Conker Tree Science

I am the project manager for an exciting citizen science experiment:
Conker Tree Science.  During summer 2010 and again in 2011, members of the public are collecting data to test hypotheses about the spread of the horse chestnut leaf miner, a tiny, but devastating invasive species of moth.  They are also studying the natural enemies of the moth, parasitoid wasps.  The photo above shows the conker tree in my back garden, the leaves of which have been badly damaged by the moth.

The traditional game of conkers (photo: Mike Stevenson) may be under threat, because conker trees infected by the moth produce smaller conkers!

Funding for this public engagement project was awarded by the Natural Environment Research Council, to ecologists Darren Evans (University of Hull) and Michael Pocock (University of Bristol).

I occasionally take on other project management roles relevant to biology.