Dr Gavin Thomas

School of Biosciences

Senior Research Fellow

gavin.thomas@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 0136

B2 207, Alfred Denny Building

Full contact details

Dr Gavin Thomas
School of Biosciences
B2 207
Alfred Denny Building
Western Bank
Sheffield
S10 2TN

Profile

Senior Research Fellow & Royal Society Research Fellow, School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, UK (2015-present)
Royal Society University Research Fellow, School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, UK (2013-present)
NERC Postdoctoral Fellow, Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, UK (2012-2013)
NERC Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Bristol, UK (2010-2012)
Postdoctoral Associate, Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College London, UK (2006-2010)
Postdoctoral Research Assistant, University of Birmingham, UK (2005-2006)
PhD, University of Bath, UK (2001-2005)
MSc Palaeobiology, University of Bristol, UK (2001)
BSc (Hons) Ecology, Cardiff University, Wales (1998)

Research interests

Phylogeny, diversification and trait evolution

My research focuses on modelling the diversification of species and traits at a macroevolutionary scale. I am particularly interested in how we can use information on the phylogenetic relationships among species to infer how present day biodiversity has arisen over time and ask:

How and why do lineages and traits diversify?
What are the consequences of varying tempo and mode of lineage and trait evolution for temporal and spatial patterns of diversity?

My research group works closely with the Natural History Museum and we have collected extensive data bill shapes and plumage colours from all extant bird species (~10,000 species) using museum study skins (mainly the NHM at Tring and also the University of Manchester Museum).

You can get involved with this ERC-funded project with our Bird bill citizen science project at markmybird.org and with plumage evolution at projectplumage.org.

Publications

Show: Featured publications All publications

Featured publications

Journal articles

Cooney CR, Varley ZK, Nouri LO, Moody CJA, Jardine MD & Thomas GH (2019) Sexual selection predicts the rate and direction of colour divergence in a large avian radiation. Nature Communications, 10. View this article in WRRO
Chira AM, Cooney CR, Bright JA, Capp EJR, Hughes EC, Moody CJA, Nouri LO, Varley ZK & Thomas GH (2018) Correlates of rate heterogeneity in avian ecomorphological traits. Ecology Letters, 21(10), 1505-1514. View this article in WRRO
Cooney CR, Bright JA, Capp E, Chira A, Hughes EC, Moody C, Nouri , Varley & Thomas GH (2017) Mega-evolutionary dynamics of the adaptive radiation of birds. Nature, 542, 344-347. View this article in WRRO
Jetz W, Thomas GH, Joy JB, Redding DW, Hartmann K & Mooers AO (2014) Global distribution and conservation of evolutionary distinctness in birds.. Curr Biol, 24(9), 919-930. View this article in WRRO
Puttick MN, Thomas GH & Benton MJ (2014) High rates of evolution preceded the origin of birds.. Evolution, 68(5), 1497-1510. View this article in WRRO
Thomas GH, Hartmann K, Jetz W, Joy JB, Mimoto A & Mooers AO (2013) PASTIS: an R package to facilitate phylogenetic assembly with soft taxonomic inferences. METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, 4(11), 1011-1017.
Jetz W, Thomas GH, Joy JB, Hartmann K & Mooers AO (2012) The global diversity of birds in space and time. Nature.
Thomas GH, Meiri S & Phillimore AB (2009) Body size diversification in anolis: novel environment and island effects.. Evolution, 63(8), 2017-2030.
Thomas GH (2008) Phylogenetic distributions of British birds of conservation concern.. Proc Biol Sci, 275(1647), 2077-2083.
Thomas GH, Orme CDL, Davies RG, Olson VA, Bennett PM, Gaston KJ, Owens IPF & Blackburn TM (2008) Regional variation in the historical components of global avian species richness. GLOBAL ECOL BIOGEOGR, 17(3), 340-351.
Thomas GH, Freckleton RP & Székely T (2006) Comparative analyses of the influence of developmental mode on phenotypic diversification rates in shorebirds.. Proc Biol Sci, 273(1594), 1619-1624.

All publications

Books

Thomas GH, Székely T & Reynolds JD (2007) Sexual Conflict and the Evolution of Breeding Systems in Shorebirds. Elsevier.

