Andrew Bourke's Website
As well as pursuing my research interests (see here and here), I am interested in all kinds of natural history, including observing and recording insects (see here and here) and bird watching (see here and here). I also enjoy fossil collecting (see here). So this website is about both my research and these other interests.
SELECTED NATURAL HISTORY HIGHLIGHTS
THE ADAPTABLE CRAB SPIDER: Crab Spiders (Misumena vatia) are typically white, but in our garden we've observed their recorded habit of, over a few days, turning yellow if they move on to a yellow flower. In the garden, the yellow flowers they favour are Goldenrod and (here) Shrubby Hare's-ear, Bupleurum fruticosum. This particular spider started white and, as in the photo, turned yellow and seems to be quite successful in catching prey. Norwich, Norfolk, August 2026.
WASP SPIDER IN GARDEN: Wasp Spiders (Argiope bruennichi) occur in and around Norwich, but we've never seen any in the garden until this year, when several turned up occupying webs on shrubs and in long grass. Despite the very dry summer, grasshoppers appear to be thriving, and they form the spiders' main prey. Norwich, Norfolk, July 2026.
PAPER WASP IN GARDEN: The European Paper Wasp (Polistes dominula) is scarce in Britain, but as it happens a population appears to have become established in or near Norwich. Last summer, we were lucky enough to have both females and males visit our garden (to feed at umbels of Shrubby Hare's-ear, Bupleurum fruticosum). This year the species has reappeared, with this female visiting our pond for water in recent very hot weather. Norwich, Norfolk, May 2026.
SELECTED RESEARCH PAPER HIGHLIGHTS
COSTS OF REPRODUCTION IN EUSOCIAL INSECT QUEENS: In a paper in BMC Biology, we tested whether queens in annual eusocial insects like the bumble bee Bombus terrestris experience costs of reproduction. We experimentally increased queens’ costs of reproduction by removing their eggs, which caused queens to increase their egg-laying rate. Treatment queens lived significantly shorter lives than control queens whose egg-laying rate was not increased. In addition, treatment and control queens differed in age-related gene expression in both their overall expression profiles and the expression of ageing-related genes. These findings suggest that costs of reproduction are present but latent, i.e. that positive fecundity-longevity associations in queens of B. terrestris and similar species are condition-dependent. They also raised the possibility that a partial remodelling of genetic and endocrine networks underpinning ageing may have occurred in B. terrestris such that, in unmanipulated conditions, age-related gene expression depends more on chronological than relative age.
The paper is: Collins DH, Prince DC, Donelan JL, Chapman T, Bourke AFG (2023) Costs of reproduction are present but latent in eusocial bumblebee queens. BMC Biology 21: 153.