Role
Research Fellow
Specialisms
Climate change
Insect biodiversity
Biodiversity change
Insect biodiversity
Biodiversity change
Contact details
Institute of Zoology
Zoological Society of London
Regent's Park
NW1 4RY
United Kingdom
Contact links
Google Scholar
Insects are often described as the “little things that run the world”, because of their sheer number, diversity, and importance.
Over 1 million insect species have been described by science, however this is estimated to be only 20% of the species on our planet. Insects contribute to a plethora of important ecosystem services such as pollination, pest control and decomposition that humans depend on every day. Yet, insects are under threat, and more and more studies are showing declines in certain parts of the world for many species. Understanding these patterns of change, what is driving them, and what we can do to reverse them is the focus of Charlie's research.
Charlie's research interests lie in improving our understanding of large-scale change in insect biodiversity. This includes understanding trends over time, spatial patterns of change, and the impact of human-driven pressures.
Current ongoing projects:
- GLiTRS: This NERC funded project brings together researchers from a range of institutions with the aim of understanding how insect biodiversity at the global scale responds to threats such as agriculture, pollution and climate change. We are bringing together different forms of evidence to improve our knowledge on the drivers of insect declines.
- InsectAI: This is a COST Action project supporting insect monitoring and conservation at the national and continental scale to understand and counteract widespread insect declines. The Action brings together a critical mass of researchers and stakeholders in image-based insect AI technologies to direct and drive the research agenda, build research capacity across Europe, and support innovation and application.
Charlie contribute's to teaching and supervision on the following Masters courses based at UCL: MSc Ecology & Data Science, MSc Biodiversity and Global Change, and MRes Biodiversity, Evolution and Conservation. She primarily teaches on the Computation Methods module, introducing students to R for data wrangling, visualisation and analysis.
Professional history
2022-2024: Teaching Fellow, People & Nature Lab, UCL East
2021-2024: Postdoc, Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, UCL. GLiTRS project: Global insect threat response synthesis. Named researcher Co-Investigator on £2 million NERC grant. Supervised by Tim Newbold
2020-2021: Teaching secondment, Division of Biosciences, UCL
2018-2021: Postdoc, Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research, UCL. BIOTA project: Determining the interactions and trade-offs between biodiversity, agriculture, and trade. Supervised by Tim Newbold
2014-2018: PhD student, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology/University College London. Modelling Biodiversity Trends from Occurrence Records. Supervision: Nick Isaac (CEH), Ben Collen (UCL), Richard Gregory (RSPB), Richard Chandler (UCL)
Publications
2024
Ferguson-Gow, H., Nicholas, O., Outhwaite, C., Green, R., Scheelbeek, P., Eustachio Colombo, P., Wheeler, A., Taylor, A., Dangour, A., Mace, G. & Pearson, R. (2024) Potential for positive biodiversity outcomes under diet-driven land use change in Great Britain [version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 1 approved with reservations]. Wellcome Open Research, 7.
NEWS & VIEWS: Outhwaite, C.L. (2024) Under the hood of trends in riverine fish. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 1–2.
2023
Millard, J., Outhwaite, C.L., Ceaușu, S., Carvalheiro, L.G., da Silva e Silva, F.D., Dicks, L.V., Ollerton, J. & Newbold, T. (2023) Key tropical crops at risk from pollinator loss due to climate change and land use. Science Advances, 9, eadh0756.
Bowler, D.E., Cunningham, C.A., Beale, C.M., Emberson, L., Hill, J.K., Hunt, M., Maskell, L., Outhwaite, C.L., White, P.C.L., Pocock, M.J.O., 2023. Idiosyncratic trends of woodland invertebrate biodiversity in Britain over 45 years. Insect Conservation and Diversity n/a. https://doi.org/10.1111/icad.12685
Blüthgen, N., Dicks, L.V., Forister, M.L., Outhwaite, C.L., Slade, E.M., 2023. Insect declines in the Anthropocene. Nat Rev Earth Environ 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-023-00478-x
2022
Outhwaite, C.L., Ortiz, A.M.D., Spooner, F.E.B., Dalin, C. & Newbold, T. (2022) Availability and proximity of natural habitat influence cropland biodiversity in forest biomes globally. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 00, 1–14.