Journal articles

Guillerme T, Bright JA, Cooney CR, Hughes EC, Varley ZK, Cooper N, Beckerman AP & Thomas GH (2023) Innovation and elaboration on the avian tree of life. Science Advances, 9(43).
He Y, Cooney CR, Maddock S & Thomas GH (2023) Using pose estimation to identify regions and points on natural history specimens. PLoS Computational Biology, 19(2).
Hughes EC, Edwards DP & Thomas GH (2022) The homogenization of avian morphological and phylogenetic diversity under the global extinction crisis. Current Biology. View this article in WRRO
Hughes EC, Edwards DP, Bright JA, Capp EJR, Cooney CR, Varley ZK & Thomas GH (2022) Global biogeographic patterns of avian morphological diversity. Ecology Letters, 25(3), 598-610. View this article in WRRO
Gonzalez‐Voyer A, Thomas GH, Liker A, Krüger O, Komdeur J & Székely T (2022) Sex roles in birds: Phylogenetic analyses of the influence of climate, life histories and social environment. Ecology Letters, 25(3), 647-660.
Tobias JA, Sheard C, Pigot AL, Devenish AJM, Yang J, Sayol F, Neate‐Clegg MHC, Alioravainen N, Weeks TL, Barber RA , Walkden PA et al (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters, 25(3), 581-597. View this article in WRRO
Rombaut LMK, Capp EJR, Hughes EC, Varley ZK, Beckerman AP, Cooper N & Thomas GH (2022) The evolution of the traplining pollinator role in hummingbirds : specialization is not an evolutionary dead end. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 289(1967).
Rombaut LMK, Capp EJR, Cooney CR, Hughes EC, Varley ZK & Thomas GH (2021) Allometric conservatism in the evolution of bird beaks. Evolution Letters.
Jardine EC, Thomas GH & Osborne CP (2021) Traits explain sorting of C4 grasses along a global precipitation gradient. Ecology and Evolution. View this article in WRRO
Chira AM, Cooney CR, Bright JA, Capp EJR, Hughes EC, Moody CJA, Nouri LO, Varley ZK & Thomas GH (2020) The signature of competition in ecomorphological traits across the avian radiation. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 287(1938).
Chira AM, Cooney CR, Bright JA, Capp EJR, Hughes EC, Moody CJA, Nouri LO, Varley ZK & Thomas GH (2020) The signature of competition in ecomorphological traits across the avian radiation: Competition and trait macroevolution. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 287(1938).
Cooney CR & Thomas GH (2020) Heterogeneous relationships between rates of speciation and body size evolution across vertebrate clades. Nature Ecology & Evolution. View this article in WRRO
Guillerme T, Cooper N, Brusatte SL, Davis KE, Jackson AL, Gerber S, Goswami A, Healy K, Hopkins MJ, Jones MEH , Lloyd GT et al (2020) Disparities in the analysis of morphological disparity. Biology Letters, 16(7).
Cooney CR, Sheard C, Clark AD, Healy SD, Liker A, Street S, Troisi CA, Szekely T, Thomas GH, Hemmings N & Wright A (2020) Ecology and allometry predict the evolution of avian developmental durations. Nature Communications, 11. View this article in WRRO
Jardine EC, Thomas GH, Forrestel EJ, Lehmann CER & Osborne CP (2020) The global distribution of grass functional traits within grassy biomes. Journal of Biogeography. View this article in WRRO
Puttick MN, Ingram T, Clarke M & Thomas GH (2020) MOTMOT: Models of trait macroevolution on trees (an update). Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 11(3), 464-471.
Cooney CR, Varley ZK, Nouri LO, Moody CJA, Jardine MD & Thomas GH (2019) Sexual selection predicts the rate and direction of colour divergence in a large avian radiation. Nature Communications, 10. View this article in WRRO
