Overview

I am a behavioural ecologist with a primary interest in the role of mothers (and others) in the generation of adaptive phenotypes in variable environments, and a member of the Behaviour group in the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter’s Cornwall Campus.   

I currently have two long-term model systems:

(1) Chestnut-crowned babbler from outback Australia (2004-present): In cooperatively breeding systems, parent(s) are aided in their reproductive attempts by helpers. The number of helpers varies within a habitat and between years, but when mothers have more helpers they can expect to produce more offspring. Using the cooperative chestnut-crowned babbler, I am investigating the interplay between climatic enviroments, social enviroments (i.e. numbers of helpers) and parental investment strategies with a view to shedding new light on: (a) parental effects; (b) social evolution; and (c) adaptive responses to climate change.

(2) Parid tits of the Pyrenees (2010-present). One of the many changes the world is currently facing is climatic. Measuring and understanding population consequences of climate change is important for projections of biodiversity. Mothers might be in a unique position to ‘inform’ their unborn offspring of current climate and, through doing so, hasten the emergence of adaptive phenotypes. I am testing this idea using nest-box populations of blue and great tits along a 1500m altitudinal (climatic) gradient of the French Pyrenees.

Please contact me should you wish to join my research in these, or related, topics. For further details, please see Research.

Qualifications

2000: PhD, University of Sheffield, UK
1993: BSc (Hons), Zoology, University of Glasgow, UK

Career

2017-pres: Professor in Animal Behaviour
2014-2017: Associate Professor in Animal Behaviour
2012-2014: Senior Lecturer in Animal Behaviour, University of Exeter, UK
2011-2012: Royal Society Senior University Research Fellow, University of Exeter, UK
2010-2011: Lecturer, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, USA
2003-2010: Royal Society URF, Department of Animal & Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, UK
2002-2003: PDRA, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK
1999-2002: PDRA, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK

Research group links

• Behavioural Ecology

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Research

Research interests

My broad interests involve behaviour, adaptation and evolution. I manage or co-manage two long-term model systems: (1) the Chestnut-Crowned Babbler Project in outback Australia (initiated 2004); and (2) the Pyrenean Tit Project in the French Pyrenees (initiated 2010 with Alexis Chain, CNRS Moulis). Any question that yields new insight into how these two systems tick interests me! 

Research projects

CURRENT PROJECTS OF INTEREST

1. Chestnut-Crowned Babbler Project

I established a study population of these Austtalian babblers in 2004 at the University of New South Wales Arid Zone Research Station at Fowlers Gap in far western New South Wales.  Chestnut-crowned babblers are a tractable species for studying a large range of questions pertaining to aspects of climate, sociality, and life-history at this site.  They are highly vocal, live in the open habitat at Fowlers Gap and are relatively easy to locate and catch.  The nests are dome-shaped and extremely obvious (being up to 50cm long x 30cm wide) and the trees at Fowlers Gap are short and strong and so almost all nests can be accessed easily.  I have colour-banded ca. 90% of individuals from up to 90 breeding units and monitored breeding success in each.  The accessibility of nests allows all aspects of breeding success to be monitored, including clutch and egg sizes, chick growth rates and fledging success.  The fact that nests have an entrance hole allows pit-tag and video camera technology to be used successfully to determine incubation and provisioning behaviour of individuals as well as group membership. Breeding typically occurs between July and November in groups of up to 15 individuals (mean = 6-7). For further information see Publications.

Example Projects

(i) Life-history evolution and the evolution of cooperative breeding

(ii) Parental contributions and effects in variable socio-climatic environments

(iii) Coordination and stabilisation of contributions to care

(iv) Adapting to extreme environments and climate change

(v) Vocal communication and the evolution of language (with Simon Townsend, Zurich)

(2) Pyrenean Tit Project

I co-established this project in 2010 with Dr Alexis Chaine at CNRS Moulis. Mountain ranges offer an unusual opportunity to investigate the relationships among maternal investment, selection and climate in ecological time-scales. This is because the effects of differing means and variances in climate can be investigated within the same broad ecology and hours in the day. In Europe, the French Pyrenees are particularly apt because it is possible to achieve substantial differences in altitude over very short geographical distances. We have recently established 600 nest-boxes for blue and great tits along a 1000m (~3,300 ft) gradient of the French Pyrenees at four main locations (Moulis 450-650m; Cescau 600-900m; Galey 850-1250m; Castera 1100-1550m), with an inter-site distance of 4-16km.

