Graham Stone

Contact details
- Tel: 650 7194
- Email: Graham.Stone@ed.ac.uk
Address
- Street
-
Ashworth 2 409
Institute of Evolutionary Biology
Ashworth Labs
Charlotte Auerbach Road - City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH9 3FL
Background
1986 BA First Class Zoology, Oxford University
1989 Ph.D. Oxford University Behavioural and physiological thermoregulation in solitary bees
1993-1998 Departmental Lecturer in Animal Biology, Oxford University Tutorial Fellow in Zoology, Magdalen College
1998-2005 Lecturer, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Edinburgh University
2011-present Professor of Ecology, Edinburgh University
Undergraduate teaching
I teach in several courses introducing the diversity and evolution of animal body plans, animal-plant interactions, and marine biology. I have contributed to tropical ecology courses in Kenya, run by the Tropical Biology Association, and co-authored a university level textbook on environmental physiology (The Environmental Physiology of Animals, by Pat Willmer, Graham Stone and Ian Johnston, Blackwells Science 1st Edn. 2000, 2nd Edn. 2005).
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Current PhD students supervised
Nora Villamil-Buenrostro (started April 2015) CoNaCyT Mexican scholarship program. Ecological costs of myrmecophily and its evolutionary consequences in a mexican ant plant, Turnera velutina.
Koorosh McCormack (started September 2017): The Processes of Natural Enemy Recruitment During Two Recent Gallwasp Invasions: Patterns emerging in Plagiotrochus quercusilicis and Dryocosmus kuriphilus.
Yusef Samari (started September 2017: The gardener’s dilemma: how should we manage urban green spaces to best benefit plants, pollinators, and people?
Past PhD students supervised
Dr. Rachel Atkinson (1997-2000). BBSRC quota studentship at Oxford University. Rachel is now a Ecosystem Restoration Scientist with Biodeiversity International.
Dr. Nigel Raine (1998-2001). Private Trust support, held jointly with Oxford University. Nigel is now Rebanks Professor in Pollinator Conservation at Guelph University, Canada.
Dr. Antonis Rokas (1998-2001). NERC quota award, ICAPB, Edinburgh University. Antonis is now Cornelius Vanderbilt Profeesor in Biological Sciences at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Dr. Matthew Prescott (1999-2004). Leverhulme scholarship, Oxford University. Matt is now a campaigner for energy efficient and environmentally friendly technologies.
Dr. Alex Hayward (2002-2005). NERC quota studentship. Alex is now a BBSRC David Phillips Fellow in Biosciences at the University of Exeter
Dr. Martim Melo (2004-2006) Portuguese scholarship.Martim is now a postdoctoral researcher at the Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources at the University of Porto, Portugal. He is an acknowledged expert on African birds.
Dr. Barbara Mackinder (2004-2006). Based at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh. Barbara continues her work on botanical taxonomy as a member of the Centre for Middle eastern Plants at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh.
Dr. Katherine Baldock (2005-2007). NERC quota studentship. Katherine is now a NERC Knowledge Exchange Fellow in Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol.
Dr. Richard Challis (2005-2007). NERC quota studentship. Richard is a postdoctoral informatician working on butterfly genomics with Mark Blaxter at the University of Edinburgh.
Dr. Tracey Begg (2005-2007). NERC quota studentship. Tracey is Policy & Advice Officer on Marine energy and seaweed harvesting for Scottish Natural Heritage.
Dr. Juan Carlos Ruiz-Guajardo (2006-2008). CONACYT- funded Mexican student. JC has just moved on from a postdoctoral research position at the university of California, Davis to a teaching position at Goshen College, Indiana.
Dr. Konrad Lohse (2008-2010). NERC quota studentship. Konrad is now a NERC indepdendent research fellow in population genomics at Edinburgh University.
Dr. Kate Armstrong (2006-2010). Based at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh. Kate continues her work in plant taxonomy at the Institute of Systematic Botany, New York Botanical Garden.
Dr. Frazer Sinclair (2007-2011). Joint NERC quota studentship with CEH Wallingford. Frazer has worked on building conservation infrastructure in Sierra Leone and Indonesia, and is currently working on bird conservation on the island of Principe.
Dr. Jack Hearn (2009-2013). NERC quota studentship. After two spells of postdoctoral research in genomics and transcriptomics at Edinburgh University, Jack is about to start a new position on mosquito genomics at Liverspool School of Tropical Medicine.
Dr. Eugenio Valderrama (2011-2015) Darwin Trust. Eugenio is now a lecturer at El Bosque University, Bogotá, Colombia.
Julja Ernst (started 2011). NERC CASE studentship with CEH Wallingford. After the award of her Masters degree, Julja has set sail to run a mobile café, pretty much anywhere!
