Group Coordinator: Dr Jonathan Drury

Our Research Group aims to understand the relationships between organisms and their changing environment, working at scales from global (range changes) to sub-cellular (genetic traits), whilst considering also behavioural and evolutionary plasticity.

The Ecology, Evolution & Environment Research Group is a forum for biologists interested in studying the relationships between organisms and their environment, whether these relationships apply to individual organisms, populations or species. The primary interests of the group are in the role of evolution in shaping species relationships with their environment, the role of behaviour in modifying individual variation, and the impact of environmental change, particularly global climatic change and anthropogenic habitat alteration, on species.

Studying the past provides one means of testing models that predict the future. As a result, there is a great deal of interest within the group in historical modelling of species ranges and population structure.

To inform the development of biodiversity conservation strategies resilient to climatic change (and the many other pressures causing biodiversity loss), we apply simulation models to predict the impacts of such changes on biodiversity. Statistical and mechanistic models, especially spatially and/or temporally explicit models of ecological and evolutionary processes, are being developed and applied to make robust predictions of the responses of species and ecosystems to environmental change. Studies of key ecosystem and land-surface processes are used to improve regional estimates of land-surface-atmosphere fluxes of gases, such as CO₂, and relationships between genetic diversity, genetic drft, fitness and local adaptation are used to define evolutionarily significant units for conservation.

Academic Staff : Dr Robert Baxter, Dr John Bothwell, Dr Guillaume Chomicki,  Dr Wayne Dawson, Dr Jonathan Drury, Professor AR Hoelzel, Professor Steve Lindsay, Dr Martyn Lucas, Professor Philip Stephens, Dr Sean Twiss, Dr Andreanna Welch, Professor Stephen G Willis

