Oak gallwasp community biology
Oak galls provide abundant opportunity to study the processes structuring communities. We are concerned in particular with two general questions. First, how much does the structure of a given gall determine the diversity of inhabitants that occupy it? And second, how long does it take for parasitoids and inquilines to exploit introduced or invading hosts in Britain? In both cases, we need to understand how parasitoids and inquilines interpret gall structures: how do they tell galls apart? These areas are the subject of a CASE collaborative studentship (awarded to Tracey Begg) jointly supervised with Dr. Karsten Schönrogge of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology at Winfrith, Dorset.
