Conservation scientist focused on insect conservation, transitions to sustainable agriculture and high quality evidence synthesis.
I lead the Agroecology Research Group. We conduct trans-disciplinary research, at the interface between agro-ecology, policy and the food and farming industry.
Biography
- 2023: Professor of Ecology, University of Cambridge; Non-Executive Director of Natural England
- 2019-2023: Lecturer in Animal Ecology, University of Cambridge; NERC Independent Research Fellow
- 2016-2019: NERC Independent Research Fellow, Reader, University of East Anglia
- 2009-2016: Postdoctoral researcher, then NERC Research Fellow, University of Cambridge, Department of Zoology
- 2002-2009: Science writer, science communications adviser (part-time)
- 2002: PhD, community ecology of flower-visiting insects, University of Cambridge
- 1995: BA Biological Sciences (First Class), University of Oxford
Co-Chair, Cambridge Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Global Food Security
Co-Chair of Natural England Science Advisory Committee since 2023.
Nature Based Systems workstream lead for Fenland Soil.
Research Fellow funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (2016-2021). Previously NERC Knowledge Exchange Fellow, linked to the Insect Pollinators Initiative (2011-2014).
Co-ordinating Lead Author of the IPBES Thematic assessment of pollinators, pollination and food production.
Partner in Cambridge Conservation Initiative project on conserving wild pollinators and increasing food security (2016-2017).
Biodiversity lead for the Science Advisory Committee for the Cool Farm Alliance.
Previous editorial Board Member of Conservation Letters and Conservation Evidence; Associate Editor of Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems.
Research
Multi-scale effects of sustainable farming systems on biodiversity and ecosystem services
I work on how farmers can benefit from ecosystem services and reduce impacts on wildlife in profitable commercial contexts. I lead a large study of regenerative agriculture in England, co-designed with farmers as part of the H3 project. I oversee biodiversity work in the Cambridgeshire Fens and Cumbria as part of the Cambridge Centre for Landscape Regeneration. Previously, I led a Newton-funded project on sustainable fruit faming in northeast Brazil, measuring biodiversity and ecosystem service responses to farm management (www.sufica.org). Members of my team and close collaborators have projects on how to manage intensively farmed landscapes for biodiversity without compromising on food production or livelihoods in India, Chile, China and the UK.
Wild pollinator conservation
Wild pollinators are important to crop production and wild plant reproduction, and most of this pollination service is carried out by a relatively small number of common, widespread bee species. To preserve this ecological function, and optimise it for agriculture, we need landscapes that support common wild pollinators in the long term, by providing the food and nesting resources they need at the appropriate scale.
We use a combination of laboratory experiments, field ecology, genetics and remote sensing to understand how wild bees use landscapes and respond to land management. We have several projects with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. We are running a case study in Somerset, England on conservation of the shrill carder bee, Bombus sylvarum, as part of the pan-European Restpoll project. We work on pollinator and natural enemy conservation from policy and agronomic perspectives. What actions are cost-effective and feasible, to support and conserve common and declining wild pollinators and natural enemies? How do these actions fit a program of ecological intensification, to enhance or maintain intensive production within a thriving agricultural ecosystem?
Evidence-based conservation
I have developed methods to compile and synthesize ecological evidence and make it useful for decision-making. I am a member of the Conservation Evidence core team and chaired the Methods Expert Group for the Eklipse science-policy mechanism on biodiversity and ecosystem services from 2015-2023. I use rigorous approaches to gather expert judgement, for rapid, transparent assessment of evidence, and build user-friendly models to support farm management decisions (see for example, the Cool Farm Biodiversity Tool). I work with organisations that manage the environment, in Government, the charitable sector and the food and farming industry.
Publications
Cooke, R, OuthwaiteC, Bladon AJ, Millard J, Rodger JG, Dong Z, Dyer EE, Edney S, Murphy JF, Dicks LV, Hui C, Jones JI, Newbold T, Purvis A, Roy HE, Woodcock BA, and Isaac NJB. (2025). Integrating multiple evidence streams to understand insect biodiversity change, Science, 388: eadq2110. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adq2110
Qian J, Wei X, Berthon K, Zhang Q, Ma W, Qu M, Ge F, and Dicks LV (2025). Flower strips increase natural pest control of peanut aphids, thereby enhancing crop yield, Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 388: 109659. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2025.109659
Dong, Zhaoke, Andrew J. Bladon, Coline C. Jaworski, Richard F. Pywell, Ben A. Woodcock, William R. Meek, Peter Nuttall, and Lynn V. Dicks (2025). Species-habitat networks reveal conservation implications that other community analyses do not detect. Ecological Applications, 35: e3073. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.3073
Berthon, K., Jaworski, C. C., Beacham, J. D., Jackson, P., Leake, J., McHugh, N. M., Capstick, L., Daniell, T., Krzywoszynska, A., Cameron, D., Holland, J., Hartley, S., Desneux, N., Jowett, K., Watt, P. J. & Dicks, L. V. (2024). Measuring the transition to regenerative agriculture in the UK with a co-designed experiment: design, methods and expected outcomes. Environmental Research Food Systems 1(2) 025007. https://doi.org/10.1088/2976-601X/ad7bbe
Da Silva, F., Arellano, E. C., Viana, B. F., Silva-Ferreira, V., Oliveira-Rebouças, P., Rojas-Arévalo, N., Muñoz-Sáez, A., Jimenez, V. P., Zielonka, N. B., Crowther, L. & Dicks, L. V. (2024). Co-production of agroecological innovations to improve sustainability in South American fruit farms. People and Nature 6(2) 355-918. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10613
Beacham JD, Jackson P, Jaworski CC, Krzywoszynska A, and Dicks LV (2023). Contextualising farmer perspectives on regenerative agriculture: A post-productivist future? Journal of Rural Studies, 102: 103100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2023.103100
Jaworski, CC, Krzywoszynska A, Leake JR and Dicks LV. (2023). Sustainable soil management in the United Kingdom: A survey of current practices and how they relate to the principles of regenerative agriculture, Soil Use and Management, 40. https://doi.org/10.1111/sum.12908. This paper was covered in a British Society of Soil Science podcast on Regenerative Agriculture.