Affiliates : Professor Marc Knight, Dr Heather Knight, Dr Adrian Brennan

Journal Article

• Grether, G.F., Drury, J.P., Okamoto, K., McEachin, S. & Anderson, C. (2020). Predicting evolutionary responses to interspecific interference in the wild. Ecology Letters 23(2): 221-230.
• Howard, C., Flather, C.H. & Stephens, P.A. (2020). A global assessment of the drivers of threatened terrestrial species richness. Nature Communications 11: 993
• Chomicki, Guillaume, Kadereit, Gudrun, Renner, Susanne S. & Kiers, E. Toby (2020). Tradeoffs in the evolution of plant farming by ants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117(5): 2535-2543.
• Gaither, Michelle R., Gkafas, Georgios A., de Jong, Menno, Sarigol, Fatih, Neat, Francis, Regnier, Thomas, Moore, Daniel, Grӧcke, Darren R., Hall, Neil, Liu, Xuan, Kenny, John, Lucaci, Anita, Hughes, Margaret, Haldenby, Sam & Hoelzel, A. Rus (2018). Genomics of habitat choice and adaptive evolution in a deep-sea fish. Nature Ecology and Evolution 2(4): 680-687.
• Howard, C., Stephens, P.A., Tobias, J.A., Sheard, C., Butchart, S.H.M. & Willis, S.G. (2018). Flight range, fuel load, and the impact of climate change on the journeys of migrant birds. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 285(1873): 20172329.
• Drury, J.P., Tobias, J.A., Burns, K.J., Mason, N.A., Schultz, A.J. & Morlon, H. (2018). Contrasting impacts of competition on ecological and social trait evolution in songbirds. PLOS Biology 16(1): e2003563.
• De Clerck, Olivier Kao, Shu-Min Bogaert, Kenny A. Blomme, Jonas Foflonker, Fatima Kwantes, Michiel Vancaester, Emmelien Vanderstraeten, Lisa Aydogdu, Eylem Boesger, Jens Califano, Gianmaria Charrier, Benedicte Clewes, Rachel Del Cortona, Andrea D’Hondt, Sofie Fernandez-Pozo, Noe Gachon, Claire M. Hanikenne, Marc Lattermann, Linda Leliaert, Frederik Liu, Xiaojie Maggs, Christine A. Popper, Zoë A. Raven, John A. Van Bel, Michiel Wilhelmsson, Per K.I. Bhattacharya, Debashish Coates, Juliet C. Rensing, Stefan A. Van Der Straeten, Dominique Vardi, Assaf Sterck, Lieven Vandepoele, Klaas Van de Peer, Yves Wichard, Thomas & Bothwell, John H. (2018). Insights into the Evolution of Multicellularity from the Sea Lettuce Genome. Current Biology 28(18): 2921-2933.e5.
• Hof, Christian, Voskamp, Alke, Biber, Matthias F., Böhning-Gaese, Katrin, Engelhardt, Eva Katharina, Niamir, Aidin, Willis, Stephen G. & Hickler, Thomas (2018). Bioenergy cropland expansion may offset positive effects of climate change mitigation for global vertebrate diversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115(52): 13294-13299.
• Dawson, W, Moser, D, van Kleunen, M, Kreft, H, Pergl, J, Pysek, P, Weigelt, P, Winter, M, Lenzner, B, Blackburn, TM, Dyer, EE, Cassey, P, Scrivens, SL, Economo, EP, Guenard, B, Capinha, C, Seebens, H, Garcia-Diaz, P, Nentwig, W, Garcia-Berthou, E, Casal, C, Mandrak, NE, Fuller, P, Meyer, C & Essl, F (2017). Global hotspots and correlates of alien species richness across taxonomic groups. Nature Ecology and Evolution 1: 0186.
• Robinson, Kelly J., Twiss, Sean D., Hazon, Neil, Moss, Simon & Pomeroy, Patrick P. (2017). Positive social behaviours are induced and retained after oxytocin manipulations mimicking endogenous concentrations in a wild mammal. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 284(1855): 20170554.
• Pérez-Escobar, O.A., Chomicki, G., Condamine, F.L., Karremans, A.P., Bogarín, D., Matzke, N.J., Silvestro, D. & Antonelli, A. (2017). Recent origin and rapid speciation of Neotropical orchids in the world's richest plant biodiversity hotspot. New Phytologist 215(2): 891-905.
• Chomicki, G. & Renner, S.S. (2017). Partner abundance controls mutualism stability and the pace of morphological change over geologic time. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114(15): 3951-3956.
• Huntley, B., Collingham, Y.C., Singarayer, J.S., Valdes, P.J., Barnard, P., Midgley, G.F., Altwegg, R. & Ohlemüller, R. (2016). Explaining patterns of avian diversity and endemicity: climate and biomes of southern Africa over the last 140,000 years. Journal of Biogeography 43(5): 874-886.
• Stephens, P.A., Mason, L.R., Green, R.E., Gregory, R.D., Sauer, J.R., Alison, J., Aunins, A., Brotons, L., Butchart, S.H.M., Campedelli, T., Chodkiewicz, T., Chylarecki, P., Crowe, O., Elts, J., Escandell, V., Foppen, R.P.B., Heldbjerg, H., Herrando, S., Husby, M., Jiguet, F., Lehikoinen, A., Lindström, Å., Noble, D.G., Paquet, J., Reif, J., Sattler, T., Szép, T., Teufelbauer, N., Trautmann, S., van Strien, A.J., van Turnhout, C.A.M., Vorisek, P. & Willis, S.G. (2016). Consistent response of bird populations to climate change on two continents. Science 352(6281): 84-87.
• Welch, A.J., Collins, K., Ratan, A., Drautz-Moses, D.I., Schuster, S.C. & Lindqvist, C. (2016). The quest to resolve recent radiations: Plastid phylogenomics of extinct and endangered Hawaiian endemic mints (Lamiaceae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 99: 16-33.
• Rosten, C.M., Gozlan, R.E. & Lucas, M.C. (2016). Allometric scaling of intraspecific space use. Biology Letters 12(3): 20150673.
• Baker, David J., Hartley, Andrew J., Butchart, Stuart H.M. & Willis, Stephen G. (2016). Choice of baseline climate data impacts projected species’ responses to climate change. Global Change Biology 22(7): 2392-2404.
