Esme Padgett

Summer project student

email: esme.padgett@durham.ac.uk

Esme is a first year undergraduate MBiol student from Durham University. She is one of the recipients of the 2020 Summer Studentship funded by the Durham Department of Biosciences and will be working alongside Carolina Gomez Ramirez to produce an interaction network between bees and the target volatiles of flower species. With a strong curiosity about shifting interspecific dynamics due to climate change, Esme hopes to hone her field observation skills of bee-flower interactions as well as develop the genetic analysis skills such as through flower volatile (identification) assays to determine chemical odors that shape pollinator-plant relationships. She looks forward to studying the specificity of flower volatile composition in defining pollinator behavior under the supervision of Dr. Olena Riabinina and Carolina Gomez Ramirez, with the intent to expand her knowledge on the repercussions of climate change on species interactions.