Profile

Career

2008 -	Senior Lecturer	Department of Biology, University of York
2007	Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Award
2002	York Certificate of Academic Practice
1998 - 2008	Lecturer	Department of Biology, University of York
1997	MA	University of Oxford
1996 - 1998	Royal Society Post-Doctoral Fellow	Leiden (Netherlands)
1996	PhD	University of London (Imperial College)
1992	BA Zoology	University of Oxford

Research

Overview

My main interest is the evolutionary ecology of insects, and my work combines field and laboratory studies, comparative biology and theory. One focus is the explanation of life history traits through ecological selection pressures and constraints, especially in parasitic wasps which are very species rich and have fascinating biology. I also have significant interests in macroevolution (understanding the diversification of insects) and the ecological basis of conservation biology (devising tools to conserve parasitoids).

Discoveries

During the last 520 million years, warm “greenhouse” phases have been associated with relatively low biodiversity and relatively high extinction and origination rates compared to cooler “icehouse” phases. Tree species richness can be a good surrogate of parasitoid richness for use in nature reserve selection.

Current projects

• Understanding the constraints on sex ratio adaptation using artificial neural networks. A BBSRC funded project with Simon O’Keefe at York, and Stu West and Dave Shuker at Edinburgh (Funding body: BBSRC)
• Insect supertrees: A joint BBSRC studentship with Sandie Baldauf (Funding body: BBSRC)
• Control of glasshouse shoreflies using Aphaereta parasitoids. A studentship funded by NERC and the Stockbridge Technology Centre (Funding body: NERC and the Stockbridge Technology Centre)
• Reproduction, senescence and longevity in humans. A joint white rose studentship with Virpi Lummaa at Sheffield (Funding body: White Rose)
• Evolutionary explanations for insect diversity. A NERC CASE studentship with the Natural History Museum, London and Dr Andrew Ross (National Museums of Scotland) (Funding body: NERC)

Research group(s)

Status	Name	Project
Post-doc	Hannah Lewis	Understanding the constraints on sex ratio adaptation using artificial neural networks
Research Student	David Nicholson	Evolutionary explanations for insect diversity
Research Student	Rob Davis	A supertree of insect families
Research Student	Luke Tilley	Biological control of the greenhouse shorefly using two species of parasitoid
Research Student	Duncan Gillespie	Reproduction, senescence and longevity in humans.

Available PhD research projects

Insect macroevolution, life history evolution, evolutionary ecology and biological control (for 2012 - 13)

I welcome inquiries from students interested in pursuing a PhD on any area of my research. I prefer not to outline a specific project at this stage but can work out a project of mutual interest in conversation with you. 

Publications

Selected publications

Mayhew PJ (2007) Why are there so many insect species? Perspectives from fossils and phylogenies Biological Reviews 82: 425-454

Fraser SEM, Beresford AE, Peters J, Redhead JW, Welch AJ, Mayhew PJ and Dytham C (2008) Effectiveness of vegetation surrogates for parasitoid wasps in reserve selection Conservation Biology : 142-150.

Mayhew, P. J., Jenkins, G. B. & Benton, T. G. (2008) A long-term association between global temperature and biodiversity, origination and extinction in the fossil record. Proceedings of the Royal Society 275: 47-53

External activities

Memberships

• Organizer of the Insect Parasitoid Special Interest Group of the Royal Entomological Society
• NERC Peer Review College

Editorial duties

• Associate editor of the journal Functional Ecology