Evolutionary biologist, particularly interested in how social behaviour is adaptive and how adaptive social behaviour contributes to further evolution.
Research Area
Our research investigates how social behaviour is adaptive and how adaptive social behaviour in turn influences subsequent evolutionary change. We're particularly interested in social interactions within diverse forms of animal families, including two parents raising offspring, extended families raising young, families that contain a brood parasite and families that are associated with other species – from microbes to nematodes and mites. We analyse the forms of conflict and cooperation that underpin social behaviour within animal families to identify sources of natural selection and their effect on trait evolution. We also investigate how social behaviour contributes to the evolutionary process through its effects on genetic and phenotypic diversity; through the way in which parents facilitate non-genetic inheritance; and the many ways in which parents act as agents of natural selection.
To address these diverse questions, we employ diverse approaches, and enjoy collaborating with other groups. Current projects involve experiments in the field and in the lab; biomechanical techniques, proteomics and genomics. Our current work focuses mainly on burying beetles, though we continue to study bird species as well.
Project Interests
I’m happy to develop projects on all aspects of social behaviour and its influence on evolution. We are well set-up for experiments on burying beetles, in the wild and in the lab, but I’m happy to consider other species if the logistics are feasible. In the lab, we are developing automated ways of collecting behavioural data and relating behaviour to morphological variation. With wild populations, we are focusing increasingly on how and why neighbouring populations vary phenotypically and genetically, and the scope this provides for the evolutionary rescue of wild populations in the face of sustained environmental change.
