Dr David Roy

Head of the Biological Records Centre

Current work

My work focuses on the use of large-scale and long-term datasets on the distribution and abundance of species to understand and predict the effects of environmental change on biodiversity. The current focus of my research is predicting the biological impact of climate change and the dynamics of invasive species.

I am the head of the Biological Records Centre (BRC) working closely with the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and the National Biodiversity Network (NBN).  I coordinated the EU Framework 6 project, Delivering Alien Invasive Species Inventories for Europe(DAISIE) and led the CEH input to the Defra-funded project Biodiversity Impacts of Climate Change Observation Network (BICCO-Net).  I also manage the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme(UKBMS), a partnership with Butterfly Conservation.

Current research interests

Brief CV

Selected publications

See also the NERC Open Research Archive and Researcher ID profile.

Chen, I.-C., Hill, J.K., Ohlemüller, R., Roy, D.B. and Thomas, C.D. (2011). Rapid range shifts of species associated with high levels of climate warming. Science, 333, 1024-102. doi:10.1126/science.1206432

Wilson, R.J. and Roy, D.B. (2011). Butterflies reset the calendar. Nature Climate Change, 1, 101–102

Oliver, T., Roy, D.B., Hill, J.K., Brereton, T. and Thomas, C.D. (2010). Heterogeneous landscapes promote population stability. Ecology Letters, 13 (4). 473-484. doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01441.x

Oliver, T., Hill, J.K., Thomas, C.D., Brereton, T. and Roy, D.B. (2009). Changes in habitat specificity of species at their climatic range boundaries. Ecology Letters, 12 (10): 1091-1102. doi:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01367.x

Roy, D.B., Rothery, P., Brereton, T. (2007). Reduced-effort schemes for monitoring butterfly populations. Journal of Applied Ecology, 44 (5). 993-1000. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2664.2007.01340.x

Hickling, Rachael, Roy, David B., Hill, Jane K., Fox, Richard, Thomas, Chris D. (2006). The distributions of a wide range of taxonomic groups are expanding polewards. Global Change Biology, 12 (3). 450-455. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2006.01116.x

Wilson, R.J., Thomas, C.D., Fox, R., Roy, D.B., and Kunin, W.E. (2004). Spatial patterns in species distributions reveal biodiversity change. Nature, 432, 393-396.

Thomas, J.A., Telfer, M.G., Roy, D.B., Preston, C.D., Greenwood, J.J.D., Asher, J., Fox, R., Clarke, R.T., and Lawton, J.H. (2004). Comparative losses of British butterflies, birds, and plants and the global extinction crisis. Science, 303, 1879-1881.

Roy, D.B. and Thomas, J. A. (2003). Seasonal variation in the niche, habitat availability and population fluctuations of a bivoltine thermophilous insect near its range margin. Oecologia 134, 439-444.

Warren, M.S., Hill, J.K., Thomas, J.A., Asher, J., Fox, R., Huntley, B., Roy, D.B., Telfer, M.G., Jeffcoate, S., Harding, P., Jeffcoate, G., Willis, S.G., Greatorex-Davies, J.N., Moss, D., and Thomas, C.D. (2001). Rapid responses of British butterflies to opposing forces of climate and habitat change. Nature, 414, 65-69.

Roy, D.B., Rothery, P., Moss, D., Pollard, E., and Thomas, J.E. (2001). Butterfly numbers and weather: predicting historical trends in abundance and the future effects of climate change. Journal of Animal Ecology, 70(2), 201-217.

Roy, D.B. and Sparks, T.H. (2000). Phenology of British butterflies and climate change. Global Change Biology, 6, 407-416.