Pigot AL, Dyer EE, Redding DW, Cassey P, Thomas GH & Blackburn TM (2018) Species invasions and the phylogenetic signal in geographical range size. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 27(9), 1080-1092. View this article in WRRO
Chira AM, Cooney CR, Bright JA, Capp EJR, Hughes EC, Moody CJA, Nouri LO, Varley ZK & Thomas GH (2018) Correlates of rate heterogeneity in avian ecomorphological traits. Ecology Letters, 21(10), 1505-1514. View this article in WRRO
Cooney CR, Bright JA, Capp EJR, Chira AM, Hughes EC, Moody CJA, Nouri LO, Varley ZK & Thomas GH (2017) Erratum: Corrigendum: Mega-evolutionary dynamics of the adaptive radiation of birds. Nature, 552(7685), 430-430.
Puttick MN, Kriwet J, Wen W, Hu S, Thomas GH & Benton MJ (2017) Body length of bony fishes was not a selective factor during the biggest mass extinction of all time. Palaeontology, 60(5), 727-741.
Cooney CR, Bright JA, Capp E, Chira A, Hughes EC, Moody C, Nouri , Varley & Thomas GH (2017) Mega-evolutionary dynamics of the adaptive radiation of birds. Nature, 542, 344-347. View this article in WRRO
Clarke M, Thomas GH & Freckleton RP (2016) Trait Evolution in Adaptive Radiations: Modeling and Measuring Interspecific Competition on Phylogenies. The American Naturalist, 189(2), 121-137. View this article in WRRO
Chira AM & Thomas GH (2016) The impact of rate heterogeneity on inference of phylogenetic models of trait evolution. Journal of Evolutionary Biology. View this article in WRRO
Cooper N, Thomas GH, Venditti C, Meade A & Freckleton RP (2016) A cautionary note on the use of Ornstein Uhlenbeck models in macroevolutionary studies. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 118(1), 64-77. View this article in WRRO
Puttick MN, Thomas GH & Benton MJ (2016) Dating placentalia: Morphological clocks fail to close the molecular fossil gap. Evolution, 70(4), 873-886. View this article in WRRO
Puttick MN & Thomas GH (2015) Fossils and living taxa agree on patterns of body mass evolution: a case study with Afrotheria. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 282(1821).
Simpson KJ, Ripley BS, Christin P-A, Belcher CM, Lehmann CER, Thomas GH & Osborne CP (2015) Determinants of flammability in savanna grass species. Journal of Ecology, 104(1), 138-148. View this article in WRRO
Thomas GH (2015) An avian explosion. Nature, 526(7574), 516-517.
Edwards DP, Gilroy JJ, Thomas GH, Uribe CAM & Haugaasen T (2015) Land-Sparing Agriculture Best Protects Avian Phylogenetic Diversity. Current Biology, 25(18), 2384-2391. View this article in WRRO
Portugal SJ, Maurer G, Thomas GH, Hauber ME, Grim T & Cassey P (2014) Nesting behaviour influences species-specific gas exchange across avian eggshells. Journal of Experimental Biology, 217(18), 3326-3332.
Jetz W, Thomas GH, Joy JB, Redding DW, Hartmann K & Mooers AO (2014) Global distribution and conservation of evolutionary distinctness in birds.. Curr Biol, 24(9), 919-930. View this article in WRRO
Puttick MN, Thomas GH & Benton MJ (2014) High rates of evolution preceded the origin of birds.. Evolution, 68(5), 1497-1510. View this article in WRRO
Thomas GH, Hartmann K, Jetz W, Joy JB, Mimoto A & Mooers AO (2013) PASTIS: an R package to facilitate phylogenetic assembly with soft taxonomic inferences. METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, 4(11), 1011-1017.
Ezard THG, Thomas GH & Purvis A (2013) Inclusion of a near-complete fossil record reveals speciation-related molecular evolution. METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, 4(8), 745-753.
Jetz W, Thomas GH, Joy JB, Hartmann K & Mooers AO (2012) The global diversity of birds in space and time. Nature.
Davies TJ, Cooper N, Felizola Diniz-Filho JA, Thomas GH & Meiri S (2012) Using phylogenetic trees to test for character displacement: a model and an example from a desert mammal community. ECOLOGY, 93(8), S44-S51.