Outhwaite, C.L., McCann, P. & Newbold, T. (2022) Agriculture and climate change reshape insect biodiversity worldwide. Nature, 1–6.
Isbell, F., Balvanera, P., Mori, A.S., He, J.-S., Bullock, J.M., Regmi, G.R., Seabloom, E.W., Ferrier, S., Sala, O.E., Guerrero-Ramírez, N.R., Tavella, J., Larkin, D.J., Schmid, B., Outhwaite, C.L., Pramual, P., Borer, E.T., Loreau, M., Omotoriogun, T.C., Obura, D.O., Anderson, M., Portales-Reyes, C., Kirkman, K., Vergara, P.M., Clark, A.T., Komatsu, K.J., Petchey, O.L., Weiskopf, S.R., Williams, L.J., Collins, S.L., Eisenhauer, N., Trisos, C.H., Renard, D., Wright, A.J., Tripathi, P., Cowles, J., Byrnes, J.E., Reich, P.B., Purvis, A., Sharip, Z., O’Connor, M.I., Kazanski, C.E., Haddad, N.M., Soto, E.H., Dee, L.E., Díaz, S., Zirbel, C.R., Avolio, M.L., Wang, S., Ma, Z., Liang, J., Farah, H.C., Johnson, J.A., Miller, B.W., Hautier, Y., Smith, M.D., Knops, J.M., Myers, B.J., Harmáčková, Z.V., Cortés, J., Harfoot, M.B., Gonzalez, A., Newbold, T., Oehri, J., Mazón, M., Dobbs, C., Palmer, M.S., (2022). Expert perspectives on global biodiversity loss and its drivers and impacts on people. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 21, 94–103.
2021
O’Connor, M.I., Mori, A.S., Gonzalez, A., Dee, L.E., Loreau, M., Avolio, M., Byrnes, J.E.K., Cheung, W., Cowles, J., Clark, A.T., Hautier, Y., Hector, A., Komatsu, K., Newbold, T., Outhwaite, C.L., Reich, P.B., Seabloom, E., Williams, L., Wright, A., Isbell, F., 2021. Grand challenges in biodiversity–ecosystem functioning research in the era of science–policy platforms require explicit consideration of feedbacks. Proc. R. Soc. B 288.
Harfoot, M.B.J., Johnston, A., Balmford, A., Burgess, N.D., Butchart, S.H.M., Dias, M.P., Hazin, C., Hilton-Taylor, C., Hoffmann, M., Isaac, N.J.B., Iversen, L.L., Outhwaite, C.L., Visconti, P., Geldmann, J., 2021. Using the IUCN Red List to map threats to terrestrial vertebrates at global scale. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 2021 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01542-9
Greenop, A., Woodcock, B.A., Outhwaite, C.L., Carvell, C., Pywell, R.F., Mancini, F., Edwards, F.K., Johnson, A.C., Isaac, N.J.B., 2021. Patterns of invertebrate functional diversity highlight the vulnerability of ecosystem services over a 45-year period. Curr. Biol. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.CUB.2021.07.080
Millard, J., Outhwaite, C.L., Kinnersley, R., Freeman, R., Gregory, R.D., Adedoja, O., Gavini, S., Kioko, E., Kuhlmann, M., Ollerton, J., Ren, Z.-X., Newbold, T., 2021. Global effects of land-use intensity on local pollinator biodiversity. Nat. Commun. 12, 2902. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23228-3
Ortiz, A.M.D., Outhwaite, C.L.*, Dalin, C. & Newbold, T. (2021) A review of the interactions between biodiversity, agriculture, climate change, and international trade: research and policy priorities. One Earth, 4, 88–101.
