A Walk On The Wild Side

Insects are everywhere! They play an important role in nature but, in high numbers, some can cause problems. Aphids are the masters of multiplication; infesting crops and reaching populations in the thousands within months. The key to their success: they change the way they make babies seasonally. In summer females make armies of clones, but in autumn switch to laying eggs that can survive the cold. I'll be introducing the weird and wonderful life of these insects, why I care about them and how climate change could affect where they exist.

Orangutans engage in complex social behaviours and have gathered a deep ecological understanding of their environment that allows them to survive in the forests of Borneo, feeding on hundreds of species of trees. Despite this intelligence, they don't do anything predictable, making studying them almost impossible. Have a pint and hear how we study orangutans by flying drones over forests in order to understand these apes and why it is important that we know where they sleep.

If the climate warms this could create changes for animals and their habitats all over the world. For animals that live in mountainous environments, particularly those who must hibernate to survive freezing and snowy winters, less cold and more heat might make living in these extreme conditions much easier. Especially when, like my study species the yellow-bellied marmot, you consume a vegetarian diet. I debate whether eating more in warmer and richer summers could make a hibernator fatter and so better at surviving or, if getting too fat might come with some unforeseen consequences...