Dr Alastair Wilson
BBSRC David Phillips Senior Research Fellow

Profile

I am an evolutionary ecologist and research in my group seeks to understand how genetic and environmental processes interact with each other to shape phenotypic evolution. To do this we use ecological and quantitative genetic methods to test evolutionary theory in a wide range of empirical systems both in the lab and in the field. Current projects range from estimating the genetic basis of life history variation in the wild Soay sheep of St Kilda, through to experimental studies of aggression and social dominance in lab populations of fishes.

The common themes running through all my research are those of trying to predict how traits should respond to natural selection, and trying to understand why sometimes they don’t seem to respond at all.

I am a member of the evolution group.

Visit my research group website.

Qualifications

1996 BA hons (Natural sciences), Cambridge University
1998 MSc (Aquatic Resource Management), King’s College London
2002 PhD (Zoology), University of Guelph

Links

• Soay sheep project website
• Ask A Biologist – public outreach site
• WAMWIKI – resources and tutorials for people interested in learning to apply quantitative genetic methods

Contact details