The pioneering project, which has received £494,000 in seed funding from the Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA), will explore how some insects are able to feed on the toxic shrub, Rhododendron ponticum, which threatens woodlands and biodiversity across North Wales and beyond.
Rhododendron ponticum forms dense thickets that block sunlight from reaching the woodland floor. This prevents many native plants from growing and can stop young trees, including oak, from regenerating.
Removing rhododendron is currently the only effective way to control it, but large-scale clearance is expensive and labour-intensive.
Dr Benjamin Jarrett, a researcher at ¶º±ÆÖ±²¥â€™s School of Environmental and Natural Sciences said, "Rhododendron ponticum is a major challenge for woodland managers across the UK. We want to understand if native insects are able to feed on a plant that is toxic to most species, and if they can, how they do it. By studying these insects, we may uncover new ways of managing rhododendron in the future that explicitly take evolution into account."
The project will survey Rhododendron populations across North Wales to measure how often the plants are eaten by native insects. Researchers will then carry out laboratory studies and genetic analyses to investigate the biological mechanisms that allow these insects to tolerate the plant's chemical defences.
The findings will help scientists better understand how native species adapt to invasive plants. Understanding how native wildlife responds to new environmental challenges could help develop more sustainable approaches to conservation and ecosystem restoration.
Created by an Act of Parliament, and sponsored by the UK Government’s Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology, ARIA funds breakthrough R&D in underexplored areas to catalyse new paths to prosperity for the UK and the world. The organisation empowers scientists and engineers to pursue research that is too speculative, too hard, or too interdisciplinary to pursue elsewhere.
This project is funded as part of ARIA’s Engineering Ecosystem Resilience opportunity space, which is exploring if combining high-resolution measurement with targeted, resilience-boosting interventions could reverse biodiversity decline and prevent ecological collapse.