Dr Rosa Menéndez

Lecturer

Research Overview

Rosa is an insect ecologist interested in the effects of human induced environmental change (climate change and land use changes) on insect diversity and the ecosystem functions they drive. Butterflies and dung beetles are her primary groups of interest and she carries out research in both temperate and tropical regions. Her research also has a conservation focus, aiming to provide advice on the best management practices for promoting the conservation of insects.

Published research

Rosa’s research has made significant advances in the understanding of how climate change affects insect diversity, including evidence that recent changes in climate correlate with changes in species richness, using butterflies in the UK as the model system. This work also quantified the extent to which biodiversity changes, at a community level, appears to be lagging behind climate change and provided the first experimental test that species are exhibiting climate-lags. She has published several papers on how insects are responding to climate warming and how habitat fragmentation affects species persistence (see link to publications).

Current research themes include:

  • Species altitudinal distributions: range shifts in response to climate warming.
  • Host-parasitoid interactions: potential disruption due to climate warming.
  • Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: effects of climate change/habitat loss on functional diversity.

Roles

Rosa’s primary administrative responsibility in the department is as Part II Director of Studies for LEC-Biology degrees.

Rosa is currently:

  • associate editor of the journal Ecological Entomology
  • regular research review panel member for the Spanish Research Council

Teaching

Rosa’s teaching includes:

Optimizing field margins for biocontrol services: the relative role of aphid abundance, annual floral resources, and overwinter habitat in enhancing aphid natural enemies
Ramsden, M., Menéndez, R., Leather, S., Wackers, F. 1/01/2015 In: Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. 199, p. 94-104. 11 p.
Journal article

Climate change and elevational range shifts: evidence from dung beetles in two European mountain ranges
Menéndez, R., Gonzalez-Megias, A., Jay-Robert, P., Marquez-Ferrando, R. 06/2014 In: Global Ecology and Biogeography. 23, 6, p. 646-657. 12 p.
Journal article

Woodland structure, rather than tree identity, determines the breeding habitat of Willow Warblers Phylloscopus trochilus in the northwest of England
Stostad, H.N., Menéndez, R. 2014 In: Bird Study. 61, 2, p. 246-254. 9 p.
Journal article

Los Escarabeidos Coprófagos
Ávila , J.M., González Megías, A., Márquez Ferrando , R., Menéndez, R. 2013 In: Los insectos de Sierra Nevada 200 años de historia. Asociación Española de Entomología p. 365-376. 12 p. ISBN: 978-84-616-3513-9.
Chapter

The enhancement of conservation biological control through targeted landscape management
Ramsden, M., Menéndez, R., Leather, S., Wäckers, F. 2013 In: Environmental management on farmland. Warwick : ASSOCIATION OF APPLIED BIOLOGISTS p. 119-126. 8 p.
Paper

Climate change effects on above- and below-ground interactions in a dryland ecosystem
Gonzalez-Megias, A., Menéndez, R. 19/11/2012 In: Philosophical Transactions B: Biological Sciences. 367, 1606, p. 3115-3124. 10 p.
Journal article

Effect of additional resources on aphidopohagous parasitoid wasp activity on field margins in arable landscapes
Ramsden, M., Menendez Martinez, R., Leather, S., Wäckers, F. 2012 In: Working Group “Landscape Management for Functional biodiversity. p. 161-165. 5 p.
Paper

Changes in the composition of British butterfly assemblages over two decades.
Gonzalez-Megias, A., Menéndez, R., Roy, D., Brereton, T., Thomas, C.D. 07/2008 In: Global Change Biology. 14, 7, p. 1464-1474. 11 p.
Journal article

Escape from natural enemies during climate-driven range expansion: a case study
Menéndez, R., Gonzalez-Megias, A., Lewis, O.T., Shaw, M.R., Thomas, C.D. 06/2008 In: Ecological Entomology. 33, 3, p. 413-421. 9 p.
Journal article

Regional hotspots of butterfly diversity in a protected area: Are they indicators of unique assemblages and areas with more species of conservation concern?
Gutiérrez, D., Menéndez, R. 11/2007 In: Acta Oecologica. 32, 3, p. 30113-311. 29803 p.
Journal article

Direct and indirect effects of climate and habitat factors on butterfly diversity.
Menéndez, R., González-Megías, A., Collingham, Y., Fox, R., Roy, D.B., Ohlemüller, R., Thomas, C.D. 03/2007 In: Ecology. 88, 3, p. 605-611. 7 p.
Journal article

How are insects responding to global warming?
Menéndez, R. 2007 In: Tijdschrift voor Entomologie. 150, 2, p. 355-365. 11 p.
Journal article

Can occupancy patterns be used to predict distributions in widely separated geographic regions?
Menéndez, R., Thomas, C.D. 09/2006 In: Oecologia. 149, 3, p. 396-405. 10 p.
Journal article

Species richness changes lag behind climate change.
Menéndez, R., González Megías, A., Hill, J.K., Braschler, B., Willis, S.G., Collingham, Y., Fox, R., Roy, D.B., Thomas, C.D. 22/06/2006 In: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 273, 1593, p. 1465-1470. 6 p.
Journal article

Habitat-based conservation priorities for carabid beetles within the Picos de Europa National Park, northern Spain.
Gutiérrez, D., Menéndez, R., Méndez, M. 02/2004 In: Biological Conservation. 115, 3, p. 379-393. 15 p.
Journal article

Shifts in habitat associations of dung beetles in Northern Spain : climate change implications.
Menéndez, R., Gutierrez, D. 2004 In: Ecoscience -Quebec-. 11, p. 329-337. 9 p.
Journal article

Welcome to the North? : butterflies and climate change.
Gutiérrez, D., Menéndez, R. 2004 In: Yorkshire Wildlife Magazine.
Journal article

Migration and Allee effects in the six-spot burnet moth Zygaena filipendulae.
Menéndez, R., Gutiérrez, D., Thomas, C.T. 06/2002 In: Ecological Entomology. 27, 3, p. 317-325. 9 p.
Journal article

Metapopulations of four lepidopteran herbivores on a single host plant, Lotus Corniculatus.
Gutiérrez, D., León-Cortés, J.L., Menéndez, R., Wilson, R.J., Cowley, M.J.R., Thomas, C.D. 05/2001 In: Ecology. 82, 5, p. 1371-1386. 16 p.
Journal article

Metapopulation structure depends on spatial scale in the host-specific moth Wheeleria spilodactylus (Lepidoptera: Pterophoridae).
Menéndez, R., Thomas, C.D. 12/2000 In: Journal of Animal Ecology. 69, 6, p. 935-951. 17 p.
Journal article

Heterotrophic succession within dung-inhabiting beetle communities in northern Spain.
Menéndez, R., Gutiérrez, D. 10/09/1999 In: Acta Oecologica. 20, 5, p. 527-535. 9 p.
Journal article