Professional summary

After gaining her PhD at Dundee University, looking at aphid vectors of potato virus Y, Denise was focused on looking at the relationship between plant viruses, the host plant and their insect vectors.

Initially she worked on the incidence of viruses in wild brassica populations around the UK and their effect of plant survival, fecundity and changes in the host plant genotype. Denise then worked on the interactions between viruses within the same host plant; carrot red leaf virus and carrot mottle virus in carrots, and cereal yellow dwarf virus and cocksfoot streak virus in wild cocksfoot grass. Her early work looked at the risk of virus resistant transgene escape and the risk to the wild brassica community; and latterly the presence of viruses in trees in Oxfordshire, and estuarine habitats in north Wales.

In 2013 she  took over co-management of the ECN site at Wytham Woods, where she is involved in collecting a wide range of biological and weather data, which has been used to inform on policy relating to the effect of climate change on natural ecosystems.

Denise has also been involved in UKSCAPE Countryside survey, collecting vegetation data and soil samples to help understand changes in the rural and semi rural environments in the UK