Ailsa McLean

Dr Ailsa McLean is a Research Fellow in the Department of Biology at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on the roles of symbiotic microorganisms in the ecology and evolution of animals, particularly insects. She investigates how microbial symbionts contribute to insect resistance against natural enemies and how these interactions occur within ecological communities. Her work explores the ecological structuring of symbiotic communities and their impact on external ecological contexts. Dr McLean uses laboratory and field experiments with insect model systems, mainly aphids and their natural enemies, to address these questions.

Ailsa H C McLean is a Royal Society University Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, specializing in the study of insect symbionts and their ecological impacts. Her research explores how symbiotic microbes influence host interactions with natural enemies, plant defenses, and community dynamics. McLean's work investigates the role of bacterial secondary symbionts in protecting aphids from parasitoids and how these interactions shape food web dynamics. She also examines the genetic and ecological factors that determine symbiont-mediated protection and the consequences of symbiont co-infections on insect phenotypes. Her research highlights the complexity of host-symbiont relationships and their broader implications for ecosystem stability.