Personal Details

Robert Hutchinson personal details

I have a long standing interest in insects and spent many years as an amateur entomologist before taking the plunge to make a career of it.

Me in the rain forest of Ecuador, Yasuni reserve 1999. Cool hat hey!!! Me in the rain forest of Ecuador in 1999

Below is a short summary of my C.V.


1994-97 - BSc Animal Biology 2:i University of East London U.K.

1997-98 - MSc Biology and Control of Disease Vectors The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. U.K.

1999-00 - Institute of Zoology - Research Assistant

2000-pre- PhD "The Ecology of saltmarsh malaria mosquitoes" Biological Sciences University of Durham

Field Experience - Six weeks in Hungary in 1998 studying olfaction in sheep blowflies. Orientation to three types of bait were studied using electrified screens and sticky traps in sheep pastures just outside of Budapest.

Seven weeks in the Yasuni Reserve, Ecuador, studying macro-invertebrate assemblages living within bromeliad plants. Plant structure, measured as over all size, and leaf number was used to study plant/invertebrate associations. Leaf detritus was collected from each of 209 plants sampled and used as a measure of biomass. All macro-invertebrates were removed from the bromeliads and identified as morpho-species, these were then analysed looking at guild sructure, spatial structure (all plant locations were mapped) and species associations.

Seven months working in a deciduous forest on the tree hole breeding mosquito Aedes geniculatus. Studying the effects of known levels of inbreeding for cohorts of larvae raised in near natural field conditions and in the laboratory. Effects of inbreeding were measured using a composite index of larval survivourship, pupal weight, development time, wing length and fecundity.


Cote de Ivoire in West Africa working on the efficacy of carbosulfan inpregnated bednets in experimental huts. This region has the most efficent of malaria vectors, Anopheles gambiae which is resistant to pyrethroids in this area.


Netherlands collecting larvae of Anopheles messeae and An. atroparvus and studying larval breeding sites.


Russia, conducting Human Landing Catches near Ekaterinburg near the Ural mountains. This study was looking at the biting habits of An. messeae which seems more anthropophilic in Russia than in the UK. Genetic studies showed no differences between UK and Russia populations.


Research Interests

My interests are in basic insect ecology, more specifically diptera, and at present I am studying the British mosquito Anopheles atroparvus which used to be a vector of vivax malaria in the UK. I am also fascinated by the history of malaria in the UK, and hope to answer some questions on the reasons for its decline in the UK.

Other research interests are the responses of the sheep blowfly Lucilia sericata to various designs of traps and baits.

I am also interested in rain forest invertebrate community structure in relation to spatial distribution, species associations and the use of alpha diversity as measures of the effects biotic distrubance on community structure. Are these small scale replications of larger anthropogenic effects.

Publications

Hutchinson, R.A. 2000 Some behavioural responses of Lucilia sericata (Meigen, 1826) (Diptera: Calliphoridae) to three odour baits using sticky boards and electrified screens. Studia Dipterologica 7, 233-240.

Armbruster, P., Hutchinson, R. A. & Linvell, T. 2000. Equivalent inbreeding depression under laboratory and field conditions in a tree-hole breeding mosquito. Proceedings Of The Royal Society Of London Series B-Biological Sciences 267, 1939-1945.

Armbruster, P., Hutchinson, R. A. 2002. Factors influencing community structure in a South American tank bromeliad fauna.Oikos (in press)

Armbruster, P., Hutchinson, R. A. 2002. Pupal mass and wing length as indicators of fecundity in Aedes albopictus (Skuse) and Aedes geniculatus (Olivier) (Diptera: Culicidae). (submitted)

Hutchinson, R.A. 2002. Daily activity and seasonal abundance of blowflies (Diptera: Calliphoridae) at an urban and rural site in south east England.