Dr Stephen Larcombe
Academic Background
I studied for my BSc in Zoology at the University of Glasgow in 2000, before beginning a PhD with Dr Kathryn Arnold in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, also at Glasgow. The aims of the PhD were to investigate the various roles of dietary antioxidants in mediating life-history trade-offs in birds. After completion of the PhD in 2009, I worked on a one-year post-doc at the Université de Bourgogne in Dijon, examining the impact of avian social rank and structure on the virulence of avian malaria parasites. In 2010 I began a Junior Research Fellowship with Jesus College, Oxford, and the Tour du Valat Research Station in the Camargue, Southern France.
Research Interests
My current research focuses on the effects of mosquito control in the Camargue on the diversity, abundance, and virulence of avian malaria. The study of avian malaria is an exciting and developing field, and studying the factors which affect malarial transmission is of fundamental interest. Understanding how vector ecology affects malaria in birds can be challenging, since normally differences in abundance of vectors will be associated with several other climatic and habitat characteristics. Mosquito control programmes selectively remove vectors of many malarial strains, without changing habitat. By pairing controlled with non-controlled habitats, with similar avian communities, I hope to compare the abundance and diversity of mosquitos and their malarial parasites, and relate these to prevalence and virulence of malaria in birds.
More specifically I aim to address:
- How mosquito control affects the distribution of vectors of avian malaria.
- The effects of habitat composition and mosquito control on prevalence of avian malaria within mosquitos.
- How avian malaria diversity is affected by arrival of summer migrant birds in the Camargue.
- Whether differences in avian malaria mediated by mosquito control affect virulence in avian hosts.
Publications
Larcombe, S.D., Tregaskes, C.A., Coffey, J., Stevenson, A.E., Alexander, L. and Arnold, K.E. 2008. The effects of short-term antioxidant supplementation on oxidative stress and flight performance in adult budgerigars Melopsittacus undulatus. J Exp Biol. 211, 2859-2864.
Larcombe, S.D., Coffey, J., Bann, D., Alexander, L. and Arnold, K.E. 2010. Impacts of dietary antioxidants and flight training on post-exercise oxidative damage in adult budgerigars Melopsittacus undulatus. Comp Biochem Physiol B 155, 49-53.
Arnold, K.A., Ramsay, S.L., Henderson, L. and Larcombe, S.D. In press. Seasonal variation in diet quality: antioxidants, invertebrates and Blue Tits Cyanistes caeruleus. Biol J Linn Soc.
Mullen, W., Larcombe, S.D., Arnold, K.A., Welchman H. and Crozier, A. In press. Use of Accurate Mass Full Scan Mass Spectrometry for the Analysis of Anthocyanins in Berries and Berry-Fed Tissues. J Agric Food Chem.
Links
See also the Department of Biology website.