Avian Evolutionary Ecology Group

Research in the Avian Evolutionary Ecology Group is focused on understanding how birds reproduce, how they find their sexual partners and how they optimise their allocation of resources in growth, survival and reproduction to maximise fitness. Detailed reproductive data, along with genomic and proteomic approaches, are used to study pre- and post-copulation episodes of mate choice and to identify sections of the genome associated with variation of selected traits related to fitness (e.g. sperm morphology, sexual ornamentation, variability in immune genes, and lifespan) and their roles in the process of speciation. We use a metabolomic approach to help identify molecular mechanisms and biomarkers for fitness and senescence. Our research group also explores the distribution of various sexual, physiological and life-history traits across avian phylogenies, evaluates hypotheses regarding the roles of extrinsic and intrinsic physiological mechanisms in life history evolution, and employs macrophysiological approaches to unravel environmental and physiological factors limiting bird spatial distribution on tropical mountains.