Hannah Brown

Biography

I am a PGR based in the School of Biology at the University of Leeds, working with Dr Steve Sait.

I am investigating the effect of declining nutritional quality on individual and linked trophic levels, as well as how it affects their response and resilience to environmental stressors.

I previously completely my Integrated Masters in Zoology at the University of Leeds.

I am absolutely fascinated by astronomy, animals (of course!) and geology, and pride myself on having worked as a tutor for the past four years to inspire my pupils and show them just how interesting the world really is.

I practiced karate for almost nine years, and achieved a black belt at age fifteen!
Aside from martial arts, I was also an avid cricketer with a mean bowl as well as an actress in my local theatre group.

Qualifications

  • 2021 – 2025: Integrated Masters in Zoology at the University of Leeds.
  • 2025: Research Technician for a NERC funded research project: Multigenerational Trophic Responses to Coupled Short- and Long-term Environmental Change

Links

Research Interests

  • Nutritional decline in producers
  • Trophic interactions
  • Responses to climatic stressors
  • Ecosystem-wide responses
  • Population modelling

Teaching Interests

  • Ecology
  • Zoology
  • Biology
  • Geography

PhD Title

Are you what you eat? The role of macronutrients in shaping adaptation to extreme environmental change in interacting species

    PhD Outline

    Macronutrients constitute the foundations of life itself, and consist of proteins, carbohydrates and lipids.
    Though some can be synthesised internally by animals, the majority are curated by producer species and then are transferred through the food chain via. trophic interactions.

    As climate change intensifies, however, producers are altering their nutritional composition to withstand adverse environments. This can cause the nutritional profile of basal trophic levels to change, with significant effects cascading towards primary consumers who directly feed on these producers and require their nutrients for their own survival, development and reproduction.
    However, little is known about the effects which may indirectly impact the highest trophic levels; it is not well understood whether primary consumers will be able to buffer these changes through internal regulation, or if they will propagate up the food-chain.

    Consumers also require macronutrients to amass their own physiological responses to climatic stressors such as heat-shock and drought. Whether it is using proteins to form heat-shock proteins to protect vulnerable intracellular components, utilising lipids to prevent desiccation or carbohydrates to meet their metabolic demands, macronutrients are vital for a species’ persistence throughout adverse conditions.

    Thus, it can be implied that changes in the nutritional quality of producing species are likely to alter or even prevent how primary consumers withstand climatic stressors. Again, little is known of the effect towards predatory species, but it is recognised if there is a severe mismatch between the adaption capacity of trophic levels, then it is likely that a trophic cascade and ecosystem collapse will occur.

    It is important to understand the effects of macronutrients on individual and associated species to represent how each trophic level will respond in future climatic scenarios. This will allow the effective modelling of population dynamics, identifying key areas for conservation across vulnerable ecosystems and agricultural practices.