Peter Brown

Dr Peter Brown is an ecologist and senior lecturer in zoology at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, where he has worked since 2010, following the completion of his PhD. He formerly worked in the Biological Records Centre at NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. His research focuses on three main areas: ladybirds (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), non-native species and citizen science. The three themes come together when studying the spread and effects of the Harlequin Ladybird, an invasive non-native species in Europe. Peter has been studying ladybirds since 2005 and jointly leads the UK Ladybird Survey with Professor Helen Roy (NERC CEH). This is a long-running project that has generated over 200,000 records of 47 UK ladybird species, contributed by members of the public. Much has been learnt about ladybird ecology from this dataset, which has generated many peer-reviewed papers and long-term species trends used in conservation. Peter is co-author of several books on ladybirds, including the ladybird atlas for Britain and Ireland and a new (2018) field guide to ladybirds.

Peter is co-author of the annual ladybirds column in the wildlife reports.