Dr Anja Rott - ecology and entomology

Dr Anja Rott's interest in entomology started early in life – living abroad throughout her childhood provided ample exposure to the large variety of living organisms and that encouraged her fascination with biodiversity and the question of how things interact. Specialising in animal ecology, she spent a whole year on her Master’s thesis looking at the soil invertebrates of wetland meadows in northern Germany. After graduating she continued with her PhD at Imperial College in the field of community ecology constructing parasitoid webs of leaf-miners on deciduous trees.

At this point it became clear that her main interests centred on tri-trophic interactions between plants and insects. Starting her first postdoctoral position in 1996, she spent three years studying the efficiency of predators of spider mites on different plant species. After a lecture position at Imperial College at Wye, teaching MSc modules on ecology, entomology and crop protection, she spent six-and-a-half years in Switzerland developing her research in the field of tri-trophic interactions and community ecology further.

Anja Rott

Dr Anja Rott

Since working at Brighton, Anja has contributed to a range of research areas, addressing questions in the field of population dynamics (mainly of herbivorous insects, working on vector populations and aquatic invertebrates), pollination ecology (biodiversity and conservation), dung beetle community dynamics and more generally biodiversity in the urban landscape (green roofs).

Two exciting projects she is currently involved in, are looking at biodiversity on green roofs and the ecological determinant of Lyme’s disease in the South Downs National Park (SDNP). Questions of interest are how the potential of climate change will alter the vector distribution dynamics and with that the risk of tick-borne disease, relating to the spread of the host animal populations for the ticks. Results of the vector populations research will directly feed into recommended actions within the South East of the UK, in line with current World Heath Organization and NERC priorities.

Inspiring others

Since joining the University of Brighton in 2007, Anja has successfully developed and led taught field courses (both overseas and in the UK). She has supervised over 70 undergraduate and master projects and is currently supervising two PhD students.