Senior Lecturer in Zoology

Contact Details

Office: DAV008
Telephone: +44 (0)845 196 2614 or +44 (0)1223 698614
Email: thomas.ings@anglia.ac.uk

Qualifications

PhD, MRes

Personal profile:

2012 - present Senior Lecturer in Zoology, Anglia Ruskin
2009-2012 Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL)
2006-2009 Postdoctoral Research Assistant, QMUL
2003-2006 PhD Behavioural Ecology, QMUL
2000-2003 Scientific Officer, CABI Bioscience
1998-1999 Post-graduate Researcher, University of Durham
1996-1997 Assistant Scientific Officer, Institute of Terrestrial Ecology
1995-1996 MRes Ecology & Environmental Management, University of York
1992-1995 BSc (Hons) Biological Science, University of Exeter

Research interests

I am a member of the Animal and Environment Research Group within the Department of Life Sciences.

I have a primary interest in pollinator behaviour, invertebrate community ecology and conservation. A major goal of my research is to address the question of how species traits and the behaviour of individuals affect interactions that ultimately define the structure and dynamics of ecological networks and the ecosystem services (e.g. pollination) that they provide.

Research Keywords:

• Pollinator Ecology
• Behavioural Ecology
• Invertebrate Community Ecology
• Global Change Biology
• Ecological Networks

Professional activity and affiliations

• Associate Editor for the Journal of Animal Ecology
• Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
• Member of the British Ecological Society
• Committee Member of the Bees, Wasp & Ants Recording Society

Publications

Lenz, F., Ings, T.C., Chittka, L., Chechkin, A.V. & Klages, R. (2012) Spatio-temporal dynamics of bumblebees foraging under predation risk. Physical Review Letters, 108, doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.098103

Ings, T.C., Wang, M-Y. & Chittka, L. (2012) Colour-independent shape recognition of cryptic predators by bumblebees. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 66, 487-496. doi: 10.1007/s00265-011-1295-y

Woodward, G., Benstead, J.P., Beveridge, O.S., Blanchard, J., Brey, T., Brown, L, Cross, W.F., Friberg, N., Ings, T.C., Jacob, U., Jennings, S., Ledger, M.E., Milner, A.M., Montoya, J.M., Pichler, D.E, O'Gorman, O., Petchey, O.L., Olesen, J.M., Reuman, D.C., Thompson, M.S., Van Veen, F.J.F & Yvon-Durocher, G. (2010) Ecological networks in a changing climate. Advances in Ecological Research, 42; 71-138. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-381363-3.00002-2

Olesen, J.M., Dupont, Y.L., O'Gorman, E., Ings, T.C., Layer, K., Melián, C.J., Troejelsgaard, K., Pichler, D., Rasmussen, K. & Woodward, G. (2010) From Broadstone to Zackenberg: Space, time and hierarchies in ecological networks. Advances in Ecological Research, 42, 1-69. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-381363-3.00001-0

Ings, T.C., Ings, N.L., Chittka, L. & Rasmont, P. (2010). A failed invasion? Commercially introduced pollinators in Southern France. Apidologie, 41, 1-13. doi:10.1051/apido/2009044

Ings, T.C., Raine, N.E. & Chittka, L. (2009). A population comparison of the strength and persistence of innate colour preference and learning speed in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 68, 1207-1218. doi:10.1007/s00265-009-0731-8

Ings, T.C., & Chittka, L. (2009). Predator crypsis enhances behaviourally-mediated indirect effects on plants by altering bumblebee foraging preferences. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 276, 2031-2036. doi:10.1098/rspb.2008.1748

Lopez-Vaamonde, C., Raine, N.E., Koning, J.W., Brown, R.M., Pereboom, J.J.M., Ings, T.C., Ramos-Rodriguez, O., Jordan, W.C. & Bourke, A.F.G. (2009). Lifetime reproductive success and longevity of queens in an annual social insect. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 22, 983-996. doi:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2009.01706.x

Ings,T.C., Montoya, J.M., Bascompte, J., Bluthgen, N., Brown, L., Dormann, C.F., Edwards, F., Figueroa, D., Jacob, U., Jones, J.I., Lauridsen, R.B., Ledger, M.E., Lewis, H.M., Olesen, J.M., Van Veen, F.J.F., Warren, P.H., & Woodward, G. (2009). Ecological networks - beyond food webs. Journal of Animal Ecology, 78, 253-269. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2656.2008.01460.x

Ings,T.C. & Chittka, L. (2008). Speed accuracy tradeoffs and false alarms in bee responses to cryptic predators. Current Biology, 18, 1520-1524. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2008.07.074

Ings, T.C. (2007) Body size affects nectar uptake rates in Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Entomologia Generalis, 30, 186.

Ings, T.C., Ward, N.L., & Chittka, L. (2006) Can commercially imported bumble bees out-compete their native conspecifics? Journal of Applied Ecology, 43, 940-948.

Raine, N.E., Ings, T.C., Dornhaus, A., Saleh, N., & Chittka, L. (2006) Adaptation, genetic drift, pleiotropy, and history in the evolution of bee foraging behavior. Advances in the Study of Behavior, 36, 305-354.

Raine, N.E., Ings, T.C., Ramos-Rodriguez, O., & Chittka, L. (2006) Intercolony variation in learning performance of a wild British bumblebee population (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus terrestris audax). Entomologia Generalis, 28, 241-256.

Atkinson, P.W., Fuller, R.J., Vickery, J.A., Conway, G., Tallowin, J.R.B., Smith, R.E.N., Haysom, K.H., Ings, T.C., Asteraki, E.J., & Brown, V.K. (2005) Influence of agricultural management, sward structure and food resources on grassland field use by birds in lowland England. Journal of Applied Ecology, 42, 932-942.

Ings, T.C., Raine, N.E., & Chittka, L. (2005) Mating preference in the commercially imported bumblebee species Bombus terrestris in Britain (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Entomologia Generalis, 28, 233-238.

Ings, T.C. Schikora, J., & Chittka, L. (2005) Bumblebees, humble pollinators or assiduous invaders? A population comparison of foraging performance in Bombus terrestris. Oecologia, 144, 508-516.

Rasmont, P., Regali, A., Ings, T.C., Lognay, G., Baudart, E., Marlier, M., Delcarte, E., Viville, P., Marot, C., Falmagne, P., Verhaeghe, J.C., & Chittka, L. (2005) Analysis of pollen and nectar of Arbutus unedo as a food source for Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Journal of Economic Entomology, 98, 656-663.

Asteraki, E.J., Hart, B.J., Ings, T.C., & Manley, W.J. (2004) Factors influencing the plant and invertebrate diversity of arable field margins. Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment, 102, 219-231.

Chittka, L., Ings, T.C. & Raine, N.E. (2004) Chance and adaptation in the evolution of island bumblebee behaviour. Population Ecology, 46, 243-251.

Ings, T.C. & Hartley, S.E. (1999) The effect of habitat structure on carabid communities during the regeneration of a native Scottish forest. Forest Ecology and Management, 119, 123-136.