Dr Moya Burns

Alumna

  • email moya.burns@zoo.ox.ac.uk

Supervised by Becky Morris and Owen Lewis

Research Interests

I am an ecologist with a broad range of interests in entomology, forestry and conservation. My research focuses on using insects to investigate how environmental change affects community composition and species interactions. My PhD research has looked at sub-tropical rainforest fragmentation in Australia and the effects this has on cavity-nesting bees and wasps. I have also researched how insect interactions in UK grassland are impacted by climate change and grassland restoration. I have a long-standing interest in saproxylic invertebrates which I have continued to work on alongside my PhD research, investigating rapid biodiversity assessment techniques, how saproxylics respond to woodland fragmentation and their functional contribution to wood decay.

Selected Publications

  • Burns, M.L., Smith, M, Slade, E.M. & Ennos, R. (2014) The Saproxylic Activity Index: A new tool for the rapid assessment of deadwood species during forest restoration. Open Journal of Forestry, 4: 144-150.
  • Burns, M.L., Hancock, E.G., Robinson, J., Cornforth, I. & Blake, S. (2014) Two novel flight-interception trap designs for low-cost forest insect surveys. British Journal of Entomology and Natural History, 27.