Do pesticide exposed bees feel the heat?

PhD start date October 2025.

Supervisor: Dr Richard Gill (Reader in Evolutionary & Experimental Ecology)

Co-supervisor: Dr Peter Graystock (Lecturer in Human and Animal Health)

Address: Silwood Park Campus, Imperial College London, UK

Multiple stressors are implicated in bee declines, but whilst our understanding of climate change and pesticides as drivers is improving, we lack a good mechanistic understanding of how they interact. Climate prediction models largely agree that average temperatures will rise but also with increases in extreme weather events. Whilst the direct implications of these forecasts will impose stress on bee health, are bees in for a double blow? Alongside changing temperatures, increases in pesticide usage are likely. A pressing question, therefore, is whether the severity of pesticide impacts on bees will increase under climate change?

Our mechanistic understanding of how pesticide residues can leave colonies vulnerable to environmental challenges remains poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we must first link how effects on individual functions and behaviours that are vital for colony performance are temperature dependent. From this, we can develop a mechanistic framework to determine how this translates to effects on colony-level function, such as thermoregulation for brood development, under changing climatic conditions. The goal of this project is to contribute to our understanding of how pesticide exposure under simulated cold snaps and heatwaves can contribute to honeybee colony losses. This will help in forecasting when in the season and across which climatic regions are honey bee colonies most vulnerable to pesticide exposure.

This PhD studentship will incorporate lab exposure assays to different pesticide classes across a temperature gradient. It will bring together three primary work packages over a three-year period, involving experiments to

1. understand how thermally dependent processes that underpin energy metabolism and body thermoregulation are influenced by pesticides across a temperature range;
2. Quantify the pesticide thermal response relationships of behaviours that are dependent on metabolic rate and body thermoregulation;
3. Assess how collective behaviour and thermoregulation of brood under different cold and warm conditions are affected by pesticide exposure.

Informal enquiries are welcomed and should be sent to Richard Gill (r.gill@imperial.ac.uk)

How to apply & eligibility:

Please email Richard Gill (r.gill@imperial.ac.uk) with attachments including:

1. Statement of purpose (max. 2 pages A4, Arial/Calibri font size 11);
2. a CV. Please also arrange for two academic reference letters to be sent directly to Dr Gill.

The successful applicant must hold or be expected to complete a Masters (MRes or MSc) or a four-year MSci with a grade of at least 2:1 level (or equivalent experience) in a relevant subject area, e.g., biological sciences, ecology, evolution, zoology, entomology, animal science.