Testing if the Microclimate in a Hurricane-degraded Environment Shapes Social Behaviour, NERC GW4+ DTP PhD Studentship for September 2025 Entry at University of Exeter

About the Partnership

This project is one of a number that are in competition for funding from the NERC Great Western Four+ Doctoral Training Partnership (GW4+ DTP).  The GW4+ DTP consists of the Great Western Four alliance of the University of Bath, University of Bristol, Cardiff University and the University of Exeter plus five Research Organisation partners: British Antarctic Survey, British Geological Survey, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology,  the Natural History Museum and Plymouth Marine Laboratory. The partnership aims to provide a broad training in earth and environmental sciences, designed to train tomorrow’s leaders in earth and environmental science. For further details about the programme please see http://nercgw4plus.ac.uk/

Project details

For information relating to the research project please contact the lead Supervisor via L.J.N.Brent@exeter.ac.uk

Project Aims and Methods

Extreme weather events can cause long-lasting disruption to ecosystems. For social animals, persistent ecological damage can shift the selective pressures acting on their social structure and relationships. But precisely how factors like the microclimate and thermoregulation drive social processes remain unclear. This project will leverage rhesus macaque monkeys living at an island field station in the Caribbean that suffered persistent deforestation following a category 4 hurricane. The student will test the hypothesis that documented changes to the animals’ social structure following the hurricane are the result of changes to their thermoregulatory needs and in response to altered microclimates on the island. To do this, the student will combine behavioural observations and social network analysis, with remote sensing and microclimate monitoring. Together with supervisors, the student will co-develop the approach to testing the proposed hypothesis, including determining the best approach to quantify microclimates, social decisions, and to align these two factors in real-time. Overall, this project represents an important step toward a better understanding of how social flexibility can provide resilience to ecological disturbance, which is predicted to increase in frequence and force in our anthropogenically altered world. 

Training

The DTP offers funding to undertake specialist training relating to the student’s specialist area of research. 

Useful links

Webpage: www.laurenbrent.com