• Hawley, K.L., Rosten, C.M., Christensen, G. & Lucas, M.C. (2016). Fine-scale behavioural differences distinguish resource use by ecomorphs in a closed ecosystem. Scientific Reports 6: 24369.
• Drury, J.P., Clavel, J., Manceau, M. & Morlon, H. (2016). Estimating the effect of competition on trait evolution using maximum likelihood inference. Systematic Biology 65(4): 700-710.
• Losin, N., Drury, J.P., Peiman, K.S., Storch, C. & Grether, G.F. (2016). The ecological and evolutionary stability of interspecific territoriality. Ecology Letters 19(3): 260-267.
• Chomicki, G. & Renner, S.S. (2016). Obligate plant farming by a specialized ant. Nature Plants 2(12): 16181.
• Moura, A.E., Kenny, J.G., Chaudhuri, R., Hughes, M.A., Reisinger, R.R., de Bruyn, P.J.N., Dahlheim, M.E., Hall, N. & Hoelzel, A.R. (2015). Phylogenomics of the killer whale indicates ecotype divergence in sympatry. Heredity 114(1): 48-55.
• Pinder, M., Jawara, M., Jarju, L.B.S., Salami, K., Jeffries, D., Adiamoh, M., Bojang, K., Correa, S., Kandeh, B., Kaur, H., Conway, D.J., D'Alessandro, U. & Lindsay, S.W. (2015). Efficacy of indoor residual spraying with dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane against malaria in Gambian communities with high usage of long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets a cluster-randomised controlled trial. The Lancet 385(9976): 1436-1446.
• Bracken, F.S.A., Hoelzel, A.R., Hume, J.B. & Lucas, M.C. (2015). Contrasting population genetic structure among freshwater-resident and anadromous lampreys: the role of demographic history, differential dispersal, and anthropogenic barriers to movement. Molecular Ecology 24(6): 1188-1204.
• Hartley, I.P., Hill, T.C., Wade, T., Clement, R.J., Moncrieff, J.B., Prieto-Blanco, A., Disney, M.I., Huntley, B., Williams, M., Howden, N.J.K., Wookey, P.A. & Baxter, R. (2015). Quantifying landscape-level methane fluxes in subarctic Finland using a multi-scale approach. Global Change Biology 21(10): 3712-3725.
• Howard, C., Stephens, P.A., Pearce-Higgins, J., Gregory, R.D. & Willis, S.G. (2015). The drivers of avian abundance: patterns in the relative importance of climate and land use. Global Ecology and Biogeography 24(11): 1249-1260.
• Bishop, A.M., Pomeroy, P. & Twiss, S.D. (2015). Variability in individual rates of aggression in wild gray seals: fine-scale analysis reveals importance of social and spatial stability. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 69(10): 1663-1675.
• Stephens, P.A. (2015). Land sparing, land sharing, and the fate of Africa's lions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112(48): 14753-14754.
• van Kleunen, M., Dawson, W., Essl, F., Pergl, J., Winter, M., Weber, E., Kreft, H., Weigelt, P., Kartesz, J., Nishino, M., Antonova, L.A., Barcelona, J.F., Cabezas, F.J., Cárdenas, D., Cárdenas-Toro, J., Castaño, N., Chacón, E., Chatelain, C., Ebel, A.L., Figueiredo, E., Fuentes, N., Groom, Q.J., Henderson, L., Inderjit, Kupriyanov, A., Masciadri, S., Meerman, J., Morozova, O., Moser, D., Nickrent, D.L., Patzelt, A., Pelser, P.B., Baptiste, M.P., Poopath, M., Schulze, M., Seebens, H., Shu, W., Thomas, J., Velayos, M., Wieringa, J.J. & Pyšek, P. (2015). Global exchange and accumulation of non - native plants. Nature 525(7567): 100-103.
• Reddin, C.J., Bothwell, J.H. & Lennon, J.J. (2015). Between-taxon matching of common and rare species richness patterns. Global Ecology and Biogeography 24(12): 1476-1486.
• Drury, J.P., Okamoto, K.W., Anderson, C.N. & Grether, G.F. (2015). Reproductive interference explains persistence of aggression between species. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 282(1804): 20142256.
• Moura, A.E., Kenny, J.G., Chaudhuri, R., Hughes, M.A., Welch, A.J., Reisinger, R.R., de Bruyn, P.J.N., Dahlheim, M.E., Hall, N. & Hoelzel, A.R. (2014). Population genomics of the killer whale indicates ecotype evolution in sympatry involving both selection and drift. Molecular Ecology 23(21): 5179-5192.
• Howard, Christine, Stephens, Philip A., Pearce-Higgins, James W., Gregory, Richard D. & Willis, Stephen G. (2014). Improving species distribution models: the value of data on abundance. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 5(6): 506-513.
• Mason, T.H.E., Stephens, P.A., Apollonio, M. & Willis, S.G. (2014). Predicting potential responses to future climate in an alpine ungulate: interspecific interactions exceed climate effects. Global Change Biology 20(12): 3872-3882.
• Stephens, P.A., Houston, A.I., Harding, K.C., Boyd, I.L. & McNamara, J.M. (2014). Capital and income breeding: the role of food supply. Ecology 95(4): 882-896.
• Welch, A.J., Bedoya-Reina, O.C., Carretero-Paulet, L., Miller, W., Rode, K.D. & Lindqvist, C. (2014). Polar Bears Exhibit Genome-Wide Signatures of Bioenergetic Adaptation to Life in the Arctic Environment. Genome Biology and Evolution 6(2): 433-450.
• Ahmed, S., Cock, J.M., Pessia, E., Luthringer, R., Cormier, A., Robuchon, M., Sterck, L., Peters, A.F., Dittami, S.M., Corre, E., Valero, M., Aury, J.M., Roze, D., Van de Peer, Y., Bothwell, J., Marais, G.A. & Coelho, S.M. (2014). A haploid system of sex determination in the brown alga Ectocarpus sp. Current Biology 24(17): 1945-1957.
• De Bruyn, M., Pinsky, M., Hall, B., Koch, P., Baroni, C. & Hoelzel, A.R. (2014). Rapid increase in southern elephant seal genetic variation after a founder event. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 281(1779): 20133078.