy levels but lack of species-level resolution. AoB Plants, 10, 3, ply026
Lucas, A., Bodger, O., Brosi, B. J., Ford, C. R., Forman, D. W., Greig, C., Hegarty, M., Neyland, P. J. & de Vere, N. (2018). Generalisation and specialisation in hoverfly (Syrphidae) grassland pollen transport networks revealed by DNA metabarcoding. Journal of Animal Ecology.
Lucas, A., Bodger, O., Brosi, B. J., Ford, C. R., Forman, D. W., Greig, C., Hegarty, M., Jones, L., Neyland, P. J. & de Vere, N. (2018) Floral resource partitioning by individuals within generalised hoverfly pollination networks revealed by DNA metabarcoding. Scientific Reports, 8, 5133.
Deiner, K., Bik, H. M., Mächler, E., Seymour, M., Lacoursière-Roussel, A., Altermatt, F., Creer, S., Bista, I., Lodge, D. M., de Vere, N., Pfrender, M. E. & Bernatchez, L. (2017) Environmental DNA metabarcoding: Transforming how we survey animal and plant communities. Molecular Ecology. 26, 21, p. 5872-5895.
Lucas, A., Bull, J. C., de Vere, N., Neyland, P. J. & Forman, D. W. (2017) Flower resource and land management drives hoverfly communities and bee abundance in semi-natural and agricultural grasslands. Ecology and Evolution. 7, 19, p. 8073-8086.
Ito, Y., Tanaka, N., Barfod, A., Kaul, R., Muasya, A. M., Garcia-Murillo, P., de Vere, N., Duyfjes, B. & Albach, D. (2017) From terrestrial to aquatic habitats and back again: molecular insights into the evolution and phylogeny of Callitriche (Plantaginaceae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 184, 1, p. 46-58.
Hamston, T.J., Wilson R.J., de Vere N., Rich, T.C.G., Stevens J.R., Cresswell JE. (2017) Breeding system and spatial isolation from congeners strongly constrain seed set in an insect-pollinated apomictic tree: Sorbus subcuneata (Rosaceae). Scientific Reports 7, 45122.
de Vere N, Jones LE, Gilmore T, Moscrop J, Lowe A, Smith D, Hegarty M, Creer S, Ford CR (2017) Using DNA metabarcoding to investigate honey bee foraging reveals limited flower use despite high floral availability. Scientific Reports 7, 42838.
Bell KL, de Vere N, Keller A, Richardson R, Gous A, Burgess K and Brosi, BJ. (2016) Pollen DNA barcoding: current applications and future prospects. Genome 59 (9): 629-640.
Hawkins, J., de Vere, N., Griffith, A., Ford, C.R., Allainguillaume, J., Hegarty, M.J., Baillie, L., Adams-Groom, B., (2015) Using DNA Metabarcoding to Identify the Floral Composition of Honey: A New Tool for Investigating Honey Bee Foraging Preferences. PLoS ONE 10.
Lim L, Crawley MJ, de Vere N, Rich T and Savolainen V (2014) A phylogenetic analysis of the British flora sheds light on the evolutionary and ecological factors driving plant invasions. Ecology and Evolution 4(22): 4258–4269.
de Vere, N., Rich, T.C.G., Ford, C.R., Trinder, S.A., Long, C., Moore, C.W., Satterthwaite, D., Davies, H., Allainguillaume, J., Ronca, S., Tatarinova, T., Garbett, H., Walker, K., Wilkinson, M.J., 2012. DNA Barcoding the Native Flowering Plants and Conifers of Wales. PLoS ONE 7, e37945.
Ennos RA, Whitlock R, Fay MF, Jones B, Neaves LE, Payne R, Taylor I, de Vere N and Hollingsworth PM. (2012) Process-based species action plans: an approach to conserve contemporary evolutionary processes that sustain diversity in taxonomically complex groups. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 168: 194-203.
Postgraduate Students
Abigail Lowe (PhD) Bangor University (2017-). Investigating floral resource use by pollinators using pollen DNA metabarcoding.
Lucy Witter (PhD) Aberystwyth University (2017-). Developing and testing seed mixes for wild pollinators in urban green spaces.
Rowan Thomas (PhD) Aberystwyth University (2017-). Butterfly behaviour and conservation under natural and artificial illumination.
