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Ian Vaughan

Dr Ian Vaughan

Darllenydd

Ysgol y Biowyddorau

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My research focuses on the processes that shape communities over ecological and evolutionary timescales, and how they respond to environmental change. Much of this focusses upon river systems, for their rich diversity, importance and because they are an excellent model system for asking general ecological questions. This encompasses processes acting across a wide range of scales, from individual trophic interactions and food resource dynamics, through management interventions, land cover and fluvial geomorphology, to large-scale climatic effects. A variety of approaches is used to address these questions, including novel field studies, analysis of large data sets, null models, network analysis, experiments and molecular analyses.

Roles

Course Director: MSc Global Ecology and Conservation

Module Leader: BIT051 Assessing Biodiversity and Ecosystems

Cyhoeddiad

2024

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Thesis

Ymchwil

Current projects include:

Null model analysis of ecological networks

Null models are valuable tools for analysing community structure, and can help distinguish the roles of different processes in structuring ecological networks including food webs and pollinator networks. A fundamental question is the extent to which structure results from chance (e.g. interactions occur more frequently with common species cf. rare species) as opposed to choice (e.g. dietary preferences). In collaboration with Bill Symondson, we developed a null model for separating these two processes in prey choice and recently generalised this to whole network structure (Agusti et al. 2003; Pearson et al. 2018). This is now being applied in the research group to studies of diet, pollination and food web structure across a range of systems.

I wrote and maintain the econullnetr package for R (Vaughan  et al. 2018), available from the Comprehensive R Archive Network (https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=econullnetr), which makes it possible to run these analyses with a range of different data sets. My GitHub site hosts the most recent development version (https://github.com/ivaughan).

Long term changes in British rivers

Many UK rivers have changed greatly over recent decades. In and around urban areas, the news in generally good, with large scale-recovery from historical water quality problems, whilst elsewhere the news is less positive, with stressors such as fine sediments becoming increasingly important. Trying to understand the effects of a changing climate further complicates the mix. Work in this area has helped to elucidate the changes in river communities that have occurred, both nationally and more locally (e.g. Vaughan & Ormerod 2012, 2014), and continues to grapple with the challenge of determining the roles of different stressors (e.g. Vaughan & Gotelli, in press).

Land use impacts on streams

Rivers reflect their catchments and land use can impact river ecosystems in manifold ways, including effects on the hydrology, water quality and availability of food resources. This opens up possibilities for managing the riparian zone and wider catchment for the benefit of river ecosystems. Combining large data sets, fieldwork and molecular analysis of predator diets, we are investigating the mechanisms by which land cover affects stream ecosystems, and the implications for long-term resilience (e.g. Pearson et al. 2016; 2018).

Current students (lead or co-supervisor)

  • Fiona Joyce: ‘Does riparian woodland increase the resilience of stream ecosystems to floods and droughts?’ (NERC)
  • Rowena Diamond: ‘Diagnosing and mitigating the adverse effects of extreme winter climate on salmonoid spawning’ (EU KESS)
  • Max Tercel: ‘The effects of invasive ants on island food webs’ (NERC)
  • Nick Tew: ‘Urban Buzz: quantifying and manipulating the resources available to pollinators in urban gardens’ (NERC)
  • Jordan Cuff: ‘Nutrient-specific foraging and the role of spiders as aphid predators’ (BBSRC)
  • Sarah Davies: ‘Projecting the effects of climate change on prey selection and dietary competition between reed bed warbler species’ (NERC)
  • Richard Facey: ‘The effects of local weather variation on the seasonal fecundity of the barn swallow Hirundo rustia
  • Jez Smith: ‘Impacts of climate change on pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca); from individual behaviour to population change’ (NERC)
  • Ewan Stenhouse: ‘Is food availability and choice a limiting factor for declining UK Hawfinch populations?’ (NERC)
  • Rebecca Young: ‘Saving an iconic species from extinction in the UK: interactions between diet, parasites and environmental change’ (NERC)
  • Richard Burger: ‘Reticulated pythons in the Kinabatangan: coping with an altered landscape’. (Danau Girang Field Centre)

Current/recent funding

NERC (including the recent £3.1m Diversity in upland rivers for ecosystem service sustainability (DURESS) project: http://nerc-duress.org/)

EU (including the €9m Managing aquatic ecosystems and water resources under multiple stressors (MARS) project)

RCUK

BBSRC

Natural Resources Wales

Environment Agency

Collaborations

  • Prof. Steve Ormerod (Cardiff School of Biosciences) – long term changes in British rivers
  • Prof. Bill Symondson (Cardiff School of Biosciences) – analysis of trophic interactions
  • Prof. Jane Memmott (Bristol University)
  • Prof. Nick Gotelli (University of Vermont)

Bywgraffiad

Darllenais Bioleg ym Mhrifysgol Bryste (1997–2000) cyn gwneud y daith dros bont Hafren i Gaerdydd i wneud PhD (2000–4) gyda'r Athro Steve Ormerod. Roedd y PhD yn canolbwyntio ar fodelu dosbarthu rhywogaethau, gydag adar afonydd yn system enghreifftiol. Dilynodd dwy flynedd o waith ôl-ddoethurol yng Nghaerdydd, gan gyfrannu at y ddealltwriaeth o sut mae ecoleg yn rhyngweithio â chynefin ffisegol mewn afonydd.

Ym mis Medi 2006, cefais gymrodoriaeth gan Gynghorau Ymchwil y DU a oedd yn caniatáu imi ddilyn fy niddordebau ymchwil mewn systemau afonydd a dulliau meintiol, cyn symud ymlaen i ddarlithyddiaeth ym mis Medi 2011. Dyfarnwyd Cymrodoriaeth Absenoldeb Ymchwil Prifysgol Caerdydd i mi am y flwyddyn academaidd (2016-17) ac roeddwn yn Ysgolhaig Ymchwil Ymweld ym Mhrifysgol Vermont yn 2016. Yn 2019, symudais i Uwch-ddarlithyddiaeth a sefydlu MSc Ecoleg a Chadwraeth Fyd-eang, a dod yn Ddarllenydd yn 2023.

Contact Details

Email VaughanIP@caerdydd.ac.uk
Telephone +44 29208 74545
Campuses Adeilad Syr Martin Evans, Ystafell Cardiff School of Biosciences, The Sir Martin Evans Building, Museum Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3AX, Rhodfa'r Amgueddfa, Caerdydd, CF10 3AX