Dr. Tom Godfrey (2011-2015) BBSRC CASE studentship with Green Estate, Sheffield. Tom is about to start a position as a statistician with the Scottish Government.
Dr. Lisa Cooper (2013-2017) NERC quota studentship. Lisa has just started a senior technical position with a biotech company in Edinburgh.
Dr. Maria-Fernanda Torres (2014-2018) Darwin Trust. MaFe is about to start a post-doctoral position in the Antonelli Lab at the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg.
Research summary
http://stonegroup.icapb.ed.ac.uk/
I am a community ecologist with a strong focus on insect-plant interactions, combining molecular and field approaches to study of natural communities. I try to understand the role of evolutionary history in community composition, and in explaining why some species interact while others don't.
My research group incorporates DNA barcoding of species-rich communities, genomic approaches in the study of population history, and transcriptomic approaches to the study of gall induction.
You can see my research "in a nutshell" here: http://www.nutshell-videos.ed.ac.uk/graham-stone-community-evolution/
I have three main projects on the go. 1. Assembly of cynipid gallwasp communities on oaks and related Fagaceae. 2. The evolution of associations between herbivores and neotropical trees in the genus Inga. 3. Quantification of the floral resources available to pollinators in urban and arctic habitats.
1. Assembly of cynipid gallwasp communities on oaks and related Fagaceae.
I have a long term research interest in the structure of parasitoid communities associated with the galls induced on plants by cynipid wasps. Ongoing projects address the assembly history of these communities across the world, the impact of gall traits on natural enemy assemblages, and identification of candidate genes involved in gall induction and development. I am particularly interested in how selection might generate the wide observed diversity of gall shapes, sizes and colours. We also use invading gallwasps - and particularly the Oriental Chestnut gall wasp Dryocosmus kuriphilus - as model systems in which to study the recruitment of natural enemies to invading hosts.
Community structure work involves long collaborations with many people, particularly Karsten Schönrogge (CEH Wallingford), György Csoka (Hungarian Department of Forest Protection), George Melika (Plant Health and Molecular Biology Laboratory, Budapest), James Nicholls (Australian National Insect Collections, Canberra), Chang-Ti Tang (Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC), Jose-Luis Nieves-Aldrey (National Science Museum, Madrid) and Juli Pujade-Villar (University of Barcelona).
Population genetic work involves close collaboration with Konrad Lohse and Jack Hearn (Edinburgh University), Lynsey Bunnefeld (Stirling University), and Mike Hickerson (City College of New York).
Gall induction work has been led by Jack Hearn (Edinburgh University), and involves collaborations with Mark Blaxter (Edinburgh University), Jack Schultz (University of Toledo, USA), Joe Shorthouse (Laurentian University, Ontario) and Fredrik Ronquist (Swedish Museum of Natural History).
2. The evolution of associations between herbivores and neotropical trees in the genus Inga.
This large collaborative project explores the impact of tree defensive chemistry and geography on herbivore associations, and builds on extensive work on Inga by the project leaders - Tom Kursar and Lissy Coley at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City. The project also involves Toby Pennington (Exeter University), Kyle Dexter (Edinburgh University), Maria-Jose Endara (University of Utah, Salt Lake City) and James Nicholls (Australian National Insect Collections, Canberra).
3. Quantification of the floral resources available to pollinators in urban and other habitats.
My work on the value of urban habitats for pollinators began in the Urban Pollinator project, one of 9 projects in the multi-funder UK Insect Pollinators Initiative. Urban Pollinators was led by Jane Memmott (Bristol University) and brought together research teams in Edinburgh, Leeds (Bill Kunin) and Reading (Simon Potts). The work addressed key issues, including the relative abundance and species richness of flower visiting insects in urban agricultaural and nature reserve habitats, the value to pollinators of different urban habitat types, and the value of planted wildflower meadows for urban pollinators. This research opened my eyes to the need to understand how much floral resource (primarily nectar and pollen) is made available at the habitat and landscape scale. I have since extended work on the quantification of floral rewards to a range of planted wildflower meadows seed mixes, and (with Riikka Kaartinen, University of Helsinki) to arctic meadows at Zackenberg in northeastern Greenland.
Current research interests
I have three main projects on the go. 1. Assembly of cynipid gallwasp communities on oaks and related Fagaceae. 2. The evolution of associations between herbivores and neotropical trees in the genus Inga. 3. Quantification of the floral resources available to pollinators in urban and arctic habitats.Assembly of cynipid gallwasp communities on oaks and related Fagaceae. For further information on these, see 'Summary of research interests'.Research activities
- Pollinators in an urbanised world: How do urban areas compare to farmland and nature reserves?
