Colin Tosh
Job title:
Senior Agroforestry Researcher
Academic qualifications:
- BSc Animal Biology, University of St Andrews
- DPhil Biology (insect-plant interactions), University of York
Role and responsibilities:
I am principally responsible for project delivery and development in the area of agroforestry. Current projects I am working on include the Agroforestry ELM Test and Agromix.
Read our ‘ten minutes with’ interview with Colin Tosh here, to find out more about what him and his research team are working on at the moment, as well as finding out what inspired him to pursue a career in organic research.
Research projects
Research interests:
I am interested in agroforestry, agroecology, insect-plant interactions, cognitive ecology and evolution of behaviour.
Interests outside of ORC:
Outside the ORC my interests are coastal sea fishing, writing stories, video games and organic growing & gardening.
Publications:
- Simonson W, & Tosh C (2023) Agroforestry ELM Test Final Report. Organic Research Centre, 25 pp.
- Conboy NJ, McDaniel T, George D, Ormerod A, Edwards M, Donohoe P, Gatehouse AM, Tosh CR, 2020. Volatile Organic Compounds as Insect Repellents and Plant Elicitors: an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Strategy for Glasshouse Whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum). Journal of Chemical Ecology, pp.1-15.
- Tosh CR. Agriculture and insects. The Ecologist 2019.
- Conboy NJA, McDaniel T, Ormerod A, George D, Gatehouse AMR, Wharton E, Donohoe P, Curtis R, Tosh CR. Companion planting with French marigolds protects tomato plants from glasshouse whiteflies through the emission of airborne limonene. PloS ONE 2019, 14(3), e0213071.
- Reed DT, Tosh CR. Diversity loss is predicted to increase extinction risk of specialist animals by constraining their ability to expand niche. Journal of Theoretical Biology 2019, 476, 44-50.
- Tosh CR. How hyper-manicured public spaces hurt urban wildlife. The Conversation Trust (UK), 2019. Available at: https://theconversation.com/how-hyper-manicured-public-spaces-hurt-urban-wildlife-109449.
- Tosh CR. Ideas to save the world. Ecology: the intermediate disturbance hypothesis. Medium, 2019. Available at: https://medium.com/@crtosh1/ideas-to-save-the-world-ecology-the-intermediate-disturbance-hypothesis-b3b0a6cce878.
- Tosh CR, Brogan B. Environmental diversity constrains learning in Drosophila melanogaster. Ecological Entomology 2017, 42(6), 697-703.
- Tosh CR, Conboy N, McDaniel T. Scientists have unlocked the secret of making tomatoes taste of something again. The Conversation Trust, 2017. Available at: https://theconversation.com/scientists-have-unlocked-the-secret-of-making-tomatoes-taste-of-something-again-71916.
- Tosh CR. Can computational efficiency alone drive the evolution of modularity in neural networks?. Scientific Reports 2016, 6, 31982.
- Pradabphetrat P, Aroonsrimorakot S, Füreder L, Colin T, Piyapong C. Differences in Predator Avoidance by Native and Non-native Invasive Apple Snails in Thailand. Journal of Research, Science and Technology for Learning 2016, 7(2), 325-338.
- McDaniel T, Tosh CR, Gatehouse AMR, George D, Robson M, Brogan B. Novel resistance mechanisms of a wild tomato against the glasshouse whitefly. Agronomy for Sustainable Development 2016, 36(1), 14.
- Tosh CR, Brogan B. Control of tomato whiteflies using the confusion effect of plant odours. Agronomy for Sustainable Development 2015, 35(1), 183-193.
- Tosh CR, McNally L. The relative efficiency of modular and non-modular networks of different size. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences 2015, 282(1802), 20142568.
- Tosh CR, Ruxton GD, Krause J, Franks DW. Experiments with humans indicate that decision accuracy drives the evolution of niche width. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 2011, 278(1724), 3504-3509.
- Tosh CR. Which conditions promote negative density dependent selection on prey aggregations?. Journal of Theoretical Biology 2011, 281(1), 24-30.
- Chapman BB, Morrell LJ, Tosh CR, Krause J. Behavioural consequences of sensory plasticity in guppies. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B: Biological Sciences 2010, 277(1686), 1395-1401.
