Dr Ben Darvill

Director of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust & Postdoctoral Researcher

PhD - "The conservation genetics of the bumblebees Bombus muscorum and Bombus jonellus in a model island system" University of Southampton (2008)
BSc - Zoology (1st class), University of Southampton (2003)

School of Biological & Environmental Sciences
University of Stirling
Stirling
Scotland, FK9 4LA

email: Ben Darvill
tel: +44 1786 467819

I carry out research into the ecology and population genetics of bumblebees, and also help to run the Bumblebee Conservation Trust (a UK-wide conservation charity). My primary research interests centre on the consequences of sociality and the complementary sex-determining mechanism for the long-term viability of rare bumblebee populations. Additionally, I am currently trying to determine the effects of mass-flowering agricultural crops on colony foundation and survival.

Research Interests

Ben - Fieldwork

Molecular ecology research themes

Habitat fragmentation and population genetics of rare bumblebees.
Inbreeding effects in wild populations – parasite loads and diploid males.
The effects of mass-flowering crops on colony foundation and survival.
Bumblebee nest densities, effective population sizes and foraging ranges.
Colonisation genetics of B. hypnorum - founder effects and mutation rates.
The relative importance of queen versus male geneflow in Bombus.
Diversity at the sex-determining locus in Bombus.
The Drosophila – Asobara model. Inbreeding effects in a solitary hymenopteran without the single-locus complementary sex determination mechanism.

Behavioural ecology research themes

Asobara

Inbreeding avoidance – is there sex allele signaling or kin-recognition during mate choice in bumblebees?
Worker size in relation to forage/habitat use - what drives patterns of variation?
Causes of rarity in bumblebees. Evidence for ‘Edge effects’, and their management implications.
Conflict within diploid-male producing nests.
Forage choice in relation to pollen quality and the co-evolution of narrow diet breadth and pollinator guilds.

Publications

2008	Goulson, D., Lye, GC., and Darvill, B. (2008) Diet breadth, coexistence and rarity in bumblebees. BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION
2008	Hanley, M., Franco, M., Pichon, S., Darvill, B. & Goulson, D. (2008) Breeding system, pollinator choice, and variation in pollen quality in British herbaceous plants FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY
2008	Goulson, D., Lye, G.C. and Darvill, B. (2008) Decline and conservation of bumblebees. ANNUAL REVIEW OF ENTOMOLOGY 53: (doi: 10.1146/annurev.ento.53.103106.093454)
2007	Darvill, B. Lye, G. C. and Goulson, D. (2007) Aggregations of male Bombus muscorum (Hymenoptera: Apidae) at mature nests. Incestuous brothers or amorous suitors?. APIDOLOGIE. doi: 10.1051/apido:2007032
2007	Goulson, D. and Darvill, B. (2007) Projects with bumblebees: putting the buzz back into school grounds. SCIENCE IN SCHOOL 3: 43-47
2006	Ellis, J.S., Knight, M.E., Darvill, B. and Goulson, D. (2006) Extremely low effective population sizes, genetic structuring and reduced genetic diversity in a threatened bumblebee species, Bombus sylvarum (Hymenoptera: Apidae). MOLECULAR ECOLOGY 15: 4375–4386
2006	Darvill, B., Ellis, J.S., Lye, G.C. and Goulson, D. Population structure and inbreeding in a rare and declining bumblebee, Bombus muscorum. MOLECULAR ECOLOGY 15: 601-611
2006	Goulson, D., Hanley, M.E., Darvill, B. & Ellis, J.S. Biotype associations and the decline of bumblebees (Bombus spp.). JOURNAL OF INSECT CONSERVATION 10 (2) 95-103
2005	J. Peat, B. Darvill, J. Ellis & D. Goulson. Effects of climate on intra- and inter-specific size variation in bumblebees. FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY 19: 145-151
2005	D. Goulson, M.E.Hanley, B. Darvill, J.S. Ellis and M.E.Knight. Causes of rarity in bumblebees. BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION 122: 1-8
2004	Darvill, B. Knight, M.E. and Goulson, D. Use of genetic markers to quantify bumblebee foraging range and nest density. OIKOS 107: 471-478
2004	Hanley, M.E., Fenner, M., Whibley, h. & Darvill, B. Early plant growth: Identifying the end point of the seedling phase. NEW PHYTOLOGIST 163: 61-66
2004	D. Goulson, B. Darvill, J. Ellis, M.E. Knight & M.E. Hanley. Interspecific differences in response to novel landmarks in bumblebees. APIDOLOGIE 35: 619-622
2004	Goulson, D. and Darvill, B. Niche overlap and diet breadth in bumblebees; are rare species more specialized in their choice of flowers? APIDOLOGIE 35: 55-64
2003	Hanley, M.E., Unna, J.E., and Darvill, B. Seed size and germination response: a relationship for fire-following plant species exposed to thermal shock. OECOLOGIA 134: 18-22
2003	Goulson, D. and Darvill, B. Distribution and floral preferences of the rare bumblebees Bombus humilis and B. soroeensis on Salisbury Plain. BRITISH JOURNAL OF ENTOMOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY 16: 95-102.
2002	Goulson, D. Peat, J., Stout, J.C., Tucker, J., Darvill B., Derwent, L.C. & Hughes, W.O.H. Can alloethism in workers of the bumblebee Bombus terrestris be explained in terms of foraging efficiency? ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR 64: 123-130.