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Dr DARA STANLEY

PhD

 
researcher
 

Biography

Dr Dara Stanley is Lecturer in Plant Ecology, in the Botany & Plant Science Department and Ryan Institute, at NUI Galway. Her broad research interests span biodiversity, ecology and conservation. She graduated in 2008 with a BA Mod in Botany from Trinity College Dublin, and was awarded a PhD entitled “Pollinators and pollination in changing agricultural landscapes; investigating the impacts of bioenergy crops” in 2013 from the same institution under the supervision of Prof Jane Stout. From 2013-2015, Dara worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Royal Holloway, University of London under the mentorship of Prof Nigel Raine where she studied the effects of pesticide use on bee behaviour and their interactions with plants. She discovered that low, field-realistic levels of pesticide found in the nectar and pollen of crops can affect the pollination services provided by bumblebees to plants. In 2015 Dara moved to the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, where she worked in the lab of Prof Steve Johnson on plant-pollinator interactions in the Indian Coastal Belt grasslands, and the importance of honeybees in wild plant-pollinator systems. Dara has authored over 14 peer-reviewed scientific publications, and is also actively interested in science communication and outreach.  

Research Interests:
  • Plant and insect diversity, and the provision of ecosystem services
  • Conservation of plants, pollinators and their interactions
  • Pollinator behavioural ecology
  • Mutualistic interactions
  • Sustainable agriculture, agricultural change and agroecology
  • Impacts of human perturbations on biodiversity
  • Impacts of pesticides on bee behaviour and provision of pollination services

Research Interests

Research Interests:
  • Plant and insect diversity, and the provision of ecosystem services
  • Conservation of plants, pollinators and their interactions
  • Pollinator behavioural ecology
  • Mutualistic interactions
  • Sustainable agriculture, agricultural change and agroecology
  • Impacts of human perturbations on biodiversity
  • Impacts of pesticides on bee behaviour and provision of pollination services
Website: www.stanleyecologylab.org Twitter: @darastanley