Luke, S. H., Roy, H. E., Thomas, C. D., Tilley, L. A. N., Ward, S., Watt, A., … Dicks, L. V. (2023). Grand challenges in entomology: Priorities for action in the coming decades. Insect Conservation and Diversity 16(2) 173–189.
https://doi.org/10.1111/icad.12637
Dicks, L.V., Breeze, T.D., Ngo, H.T. et al. (2021) A global-scale expert assessment of drivers and risks associated with pollinator decline. Nat Ecol Evol . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01534-9
Cole, L. J., Kleijn, D., Dicks, L. V., Stout, J. C., Potts, S. G., Albrecht, M., ... Scheper, J. (2020). A critical analysis of the potential for EU Common Agricultural Policy measures to support wild pollinators on farmland. Journal of Applied Ecology. doi:10.1111/1365-2664.13572
Dicks, L. V., Rose, D. C., Ang, F., Aston, S., Birch, A. N. E., Boatman, N., . . . Sutherland, W. J. (2019). What agricultural practices are most likely to deliver “sustainable intensification” in the UK?. Food and Energy Security, 8(1). doi:10.1002/fes3.148
Shackelford, G. E., Kelsey, R., Sutherland, W. J., Kennedy, C. M., Wood, S. A., Gennet, S., . . . Dicks, L. V. (2019). Evidence Synthesis as the Basis for Decision Analysis: A Method of Selecting the Best Agricultural Practices for Multiple Ecosystem Services. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 3. doi:10.3389/fsufs.2019.00083
Ratto, F., Simmons, B. I., Spake, R., Zamora-Gutierrez, V., MacDonald, M. A., Merriman, J. C., . . . Dicks, L. V. (2018). Global importance of vertebrate pollinators for plant reproductive success: a meta-analysis. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 16(2), 82-90. doi:10.1002/fee.1763
Dicks, L. V., Viana, B., Bommarco, R., Brosi, B., Arizmendi, M. D. C., Cunningham, S. A., . . . Potts, S. G. (2016). Ten policies for pollinators.. Science, 354(6315), 975-976. doi:10.1126/science.aai9226
Dicks, L. V., Wright, H. L., Ashpole, J. E., Hutchison, J., McCormack, C. G., Livoreil, B., . . . Sutherland, W. J. (2016). What works in conservation? Using expert assessment of summarised evidence to identify practices that enhance natural pest control in agriculture. Biodiversity and Conservation, 25(7), 1383-1399. doi:10.1007/s10531-016-1133-7
Rose, D. C., Sutherland, W. J., Parker, C., Lobley, M., Winter, M., Morris, C., . . . Dicks, L. V. (2016). Decision support tools for agriculture: Towards effective design and delivery. Agricultural Systems, 149, 165-174. doi:10.1016/j.agsy.2016.09.009
Dicks, L. V., Baude, M., Roberts, S. P. M., Phillips, J., Green, M., & Carvell, C. (2015). How much flower-rich habitat is enough for wild pollinators? Answering a key policy question with incomplete knowledge. Ecological Entomology, 40(S1), 22-35. doi:10.1111/een.12226
Dicks, L. V., Hodge, I., Randall, N. P., Scharlemann, J. P. W., Siriwardena, G. M., Smith, H. G., . . . Sutherland, W. J. (2014). A Transparent Process for "Evidence-Informed" Policy Making. Conservation Letters, 7(2), 119-125. doi:10.1111/conl.12046
Dicks, L. V., Walsh, J. C., & Sutherland, W. J. (2014). Organising evidence for environmental management decisions: a '4S' hierarchy.. Trends Ecol Evol, 29(11), 607-613. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2014.09.004
Dicks, L. V., Corbet, S. A., & Pywell, R. F. (2002). Compartmentalization in plant-insect flower visitor webs. J Animal Ecology, 71(1), 32-43.
Find a full, up-to-date list of publications, including forthcoming preprints, on my Google Scholar Profile.
