Department of Animal Ecology

AnE has as its unifying theme of research the evolutionary and population ecology of animals. The department’s research is aimed at understanding the causes and consequences of variation in life-history traits, including the underlying genomic mechanisms, as well as the variation in time and space, of population numbers and population composition. AnE research aims to integrate processes at the level of genes, physiology, behaviour and the population, within an evolutionary framework. Much of the research takes anthropogenic changes explicitly into account, such as adaptation to climate change, the impact of climate extremes, effects of urbanisation and changes in land-use.

The department’s research has two main objectives, which are ultimately to be integrated. In our evolutionary research, the dot on the research horizon is the transition from understanding to predicting evolution, not only for great tits (laying date; beak size) but also for winter moths and nematodes (the latter in close collaboration with our Origins Center partners, where predicting evolution is one of the ‘game changers’). This will involve understanding the genotype-phenotype map, with an emphasis on the role of methylation and on the drivers of selection. To predict these, we will focus on the role of climate extremes and human induced selection (climate change and land use change). In our ecological research we will focus on forecasting population trends using integrated population models (for geese and oystercatchers, in collaboration with CAPS partners), with an emphasis on Arctic systems (for geese and swans). Our greatest challenge is to connect evolutionary and ecological dynamics for a better understanding of the population consequences of anthropogenic effects, taking evolution into account.