Peer Reviewed Journals

  Year Publication
(2016) 'Pollination ecology of Desmodium setigerum (Fabaceae) in Uganda; do big bees do it better?'
Stanley, Dara; Otieno, Mark; Syeijven, Karin; Piironen, T; Sandler Berlin, E; Willmer, P; Nuttman, C (2016) 'Pollination ecology of Desmodium setigerum (Fabaceae) in Uganda; do big bees do it better?'. Journal of Pollination Ecology, 19 [ARAN Link] [Details]
(2016) 'Non-bee insects are important contributors to global crop pollination'
Rader R;Bartomeus I;Garibaldi LA;Garratt MP;Howlett BG;Winfree R;Cunningham SA;Mayfield MM;Arthur AD;Andersson GK;Bommarco R;Brittain C;Carvalheiro LG;Chacoff NP;Entling MH;Foully B;Freitas BM;Gemmill-Herren B;Ghazoul J;Griffin SR;Gross CL;Herbertsson L;Herzog F;Hipólito J;Jaggar S;Jauker F;Klein AM;Kleijn D;Krishnan S;Lemos CQ;Lindström SA;Mandelik Y;Monteiro VM;Nelson W;Nilsson L;Pattemore DE;Pereira Nde O;Pisanty G;Potts SG;Reemer M;Rundlöf M;Sheffield CS;Scheper J;Schüepp C;Smith HG;Stanley DA;Stout JC;Szentgyörgyi H;Taki H;Vergara CH;Viana BF;Woyciechowski M; (2016) 'Non-bee insects are important contributors to global crop pollination'. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America, 113 (1) [DOI] [Details]
(2016) 'Chronic exposure to a neonicotinoid pesticide alters the interactions between bumblebees and wild plants'
Stanley DA;Raine NE; (2016) 'Chronic exposure to a neonicotinoid pesticide alters the interactions between bumblebees and wild plants'. Functional Ecology, 30 (7) [DOI] [Details]
(2015) 'Neonicotinoid pesticide exposure impairs crop pollination services provided by bumblebees'
Stanley DA;Garratt MP;Wickens JB;Wickens VJ;Potts SG;Raine NE; (2015) 'Neonicotinoid pesticide exposure impairs crop pollination services provided by bumblebees'. Nature, 528 (7583) [DOI] [Details]
(2015) 'Bumblebee learning and memory is impaired by chronic exposure to a neonicotinoid pesticide'
Stanley DA;Smith KE;Raine NE; (2015) 'Bumblebee learning and memory is impaired by chronic exposure to a neonicotinoid pesticide'. Scientific Reports, 5 [DOI] [ARAN Link] [Details]
(2014) 'Response of farmland biodiversity to the introduction of bioenergy crops: effects of local factors and surrounding landscape context'
Bourke, David and Stanley, Dara and O'Rourke, Erin and Thompson, Rosalyn and Carnus, Tim and Dauber, Jens and Emmerson, Mark and Whelan, Pádraig and Hecq, Florence and Flynn, Evelyn and Dolan, Lisa and Stout, Jane (2014) 'Response of farmland biodiversity to the introduction of bioenergy crops: effects of local factors and surrounding landscape context'. GCB Bioenergy, 6 (3):275-289 [DOI] [ARAN Link] [Details]
(2014) 'Pollinator sharing between mass-flowering oilseed rape and co-flowering wild plants: implications for wild plant pollination'
Stanley, Dara A. and Stout, Jane C. (2014) 'Pollinator sharing between mass-flowering oilseed rape and co-flowering wild plants: implications for wild plant pollination'. Plant Ecology, 215 (3):315-325 [DOI] [Details]
(2013) 'Quantifying the impacts of bioenergy crops on pollinating insect abundance and diversity: a field-scale evaluation reveals taxon-specific responses'
Stanley, Dara A. and Stout, Jane C. (2013) 'Quantifying the impacts of bioenergy crops on pollinating insect abundance and diversity: a field-scale evaluation reveals taxon-specific responses'. Journal of Applied Ecology, 50 (2):335-344 [DOI] [Details]
(2013) 'Pollinators and pollination of oilseed rape crops (Brassica napus L.) in Ireland: ecological and economic incentives for pollinator conservation'
Stanley, Dara A. and Gunning, Daryl and Stout, Jane C. (2013) 'Pollinators and pollination of oilseed rape crops (Brassica napus L.) in Ireland: ecological and economic incentives for pollinator conservation'. Journal of Insect Conservation, 17 (6):1181-1189 [DOI] [Details]
(2013) 'Ecological Variation in Response to Mass-Flowering Oilseed Rape and Surrounding Landscape Composition by Members of a Cryptic Bumblebee Complex'
Stanley DA;Knight ME;Stout JC; (2013) 'Ecological Variation in Response to Mass-Flowering Oilseed Rape and Surrounding Landscape Composition by Members of a Cryptic Bumblebee Complex'. Plos One, 8 (6) [DOI] [ARAN Link] [Details]
(2011) 'Relative abundance of an invasive alien plant affects native pollination processes'
Dietzsch AC;Stanley DA;Stout JC; (2011) 'Relative abundance of an invasive alien plant affects native pollination processes'. Oecologia, 167 (2) [DOI] [Details]
(2009) 'Bidirectional flower color and shape changes allow a second opportunity for pollination'
Willmer P;Stanley DA;Steijven K;Matthews IM;Nuttman CV; (2009) 'Bidirectional flower color and shape changes allow a second opportunity for pollination'. Current Biology : Cb, 19 (11) [DOI] [Details]

Employment

  Employer Position From / To
Royal Holloway University of London Postdoctoral Research Associate 10-JUN-13 / 31-MAR-15
Royal Holloway University of London Visiting Lecturer 01-APR-15 / 30-SEP-15
University of KwaZulu-Natal Postdoctoral Researcher 14-DEC-15 / 30-JUN-16

Education

  Year Institution Qualification Subject
2008 Trinity College Dublin BSc (Hons) Botany
2013 Trinity College Dublin PhD Botany

Languages

  Language
Spanish
Irish

Modules Taught

  Term/Year Module Title Module Code Subject / Desc
2016 semester 1 Plant Resources and Ecosystems BPS3102
2016 semesters 1 & 2 Plant Interactions BPS3104
2016 semester 2 Primary Productivity and Global Change BPS4104
2016 semester 2 Botanical Field Skills BPS2101
2016 4th year project BPS
2016 semester 2 Techniques in Field Ecology and Conservation BPS3101
2016 semester 2 Ecology and Conservation Issues BPS405