Example Projects

(i) Climatic and habitat effects on breeding success

(ii) Breeding phenology, underlying cues and success

(iii) Parental investmant and coordination of care

(iv) Phenotypic plasticity and parental effects

Main Sources of Funding

2013-2016: NERC Standard Grant
2011-2012: Midi Pyrenees Regional Grant, France
2009-2012: Australian Research Council Discovery Grant
2006-2009: Australian Research Council Discovery Grant
2004-2006: NERC New Investigator’s Grant, UK 
2003-2012: The Royal Society, UK

Research grants

• 2017 The British Academy
  Testing the basics of language in animals
• 2013 Natural Environment Research Council
  Parental effects and the generation of helpers in cooperative babblers
• 2006 Natural Environment Research Council
  Senescence in animals with extreme lifespan
• 2005 Natural Environment Research Council
  Quantifying the benefits of helping to increase group size in an avian cooperative breeder

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Publications

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External Engagement and Impact

Awards/Honorary fellowships

Adjunct Positions

2013-present: Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Fowlers Gap Arid Zone Research Station, University of New South Wales, Australia

2011-present: Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Station d’Ecologie Expérimentale du CNRS à Moulis, France

2009-2012: Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Department of Brain, Behaviour & Evolution, Macquarie University, NSW, Australia.

2006-2007: Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, NSW, Australia.

Committee/panel activities

Scientific Duties

Reviewer Australian Research Council (2008-present)

Scientific Advisor for ASAB Education Committee (2009-2014)

Associate Editor for Journal of Animal Ecology (2007-2014)

Royal Society Project Grants Review Committee (2007-2010)

Editorial responsibilities

Post-grad Exams

2005: PhD Thesis, Iain Barr, University of Sheffield, UK (internal)
2007: MSc Thesis, Melinda Ridgway, University of Cambridge, UK (external)
2011: PhD Thesis, Iker Valquero-Alba, University of Exeter, UK (internal)
2012: PhD Thesis, Alex Georgiev, Harvard University, USA (external)
2012: PhD Thesis, Ada Grabowska-Zhang, University of Oxford, UK (external)
2013: PhD Thesis, Jenni Sanderson, University of Exeter, UK (internal)
2017: PhD Thesis, James Rapkin, UNiversity of Exeter, UK (internal)
2019: PhD Thesis, Mukta Watve, University of Bern, CH (external)

Refereeing

Papers: > 20 journals, including Nature, Current Biology, PNAS, TREE.

Grants: ANR (France), NSF (USA), NERC (UK), Israel Research Foundation, German Research Foundation, ARC (Australia).

Invited lectures

Invited Plenaries

Proximate and ultimate causes of cooperation (Zurich, Switzerland 2014)

Midi Pyrenee Regional Public Lecture (Toulouse, France 2012)

Biology in Lund Annual Meeting, Lund University (Sweden 2012)

Workshop on Evolution & Development of Human Behaviour (Harvard 2011).

European meeting for PhD students (Poland 2010).

Integrating cooperation research across Europe (Hungary 2010).

International Society for Behavioural Ecology: Post-conference Symposium (2006).

Association for the Teaching of Psychology (ASAB funded, Swansea, 2005).

International Symposium of Reproductive and Social Behaviours: an Integrative Approach (Paris, 2005).

Social insect society annual meeting (London 2001)

 

Invited Seminars

University of Bern, Switzerland (2019)

University of Bern, Switzerland (2018)

University of Sussex, UK (2013)

University of Zurich and ETH, Joint seminar series, Switzerland (2013)

Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, UK (2012)

Dept. Evolution & Biodiversity, Paul Sabatier University, Toulouse, France (2012)

CNRS Moulis, France (2012)

Dept. Ecology, University of Dijon, France (2012)

HEB, Harvard University, USA (2011)

Dept. Psychology, Harvard University, USA (2011)

OEB, Harvard University, USA (2010)

Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, USA (2010)

Ecology & Conservation, Boston University, USA (2010)

HEB, Harvard University, USA (2009)

CISAB, Macquarie University, Australia (2008)

Workshop (on maternal effects), University of Wollongong, Australia (2008)