Cassey P, Thomas GH, Portugal SJ, Maurer G, Hauber ME, Grim T, Lovell PG & Miksik I (2012) Why are birds' eggs colourful? Eggshell pigments co-vary with life-history and nesting ecology among British breeding non-passerine birds. BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, 106(3), 657-672.
Jenkins T, Thomas GH, Hellgren O & Owens IPF (2012) Migratory behavior of birds affects their coevolutionary relationship with blood parasites.. Evolution, 66(3), 740-751.
Thomas GH & Freckleton RP (2012) MOTMOT: models of trait macroevolution on trees. METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, 3(1), 145-151.
McInnes L, Baker WJ, Barraclough TG, Dasmahapatra KK, Goswami A, Harmon LJ, Morlon H, Purvis A, Rosindell J, Thomas GH , Turvey ST et al (2011) Integrating ecology into macroevolutionary research.. Biol Lett, 7(5), 644-646.
Kuhn TS, Mooers AO & Thomas GH (2011) A simple polytomy resolver for dated phylogenies. METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, 2(5), 427-436.
Thomas GH, Meiri S & Phillimore AB (2009) Body size diversification in anolis: novel environment and island effects.. Evolution, 63(8), 2017-2030.
Grenyer R, Orme CDL, Jackson SF, Thomas GH, Davies RG, Davies TJ, Jones KE, Olson VA, Ridgely RS, Rasmussen PC , Ding T-S et al (2009) Erratum: Global distribution and conservation of rare and threatened vertebrates. Nature, 458(7235), 238-238.
Thomas GH (2009) Bergmann's idiosyncratic rule: a role for fecundity selection?. Mol Ecol, 18(6), 1027-1029.
Olson VA, Davies RG, Orme CDL, Thomas GH, Meiri S, Blackburn TM, Gaston KJ, Owens IPF & Bennett PM (2009) Global biogeography and ecology of body size in birds. ECOL LETT, 12(3), 249-259.
Garcia-Pena GE, Thomas GH, Reynolds JD & Szekely T (2009) Breeding systems, climate, and the evolution of migration in shorebirds. BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY, 20(5), 1026-1033.
Thomas GH (2008) Phylogenetic distributions of British birds of conservation concern.. Proc Biol Sci, 275(1647), 2077-2083.
Thomas GH, Orme CDL, Davies RG, Olson VA, Bennett PM, Gaston KJ, Owens IPF & Blackburn TM (2008) Regional variation in the historical components of global avian species richness. GLOBAL ECOL BIOGEOGR, 17(3), 340-351.
Phillimore AB, Orme CDL, Thomas GH, Blackburn TM, Bennett PM, Gaston KJ & Owens IPF (2008) Sympatric speciation in birds is rare: Insights from range data and simulations. AM NAT, 171(5), 646-657.
Cooper N, Bielby J, Thomas GH & Purvis A (2008) Macroecology and extinction risk correlates of frogs. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 17(2), 211-221.
Grenyer R, Orme CDL, Davies TJ, Jackson SF, Davies RG, Olson VA, Jones KE, Gaston KJ, Blackburn TM, Thomas GH , Bennett PM et al (2007) Grenyer et al. reply. Nature, 450(7171).
Szekely T, Kosztolanyi A, Kupper C & Thomas GH (2007) Sexual conflict over parental care: a case study of shorebirds. JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY, 148, S211-S217.
Meiri S & Thomas GH (2007) The geography of body size – challenges of the interspecific approach. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 16(6), 689-693.
Gaston KJ, Davies RG, Orme CDL, Olson VA, Thomas GH, Ding T-S, Rasmussen PC, Lennon JJ, Bennett PM, Owens IPF & Blackburn TM (2007) Spatial turnover in the global avifauna.. Proc Biol Sci, 274(1618), 1567-1574.
Davies RG, Orme CDL, Storch D, Olson VA, Thomas GH, Ross SG, Ding T-S, Rasmussen PC, Bennett PM, Owens IPF , Blackburn TM et al (2007) Topography, energy and the global distribution of bird species richness.. Proc Biol Sci, 274(1614), 1189-1197.