- Presentation of oral and written evidence on non-target impacts of neonicotinoid pesticides in the UK
- How can we make cities better habitats for pollinators?
- Doors Open Day 2012
- Doors Open Day 2012
- Urban Pollinators Schools Outreach visit, Davidson's Mains Primary School
- ESEB/SSE Meeting 2012
- Edinburgh Ecoschools meeting
- International Workshop on Population Genomics to
- International Entomophagistes meeting 2012 to
- Townhall Lecture on the Urban Pollinators Project
- Doors Open Day 2011
- Doors Open Day 2011
Project activity
I have three main projects on the go, all with more information under the Research tab. 1. Assembly of cynipid gallwasp communities on oaks and related Fagaceae. 2. The evolution of associations between herbivores and neotropical trees in the genus Inga. 3. Quantification of the floral resources available to pollinators in urban and arctic habitats.
Current project grants
2018
£40,000. 10/2017-4/2019. Lead PI. Fera-funded contract for research on the invading chestnut gallwasp, Dryocosmus kuriphilus, in Britain.
Past project grants
2015
£250,000. 2/2015-4/2016. lead PI. Solicited one-off funding from BBSRC/Wellcome/NERC/DEFRA. Development of the Insect Pollinators Initiative specimen archive as a legacy for future research. Co-I’s Alfried Vogler (NHM London) and Adam Vanbergen (CEH, Edinburgh).
2014
£60,229. 3/2014-3/2015. Lead PI. NERC Impact Acceleration Award, ‘Development of an Edinburgh Wildflower Meadows Seed Mix’, including funding from partners Scotia Seeds and Edinburgh City Council.
£110,307. 1/2014-1/2015. Leverhulme Grant (Ref RPG-2013-168). The phylogenetic origins of antiviral RNAi in animals Lead PI Darren Obbard (IEB Edinburgh), Co-PI Dr. Amy Buck (IIIR Edinburgh University)
2013
£574,275. 1/2013 – 12/2015. NERC standard grant. Lead PI. Genomic approaches to inference of population history and multispecies community assembly. (NE/J010499). Co-PI’s James Cook (Reading University) and Konrad Lohse (IEB, Edinburgh University).
2011
£1.25 million. 10/2011 – 10/2015. US National Science Foundation Dimensions of Biodiversity grant (£330,000 to Edinburgh). Coexistence, herbivore host choice, and plant-herbivore evolution in the recently radiated and speciose neotropical tree genus, Inga. Lead by Phyllis Coley and Tom Kursar (University of Utah), Toby Pennington and Catherine Kidner (Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh).
£1.2 million. 1/2011 to 9/2014. Wellcome-BBSRC Insect Pollinator Initiative. Lead PI. Urban Pollinators: their ecology and conservation (BB/I000305/1). Consortium grant led by Jane Memmott (University of Bristol), Simon Potts (Reading) and Bill Kunin (Leeds).
2010
£8,000. 1-6/2010. NERC NBAF pump-priming award (NBAF375 2009-2010). Lead PI. Nextgen sequencing approaches to population genetics. Co-I Jack Hearn (Edinburgh University).
£129,000. 1/2010 to 12/2012. INTEGRA-BIO Spanish Government award. Co-PI. Integrated analysis of the biodiversity, molecular systematics and macroecology of mediterranean insects. Lead PI José-Luis Nieves-Aldrey (Natural History Museum, Madrid).
£467,529. 1/2010-12/2012. NERC EHFI. Co PI. Climate change and management of forest biodiversity: predicting the impacts of climate matching strategies on plant-herbivore-enemy interactions. (NE/H000038/1). Joint award with Dr. Karsten Schönrogge (CEH Wallingford).
2007
£575,353. 12/2007-12/2010. NERC standard grant. Lead PI. Using multispecies evolutionary history to test hypotheses of community assembly. (NE/E014453/1). Co-PI’s Andrew Rambaut and James Nicholls (IEB, Edinburgh University).
2006
£65,500. 2/2006 to 10/2006. NERC small grant. Lead PI. Community-wide analysis of horizontal symbiont transmission: oak gallwasps as a model system. (NE/D007178/1). Co-PI Francis Jiggins (IEB, Edinburgh University), PDRA Alexandre Aebi.
2004
£414,000. 12/ 2004 to 12/2007. NERC standard grant. Lead PI. Host-associated population substructure in generalist parasitoids: Oak cynipid gall communities as a model system (NER/B/504414/1). Co-P.I.s Sean Nee (IEB, Edinburgh University) and Karsten Schönrogge (CEH Wallingford).