- Lewis HM, Tosh CR, O’Keefe S, Shuker DM, West SA, Mayhew PJ. Constraints on adaptation: explaining deviation from optimal sex ratio using artificial neural networks. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 2010, 23(8), 1708-1719.
- Faria JJ, Dyer JRG, Tosh CR, Krause J. Leadership and social information use in human crowds. Animal Behaviour 2010, 79(4), 895-901.
- Tosh CR, Ruxton GD, ed. Modelling Perception With Artificial Neural Networks. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
- Tosh CR, Krause J, Ruxton GD. Basic features, conjunctive searches, and the confusion effect in predator–prey interactions. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 2009, 63(3), 473-475.
- Tosh CR, Krause J, Ruxton GD. Theoretical predictions strongly support decision accuracy as a major driver of ecological specialization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2009, 106(14), 5698-5702.
- Tosh CR, Ruxton GD. Notes and comments – Body plan of consumed organisms influences ecological range of consumers through neural processing bias. The American Naturalist 2008, 171(2), 267-273.
- Ioannou CC, Tosh CR, Neville L, Krause J. The confusion effect – from neural networks to reduced predation risk. Behavioral Ecology 2008, 19(1), 126-130.
- Ruxton GD, Jackson AL, Tosh CR. Confusion of predators does not rely on specialist coordinated behavior. Behavioral Ecology 2007, 18(3), 590-596.
- Tosh CR, Jackson AL, Ruxton GD. Individuals from different-looking animal species may group together to confuse shared predators: simulations with artificial neural networks. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B: Biological Sciences 2007, 274(1611), 827-832.
- Tosh CR, Ruxton GD, Graeme D. Introduction: The use of artificial neural networks to study perception in animals. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, B: Biological Sciences 2007, 362(1479), 337-338.
- Tosh CR, Ruxton GD. The need for stochastic replication of ecological neural networks. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, B: Biological Sciences 2007, 362(1479), 455-460.
- Tosh CR, Ruxton GD. Artificial neural network properties associated with wiring patterns in the visual projections of vertebrates and arthropods. The American Naturalist 2006, 168(2), E38-E52.
- Powell G, Tosh CR, Hardie J. Host plant selection by aphids: behavioral, evolutionary, and applied perspectives. Annual Review of Entomology 2006, 51, 309-330.
- Tosh CR, Jackson AL, Ruxton GD. The confusion effect in predatory neural networks. The American Naturalist 2006, 167(2), E52-E65.
- Tosh CR, Vamvatsikos PG, Hardie J. A highly viable cross between Aphis fabae (Homoptera : Aphididae) clones with different plant preference. Environmental Entomology 2004, 33(4), 1081-1087.
- Powell G, Tosh CR, Hardie J. Parturition by colonising aphids: no correlation with phloem ingestion. In: Aphids in a New Millennium: 6th International Symposium on Aphids. 2004, Rennes, France: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique.
- Tosh CR, Morgan D, Walters KFA, Douglas AE. The significance of overlapping plant range to a putative adaptive trade-off in the black bean aphid Aphis fabae Scop. Ecological Entomology 2004, 29(4), 488-497.
- Tosh CR, Powell G, Hardie J. Decision making by generalist and specialist aphids with the same genotype. Journal of Insect Physiology 2003, 49(7), 659-669.
- Tosh CR, Powell G, Holmes ND, Hardie J. Reproductive response of generalist and specialist aphid morphs with the same genotype to plant secondary compounds and amino acids. Journal of Insect Physiology 2003, 49(12), 1173-1182.
- Darby AC, Tosh CR, Walters KFA, Douglas AE. The significance of a facultative bacterium to natural populations of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum. Ecological Entomology 2003, 28(2), 145-150.
- Tosh CR, Powell G, Hardie J. Maternal reproductive decisions are independent of feeding in the black bean aphid, Aphis fabae. Journal of Insect Physiology 2002, 48(6), 619-629.
- Tosh CR, Walters KFA, Douglas AE. On the mechanistic basis of plant affiliation in the black bean aphid (Aphis fabae) species complex. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 2001, 99(1), 121-125.
- Snedden WA, Tosh CR, Ritchie MG. The ultrasonic mating signal of the male lesser wax moth. Physiological Entomology 1994, 19(4), 367-372.