Abdullah Munawar Rafiq (PhD) Bangor University (2017-). Exploring the ecology of airborne pollen biodiversity using environmental DNA analysis and identifying links to hay fever.
Laura Jones (PhD) Bangor University (2015-2019). Investigating the foraging preferences of the honeybee Apis mellifera L., using DNA metabarcoding
Andrew Lucas (PhD) Swansea University (P/T 2010-2018). Hoverfly Communities in Semi-Natural Grasslands, and their Role in Pollination
Jenny Hawkins (PhD) Cardiff University (2011-2015). Investigating antibacterial plant-derived compounds from natural honey.
Hannah Garbett (PhD) University of South Wales (2011-2015). Development of Bioinformatic Tools and Procedures to Computationally Support DNA Barcoding.
Tracey Hamston (PhD) (P/T 2008-2017), University of Exeter. Investigating the evolutionary origins and reproductive ecology of the genus Sorbus (Whitebeams, Wild service tree and Rowans) within Devon and north Somerset.
Will McCully (PhD) Cardiff University (2010-2014). The antibacterial effects of Camellia sinensis extracts on the hospital pathogens Clostridium difficile and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
Undergraduate Interns
As part of our commitment to training the next generation of plant scientists, we offer year placements to undergraduate students.
Ellyn Baker University of Exeter (2021-2022).
Gabriel Tweedale University of Bath (2021-2022).
Thomas McBride University of Nottingham (2020-2021).
Katie Ritchie University of York (2020-2021).
Lydia Cocks University of Reading (2018-2019).
Harry Allen University of Bath (2018-2019).
Louisa Smith University of Manchester (2017-2018). Using DNA barcoding to investigate forest composition and regeneration in Sabah, Borneo.
Lucy Bidgood University of Nottingham (2016-2017).
Alice Hope University of Manchester (2016-2017). Using DNA barcoding to investigate adult-sapling community differences in tropical rainforests.
Tim Foster University of Bath (2015-2016). How can DNA barcoding be used to assess the successional state of tropical rainforest in the Lower Kinabatangan wildlife sanctuary?
Zara Riches University of Manchester (2015-2016).
Tegan Gilmore University of Manchester (2014-2015). Can DNA barcodes be used to map the foraging patterns of the honey bee (Apis mellifera L.)?
Jake Moscrop University of Durham (2014-2015). The foraging habits of Apis mellifera L. explored through DNA barcoding.
Abigail Lowe University of Southampton (2014-2015). A meta-analysis on the floral preferences of the Western honeybee, Apis mellifera L., in Europe.
Elizabeth Chapman University of Birmingham (2013-2014). Do protected area designations consider the evolutionary potential of Welsh grasslands?
Alicia Thew Cardiff University (2013-2014). Ecological and phylogenetic community analysis on Bornean botanical plots.
Ellie Brittain University of Bath, (2012-2013). Creating a plant DNA barcode reference library using the ITS2 marker.
Aoife Sweeney University of Manchester (2012-2013). Can we use genetics to inform conservation strategies for the arctic alpines Saxifraga cespitosa and Saxifraga rosacea ssp. rosacea in Wales?
Helena Davies University of Manchester (2011-2012). Can the nuclear internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) increase the discrimination power of the standard land plant DNA barcode loci rbcL & matK in a temperate flora?
Laura Jones Cardiff University (2011-2012). Comparison of genetic diversity between living and historical material of the critically endangered plant Campanula patula, using microsatellites developed with next generation DNA sequencing.
Adelaide Griffith University of Liverpool (2011-2012). The applications of DNA barcoding: Honey.
Joseph Moughan University of Manchester (2011-2012). Biology and ecology of the rare perennial plant species Salvia pratensis (L.) and the implications for its conservation in England and Wales.
Charlie Long University of Durham (2010-2011). Barcode Wales: the creation of a complete reference database for a nation’s flowering plants and conifers.
Sarah Trinder University of York (2010-2011). Creation and utilization of a nation’s angiosperm phylogeny from DNA barcodes.
Chris Moore Cardiff University (2009-2010). Faster and cheaper answers to conservation genetics questions: A case study using the critically endangered endemic Cotoneaster cambricus.
Danielle Satterthwaite University of Manchester (2008-2009). DNA barcoding the Welsh flora.