Storch D, Davies RG, Zajicek S, Orme CDL, Olson V, Thomas GH, Ding TS, Rasmussen PC, Ridgely RS, Bennett PM , Blackburn TM et al (2006) Energy, range dynamics and global species richness patterns: reconciling mid-domain effects and environmental determinants of avian diversity. ECOL LETT, 9(12), 1308-1320.
Grenyer R, Orme CDL, Jackson SF, Thomas GH, Davies RG, Davies TJ, Jones KE, Olson VA, Ridgely RS, Rasmussen PC , Ding TS et al (2006) Global distribution and conservation of rare and threatened vertebrates. NATURE, 444(7115), 93-96.
Szekely T, Thomas GH & Cuthill IC (2006) Sexual conflict, ecology, and breeding systems in shorebirds. BIOSCIENCE, 56(10), 801-808.
Davies RG, Orme CDL, Olson V, Thomas GH, Ross SG, Ding T-S, Rasmussen PC, Stattersfield AJ, Bennett PM, Blackburn TM , Owens IPF et al (2006) Human impacts and the global distribution of extinction risk.. Proc Biol Sci, 273(1598), 2127-2133.
Thomas GH, Lanctot RB & Szekely T (2006) Can intrinsic factors explain population declines in North American breeding shorebirds? A comparative analysis. ANIMAL CONSERVATION, 9(3), 252-258.
Thomas GH, Freckleton RP & Székely T (2006) Comparative analyses of the influence of developmental mode on phenotypic diversification rates in shorebirds.. Proc Biol Sci, 273(1594), 1619-1624.
Orme CDL, Davies RG, Olson VA, Thomas GH, Ding TS, Rasmussen PC, Ridgely RS, Stattersfield AJ, Bennett PM, Owens IPF , Blackburn TM et al (2006) Global patterns of geographic range size in birds. PLOS BIOL, 4(7), 1276-1283. View this article in WRRO
Lislevand T & Thomas GH (2006) Limited male incubation ability and the evolution of egg size in shorebirds. Biology Letters, 2(2), 206-208.
Thomas GH & Székely T (2005) Evolutionary pathways in shorebird breeding systems: sexual conflict, parental care, and chick development.. Evolution, 59(10), 2222-2230.
Thomas GH & Székely T (2005) EVOLUTIONARY PATHWAYS IN SHOREBIRD BREEDING SYSTEMS: SEXUAL CONFLICT, PARENTAL CARE, AND CHICK DEVELOPMENT. Evolution, 59(10), 2222-2222.
Thomas GH, Wills MA & Székely T (2004) A supertree approach to shorebird phylogeny.. BMC Evol Biol, 4, 28. View this article in WRRO
Thomas GH, Wills MA & Székely T (2004) Phylogeny of shorebirds, gulls, and alcids (Aves: Charadrii) from the cytochrome-b gene: parsimony, Bayesian inference, minimum evolution, and quartet puzzling.. Mol Phylogenet Evol, 30(3), 516-526.
Cowell D & Thomas G (1999) A key to the guard hairs of British canids and mustelids. British Wildlife, 11(2), 118-119.
Babarović F, Cooney CR, Varley ZK, Nouri LO, Nadeau NJ & Thomas GH () The effects of ecology and behavior on the evolution of coloration in Coraciiformes. Behavioral Ecology.
He Y, Varley Z, Moody C, Nouri L, Jardine M, Maddock S, Thomas G & Cooney C () Deep learning image segmentation reveals patterns of UV reflectance evolution in passerine birds. Nature Communications.
Cooney CR, He Y, Varley ZK, Nouri LO, Moody CJA, Jardine MD, Liker A, Székely T & Thomas GH () Latitudinal gradients in avian colourfulness. Nature Ecology & Evolution.
Sánchez-Baracaldo P & Thomas GH () Adaptation and Convergent Evolution within the Jamesonia-Eriosorus Complex in High-Elevation Biodiverse Andean Hotspots. PLoS ONE, 9(10), e110618-e110618. View this article in WRRO
Hughes EC, Edwards DP, Sayer CA, Martin PA & Thomas GH () The effects of tropical secondary forest regeneration on avian phylogenetic diversity. Journal of Applied Ecology. View this article in WRRO
Simpson KJ, Jardine EC, Archibald S, Forrestel EJ, Lehmann CER, Thomas GH & Osborne CP () Resprouting grasses are associated with less frequent fire than seeders. New Phytologist.

