PhD Studentship: Predatory plant or fair trade? Shedding light on the relationship of ants with carnivorous pitcher plants, NERC GW4+ DTP PhD studentship for September 2025 Entry Ref 5415

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 U.Bauer@exeter.ac.uk

Project Aims and Methods

Nepenthes pitcher plants trap ants to meet their nitrogen demand on nutrient-deprived soils. Ants evaluate risk when making foraging decisions, so why do they not avoid the traps? This PhD project tests the hypothesis that ants and pitcher plants engage in a “fair trade” of nitrogen for energy (sugary nectar), with benefits to both sides. In the lab, we will use a highly sensitive custom-built “weigh bridge” with constant video observation to quantify ant traffic and nectar transport between an ant colony and a pitcher plant over time. Pitcher traps are only slippery to insects when wet. The availability of fully controlled environmental simulator chambers (“weather pods”) in Exeter allows us to investigate how rain and air humidity shift the risk-reward balance, and hence the nutrient flux, between ants and plants. The project also offers the opportunity to conduct field work in Borneo, using stable isotopes to trace nutrient fluxes between ants and plants in the natural habitat. An interdisciplinary supervisor team with experience in behavioural ecology, plant biomechanics, AI-guided video analysis, stable isotope analysis and field work on pitcher plants provides optimal support and flexibility to shape the project to the student’s interests. 

Training

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

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