Department of Botany & Zoology, Australian National University (2007)

Institute of Zoology & Eco-Ethology, University of Neuchâtel, CH (2007)

Department of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, UK (2006)

School of Biosciences, University of Exeter at Falmouth, UK (2006)

Department of Biology, University of Wollongong, Australia (2005)

Department of Biology, University of Sherbrooke, Canada (2005)

ETH, Zurich, Switzerland (2005)

Department of Botany & Zoology, Australian National University (2003)

Department of Zoology, University of Oxford (2003, 1997)

Department of Zoology, University of Lund, Sweden (2002)

Department of Animal & Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield (2002)

Division of Evolutionary & Environmental Biology, University of Glasgow (2002)

Department of Ecology, University of Dijon, France (2001)

School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol (2001)

School of Biological Sciences, University of Cardiff (2001)

Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge (1999)

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Teaching

I am a Fellow of Higher Education Academy (ASPIRE) and currently lead modules for Level 2 (BIO 2428 Development of Behaviour), Level 3 (BIO 3418 Galapagos Fieldcourse), and MSc (LESM006 Art of Science). I also co-run BIO 2444 The Level 2 Scotland Fieldcourse. 

Year 2:

• BIO 2428 Development of Behaviour – Module Coordinator
  We often observe the behaviour of animals at some time point in their lives and use evolutionary theory to explain the observations. It is important to remember, however, that the behaviour of animals is not only the culmination of an evolutionary process, but a developmental one; beginning at conception and ending with our observation. This developmental process is affected by the conditions that offspring experience during development and the (often different) selection pressures acting at each step of the way. In this module you will learn about the key factors that can influence the development of animals and the consequences of such developmental experiences for animal and human behaviour throughout life.
   
• BIO2444 Practical Skills in Ecology – Scotland Fieldcourse

Year 3:

• BIO 3418 Galapagos Field Course Module Coordinator
  On 15th September 1835, the extinct volcanoes of San Cristobal were spotted from the Beagle. After just five weeks exploring the Galapagos Islands, the young Charles Darwin was indelibly marked by their biogeography, and this experience would prove central to his deduction that life on Earth evolved from common ancestry by natural selection. Today, the Galapagos Islands are a melting pot where the locals meet tourists and each group meets scientists. A typical field course to San Cristobal in the Galapagos Islands will introduce you the fauna of four key biomes: oceanic, coastal, lowland/urban and highland. In each, we will introduce you to the interplay (which is often positive) of science, tourism and the local economy.
•  
• BIO 3402 Nature via Nurture - Module  coordinator (NOT CURRENTLY RUNNING)
  Natural selection operates on individual phenotypes. Understanding the chief generators of phenotypic variation therefore lies at the heart of attempts to understand the process of evolution by natural selection, and is also consequential for both conservation biology and the emerging field of evolutionary medicine. It is becoming increasingly clear that phenotypes are governed not only by underlying genotype, but by direct and indirect
  ‘environmental’ effects on patterns of gene expression. Such epigenetic effects not only affect personal phenotype, but can be heritable; influencing the phenotype of offspring and grand-offspring. As a consequence, recent evolutionary theory proposes that epigenetic processes represent an overlooked element in evolutionary processes by altering the probability and speed with which adaptive phenotypes can be generated.

MSc:

• LESM006 Art of Science Module Coordinator
• The abilities to extract information from the environment and to communicate with conspecifics are probably ubiquitous features of animal life, which have been under selection for at least 500 million years. Humans, through the emergence of language coupled with the formulation of the scientific method have simply linked these fundamental capacities to extract and communicate information to an extreme. The ability to do each successfully in combination is now central to a successful degree and future career in Science, Consultancy and related Industry. This module aims to help you achieve your current and future goals by providing training in key areas - from question inception and formulation, through data collection and analysis, to communication using the myriad forms available; it will finish with communication through CV, cover letters and interview techniques. The teaching style will combine real-life examples coupled with extensive discussion to foster the self-reflection necessary to becoming a confident and independent scientist in the modern world

Modules

2024/25

• BIO3418 - Galapagos Islands Field Course
• LESM006 - The Art of Science

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Supervision / Group

Postdoctoral researchers

Postgraduate researchers

Alumni

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Office Hours:

Monday and Friday 4-5 pm

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