Overview
Having completed my undergraduate in Evolutionary Biology at the University of Exeter I am now working towards a Master by Research. I have a keen interest in studying the impacts of humans’ actions, including climate change, on biodiversity and species’ geographic ranges. My current research focuses on a species of hermit crab, C. erythropus, which has recently expanded its range to the UK. I’ve been investigating the size disruption of the population, its shell preference, the genetic structure of species across Europe, and running larval dispersal model of the English channel. This with the aim of finding out more about its range expansion, if it could have an impact on the UK’s native hermit crabs, and how other species could also expand their range to the UK as climate change progresses.
Publications
Key publications | Publications by category | Publications by year
Publications by category
Journal articles
Sanders D, Frago E, Kehoe R, Patterson C, Gaston K (In Press). A meta-analysis of biological impacts of artificial light at night.
Nature Ecology and Evolution Full text.
Patterson C, Slater M, Early R, Laing C (2020). The status of Clibanarius erythropus after a recent range expansion to Great Britain, with the highest latitude recording of a gravid individual.
Marine Biodiversity Records,
13(1).
Abstract:
The status of Clibanarius erythropus after a recent range expansion to Great Britain, with the highest latitude recording of a gravid individual
Abstract
Background
In 2016, the range of the hermit crab Clibanarius erythropus expanded to South West Britain for the second time. C. erythropus primarily lives in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic coast of Europe from the Bay of Biscay to Morocco. The species has now been recorded on both the north and south coast of the South West peninsula of the UK from Newtrain Bay, on the north coast of Cornwall, to Wembury, on the south coast of Devon. It is unknown if the crab’s reappearance in the UK has been caused by a one-off colonisation event or by a continued influx of larvae.
Results
The population in the UK is made up of individual within a narrow size bracket, indicating a single colonisation event took place, and that the population is an ageing one. However, we also report the highest latitude recording of a gravid individual for the species.
Conclusion
A lack of gravid individuals was suggested to be why the species was unable to sustain its presence in the UK following a previous colonisation in 1960. This discovery hints that rising water temperatures may allow C. erythropus and other warm-water species to expand and sustain themselves in the UK. We also found crossover in shell utilisation between C. erythropus and the native hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus, suggesting that competition might occur between the two species.
Abstract.
Full text.
Publications by year
In Press
Sanders D, Frago E, Kehoe R, Patterson C, Gaston K (In Press). A meta-analysis of biological impacts of artificial light at night.
Nature Ecology and Evolution Full text.
2021
Patterson C (2021). Understanding the recent range expansion of the hermit crab, Clibanarius erythropus, to the British Isles through larval dispersal models and phylogeographic analysis.
Abstract:
Understanding the recent range expansion of the hermit crab, Clibanarius erythropus, to the British Isles through larval dispersal models and phylogeographic analysis
As climate change progresses, the ranges of many species will begin to shift. Which species will have their ranges shifted and where, will have major consequences for conservation, habitat management, agriculture, and human health. This thesis furthers our understanding of the processes that limit and facilitate range expansion by investigating the appearance of the hermit crab Clibanarius erythropus to the southwest United Kingdom (UK). Evidence suggests that C. erythropus arrived in the southwest UK via the species’ pelagic larvae drifting on ocean currents. The Mer d'Iroise, the historical limit of C. erythropus’ range, is a biological transition zone where the warm-water species found in the Bay of Biscay transition to the colder-water species of Northern Europe. Consequently, C. erythropus may be one of the first of many species whose range will expand to the southwest UK in the future. In chapter one, we study the phylogeographic structure of C. erythropus across its historic and newly established range. C. erythropus is a rare example of panmixia in the European seascape, indicating that populations of C. erythropus are interconnected and that the species has overcome most barriers to gene flow seen in other intertidal species. Panmixia suggests that the range of C. erythropus can readily shift with environmental change. In chapter two, we investigate the oceanographic processes that facilitated the transportation of C. erythropus to the UK. Using a hydrodynamic model, we simulate the dispersal of C. erythropus larvae in the English Channel over a number of years. Simulations suggest the larvae of C. erythropus arrived in 2014, originated from North Brittany, experienced a mean temperature of around 16 °C, and took longer than 20 days to be transported across the English Channel. Our results suggest that the transportation of larvae from Brittany to the southwest UK is rare and driven by the stochasticity of ocean currents which could limit the ability of many species to adequately shift their range to the UK with climate change.
Abstract.
2020
Patterson C, Slater M, Early R, Laing C (2020). The status of Clibanarius erythropus after a recent range expansion to Great Britain, with the highest latitude recording of a gravid individual.
Marine Biodiversity Records,
13(1).
Abstract:
The status of Clibanarius erythropus after a recent range expansion to Great Britain, with the highest latitude recording of a gravid individual
Abstract
Background
In 2016, the range of the hermit crab Clibanarius erythropus expanded to South West Britain for the second time. C. erythropus primarily lives in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic coast of Europe from the Bay of Biscay to Morocco. The species has now been recorded on both the north and south coast of the South West peninsula of the UK from Newtrain Bay, on the north coast of Cornwall, to Wembury, on the south coast of Devon. It is unknown if the crab’s reappearance in the UK has been caused by a one-off colonisation event or by a continued influx of larvae.
Results
The population in the UK is made up of individual within a narrow size bracket, indicating a single colonisation event took place, and that the population is an ageing one. However, we also report the highest latitude recording of a gravid individual for the species.
Conclusion
A lack of gravid individuals was suggested to be why the species was unable to sustain its presence in the UK following a previous colonisation in 1960. This discovery hints that rising water temperatures may allow C. erythropus and other warm-water species to expand and sustain themselves in the UK. We also found crossover in shell utilisation between C. erythropus and the native hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus, suggesting that competition might occur between the two species.
Abstract.
Full text.
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