Ali Birkett is a PhD student in Biological Science and a member of the Insect Community Ecology group at Lancaster Environment Centre. She is currently researching the relationship between dung beetles and climate change in the uplands.
  • Dung Beetle (UK)© Milous Chab | Dreamstime.com

    “Little Things That Run the World”

    When I tell people I’m doing research into British dung beetles most are genuinely surprised. Indeed about 85% of the time their response is “I didn’t know we had any here”. The simple answer that I tend to give is that if we didn’t have them feeding in our fields, a pleasant stroll through a sheep or cow field would involve wading through knee-deep manure...