Dr Dave Hemprich-Bennett

Postdoctoral Researcher


Research interests

I’m particularly interested in using novel technologies and techniques to better-understand tropical ecology, so as to help people and conservation. This has typically involved using DNA metabarcoding to construct and analyse ecological networks: in my PhD I used this combination of techniques to investigate how selective logging alters the dietary ecology of insectivorous bats in Borneo. Here at Oxford I’m excited to be joining the team looking at potential ecological consequences of removing the mosquito vector of malaria (Anopheles gambiae), focusing on sites in Ghana. To do this I’ll be using metabarcoding to generate large networks of herbivorous, carnivorous and mutualistic interactions, taking place in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Publications

  • Hemprich-Bennett, David R. et al. “Altered structure of bat-prey interaction networks in logged tropical forests revealed by metabarcoding”. In: Molecular Ecology (2021). doi: 10.1111/mec. 16153.
  • Hemprich-Bennett, David R. et al. “Assessing the impact of taxon resolution on network structure”. In: Ecology (2021). doi: 10.1002/ecy.3256.
  • Hemprich-Bennett, David R. et al. “Selective logging shows no impact on the dietary breadth of a generalist bat species: the fawn leaf-nosed bat (Hipposideros cervinus)”. In: Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (2021). doi: 10.3389/fevo.2021.750269.
  • Hemprich-Bennett, David, Rabaiotti, Daniella, and Kennedy, Emma. “Beware survivorship bias in advice on science careers”. In: Nature (2021). doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02634-z.
  • Ong, Xin Rui et al. “Trap type affects dung beetle taxonomic and functional diversity in Bornean tropical forests”. In: Austral Ecology (2021). doi: 10.1111/aec.13124.
  • Jucker, Tommaso et al. “A research agenda for microclimate ecology in human-modified tropical forests”. In: Frontiers in Forests and Global Change (2020). doi: 10.3389/ffgc.2019.00092.
  • Oliveira, Hernani F. M. et al. “Wing morphology predicts individual niche specialization in Pteronotus mesoamericanus (Mammalia: Chiroptera)”. In: PLOS ONE (2020). doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0232601.
  • Czenze, Zenon J. et al. “Spatiotemporal and demographic variation in the diet of New Zealand lesser short-tailed bats (Mystacina tuberculata)”. In: Ecology and Evolution (2018). doi: 10. 1002/ece3.4268.