Chapters

Thomas GH () The State of the World's Birds and the Future of Avian Diversity, Living Dinosaurs (pp. 379-403). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Conference proceedings papers

Cooper N, Thomas GH & FitzJohn RG (2016) Shedding light on the ‘dark side’ of phylogenetic comparative methods. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 7 (pp 693-699) View this article in WRRO

Preprints

Babarovic F, Cooney CR, Zinn T, Drobniak SM, Janas K, Kennedy JD, Nadeau NJ, Parnell AJ, Thomas GH & Burg S (2023) The mechanistic basis of evolutionary transitions between grey, slate, and blue colour in Tanagers (Thraupidae), Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Babarovic F, Cooney CR, Guillerme T, Nadeau NJ & Thomas GH (2023) Evolutionary dynamics of pigmentary grey and non- iridescent structural blue colouration in Tanagers (family: Thraupidae), Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Johnson TF, Beckerman AP, Childs DZ, Griffiths CA, Capdevila P, Clements CF, Besson M, Gregory RD, Delmas E, Thomas G , Evans K et al (2022) Overconfidence undermines global wildlife abundance trends, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Clarke M, Thomas GH & Freckleton RP (2015) Trait evolution in adaptive radiations: modelling and measuring interspecific competition on phylogenies, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Guillerme T, Cooper N, Beckerman AP & Thomas GH () Innovation and elaboration on the avian tree of life, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
He Y, Cooney CR, Varley ZK, Nouri LO, Moody CJA, Jardine MD, Maddock S & Thomas GH () Segmenting biological specimens from photos to understand the evolution of UV plumage in passerine birds, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. View this article in WRRO
Cooney CR, Sheard C, Clark AD, Healy SD, Liker A, Street SE, Troisi CA, Thomas GH, Székely T, Hemmings N & Wright AE () Ecology, phylogeny, and the evolution of developmental duration in birds, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Thomas GH, Cooper N, Venditti C, Meade A & Freckleton RP () Bias and measurement error in comparative analyses: a case study with the Ornstein Uhlenbeck model, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

Research group

Research group

Dr Chris Cooney (Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow)
Dr Jon Kennedy (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow)
Dr Alex Slavenko (Royal Society postdoc, starting Jan 2020)

PhD students

Louie Rombaut (ACCE PhD - starting October 2019)
Frane Babarovic (Royal Society PhD - started 2018)
Emma Hughes (ACCE PhD - started 2016)
Yichen He (Leverhulme CABM/self PhD - started 2016)

Lab alumni

Dr Angela-Marie Chira (PhD completed 2018, now postdoc at University of Washington, St Louis)
Dr Emma Jardine (PhD completed 2017, now postdoc at German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research - iDiv, Jena)
Dr Kim Simpson (PhD completed 2018, now postdoc with Prof Colin Osborne in APS)
Dr Magnus Clarke (PhD completed 2018)
Dr Jen Bright (ERC postdoc, now Assistant Professor at the University of South Florida, USA)
Dr Thanh-Lan Gluckman (ERC postdoc, moved to The College de France)
Mark Puttick (completed PhD at University of Bristol, UK, in 2016, now Royal Commission 1851 Fellow at the University of Bath)
Chris Moody (Research Assistant, now CAD technician for GTC)
Zoë Varley (Research Assistant, now curator at the NHM)
Lara Nouri (Research Assistant, biological technician at Royal Holloway)
Elliot Capp (Research Assistant, now primary school teacher)
Michael Jardine (Research Assistant, now PhD student at UCL)

Teaching activities

My research interests are reflected in my teaching. I currently lecture on biogeography and macroecology in APS123 (Population and Community Ecology), phylogenies and diversification in APS220 (Evolutionary Biology) and APS342 (Evolutionary Ecology). At level 4, I supervise Research Projects (APS406) that typically address core themes of the lab: how and why do species and their traits diversify? Recent projects have asked how occupancy of isolated islands influences divergence in bill morphology in finches, what factors predict the diversity of colour among bird species, and whether egg laying (oviparity) versus live-bearing (viviparity) determines the rate of speciation in snakes.

Starting in 2019, I will lead a new masters-level module on Biodiversity in Space and Time as part of our new MSc courses in Biological Sciences and Biodiversity and Conservation.

Professional activities and memberships

Scientific Associate at the Natural History Museum