£31,500. 3/2004-3/2007. NERC small grant. Lead PI. Guild phylogeography of oak-feeding gallwasps (NER/B/S2003/00856) (Co-P.I. Dr. Sean Nee, Edinburgh University)
2001
£230,000. 6/2001 – 6/2004. NERC standard grant. Lead PI. Phylogenetic analyses of community structure: oak gallwasps as a model system. (GR/12847). Co- P.I.s James Cook (Imperial College at Silwood Park) and Karsten Schönrogge (CEH Wallingford).
1998
£126,000. 9/1998 – 8/2001. NERC Ecological Dynamics of Genes thematic program. Lead PI. Inferring demographic processes using microsatellites: oak gallwasps as a model system (GST032035).
£130,000. 9/1998 – 8/2001. NERC standard grant. Co-PI. Partitioning of shared pollinators, and acacia-ant pollinator interactions, in highly seasonal acacia communities.(GR9/03553). Lead PI Pat Willmer, St. Andrews University.
-
Sharing and reporting benefits from biodiversity research
In:
Molecular Ecology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15702
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Editorial (Published) -
From inquilines to gall inducers: Genomic signature of a life-style transition in synergus gall wasps
In:
Genome Biology and Evolution
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaa204
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Lithosaphonecrus edurus Fang, melika, and tang, a new cynipid inquiline species (hymenoptera: cynipidae: synergini) from Sichuan, China
In:
Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
A new genus of oak gallwasp, Heocynips fang, nieves-aldrey, and Melika (Hymenoptera: Cynpidae: Cynipini), from China
In:
Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, pp. 141, 152
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Reliably predicting pollinator abundance: Challenges of calibrating process-based ecological models
In:
Methods in ecology and evolution
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
Low coverage genomic data resolve the population divergence and gene flow history of an Australian rain forest fig wasp
In:
Molecular Ecology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15523
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Gradients in richness and turnover of a forest passerine’s diet prior to breeding: A mixed model approach applied to faecal metabarcoding data
In:
Molecular Ecology, vol. 29
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15394
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
A New Cycloneuroterus Melika & Tang Oak Gallwasp Species (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) Associated with Lithocarpus (Fagaceae) from Taiwan
(13 pages)
In:
Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, vol. 122, pp. 184-196
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4289/0013-8797.122.1.184
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Genomic dissection of an extended phenotype: Oak galling by a cynipid gall wasp
In:
PLoS Genetics, vol. 15
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1008398
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Gall wasp transcriptomes unravel potential effectors involved in molecular dialogues with oak and rose
In:
Frontiers in physiology, vol. 10
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2019.00926
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Seeing-good-gene-based mate choice: From genes to behavioural preferences
In:
Journal of Animal Ecology, vol. 88
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13071
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Molecular identification of Andricus species (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) inducing various oak galls in Central Zagros of Iran
(8 pages)
In:
Mitochondrial DNA. Part A, DNA mapping, sequencing, and analysis, pp. 1-8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/24701394.2019.1622693
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Macroevolutionary patterns in overexpression of tyrosine: An anti‐herbivore defence in a speciose tropical tree genus, Inga (Fabaceae)
In:
Journal of Ecology, vol. 107, pp. 1620-1632
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13208
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Testing the Distraction Hypothesis: do extrafloral nectaries reduce ant-pollinator conflict?
In:
Journal of Ecology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13135
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
A systems approach reveals urban pollinator hotspots and conservation opportunities
(15 pages)
In:
Nature Ecology & Evolution
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0769-y
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
New species of Dryocosmus Giraud gallwasps from California (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) galling Chrysolepis Liebm. (Fagaceae)
(27 pages)
In:
Zootaxa, vol. 4532, pp. 407-433
DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4532.3.6
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
A new species of Andricus Hartig gallwasps from California (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) galling Notholithocarpus (Fagaceae)
(8 pages)
In:
Integrative Systematics: Stuttgart Contributions to Natural History, vol. 1, pp. 17-25
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18476/insy.v01.a3
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Introduction: Special issue on species interactions, ecological networks and community dynamics – Untangling the entangled bank using molecular techniques
(8 pages)
In:
Molecular Ecology, vol. 28, pp. 157-164
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.14974
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Special issue (E-pub ahead of print) -
A new genus of oak gallwasp, Protobalandricus Melika, Nicholls & Stone (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) from California
(12 pages)
In:
Zootaxa, vol. 4472, pp. 141-152
DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4472.1.7
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Tracking of Host Defenses and Phylogeny During the Radiation of Neotropical Inga-Feeding Sawflies (Hymenoptera; Argidae)
(16 pages)
In:
Frontiers in plant science, vol. 9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2018.01237
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)