* joint first author
2020
Moss, C., Lukac, M., Harris, F., Outhwaite, C. L., Scheelbeek, P. F. D., Green, R., … Dangour, A. D. (2020). The effects of crop diversity and crop type on biological diversity in agricultural landscapes: a systematic review protocol. Wellcome Open Research 2020 4:101, 4, 101. doi: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.15343.2
Outhwaite, C. L., Gregory, R. D., Chandler, R. E., Collen, B., & Isaac, N. J. B. (2020). Complex long-term biodiversity change among invertebrates, bryophytes and lichens. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 1–9. doi: 10.1038/s41559-020-1111-z
2019
Dalin, C., Outhwaite, C.L., 2019. Impacts of Global Food Systems on Biodiversity and Water: The Vision of Two Reports and Future Aims. One Earth 1, 298–302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2019.10.016
Pocock, M. J. O., Logie, M. W., Isaac, N. J. B., Outhwaite, C. L., & August, T. (2019). Rapid assessment of the suitability of multi-species citizen science datasets for occupancy trend analysis. BioRxiv, 813626. doi: 10.1101/813626
Outhwaite, C.L., Powney, G.D., August, T.A., Chandler, R.E., Rorke, S., Pescott, O.L., Harvey, M., Roy, H.E., Fox, R., Roy, D.B., Alexander, K., Ball, S., Bantock, T., Barber, T., Beckmann, B.C., Cook, T., Flanagan, J., Fowles, A., Hammond, P., Harvey, P., Hepper, D., Hubble, D., Kramer, J., Lee, P., MacAdam, C., Morris, R., Norris, A., Palmer, S., Plant, C.W., Simkin, J., Stubbs, A., Sutton, P., Telfer, M., Wallace, I., Isaac, N.J.B., 2019. Annual estimates of occupancy for bryophytes, lichens and invertebrates in the UK, 1970-2015. Sci. data 6, 259. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0269-1
Newbold, T., Adams, G. L., Robles, G. A., Boakes, E. H., Ferreira, G. B., Chapman, A. S. A., Etard, A., Gibb, R., Millard, J., Outhwaite, C. L. & Williams, J. J. Climate and land-use change homogenise terrestrial biodiversity, with consequences for ecosystem functioning and human well-being. Emerg. Top. Life Sci. ETLS20180135 (2019). doi:10.1042/ETLS20180135
2018
Burns, F., Eaton, M.A., Hayhow, D.B., Outhwaite, C.L., Al Fulaij, N., August, T.A., Boughey, K.L., Brereton, T., Brown, A., Bullock, D.J., Gent, T., Haysom, K.A., Isaac, N.J.B., Johns, D.G., Macadam, C.R., Mathews, F., Noble, D.G., Powney, G.D., Sims, D.W., Smart, S.M., Stroh, P., Walker, K.J., Webb, J.R., Webb, T.J., Gregory, R.D., 2018. An assessment of the state of nature in the United Kingdom: A review of findings, methods and impact. Ecol. Indic. 94, 226–236. doi:10.1016/J.ECOLIND.2018.06.033
Outhwaite, C.L., Chandler, R.E., Powney, G.D., Collen, B., Gregory, R.D., Isaac, N.J.B., 2018. Prior specification in Bayesian occupancy modelling improves analysis of species occurrence data. Ecol. Indic. 93, 333–343. doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.05.010
2015
Mark A. Eaton, Fiona Burns, Nick J.B. Isaac, Richard D. Gregory, Tom A. August, Kate E. Barlow, Tom Brereton, David R. Brooks, Nida Al Fulaij, Karen A. Haysom, David G. Noble, Charlotte Outhwaite, Gary D. Powney, Deborah Procter & James Williams (2015): The priority species indicator: measuring the trends in threatened species in the UK, Biodiversity, DOI: 10.1080/14888386.2015.1068222
Pescott, O. L., Walker, K. J., Pocock, M. J. O., Jitlal, M., Outhwaite, C. L., Cheffings, C. M., Harris, F., Roy, D. B. (2015). Ecological monitoring with citizen science: the design and implementation of schemes for recording plants in Britain and Ireland. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 115(3), 505–521. doi:10.1111/bij.12581