Staff profile

Research profile

I am an inter-disciplinary researcher interested in understanding large-scale patterns and processes in the evolution of behaviour, cognition and culture. I am primarily a ‘macro-evolutionary anthropologist’, placing broad questions on the evolution of our species’ extraordinary cognitive and cultural abilities in the wider context of vertebrate evolution. I typically investigate such questions using phylogenetic comparative statistical methods, which model how characteristics of species or populations have evolved across large temporal and spatial scales. I have a particular interest in the evolution of technically skilled behaviour, especially musical ability, tool use and construction. Along with exceptional cognitive and cultural capabilities, our species is characterised by uniquely developed technical skill, allowing us to perform a huge range of behaviour in our daily lives: from making tools and handicrafts, using technology and preparing food to performing music and dance. I am interested in why highly developed technical abilities have evolved in humans, how we learn and pass on these skills to others, and what we can learn from relevant behaviour in non-human species, especially tool use and nest building in birds and mammals. I am also interested in questions about human perceptions of non-human species, particularly in why we ‘prefer’ some species over others as pets or food sources, and the consequences of these preferences for conservation.

Research opportunities

I welcome informal enquiries from potential undergraduate dissertation supervisees, postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers with relevant research interests.

 

PhD in cultural evolution of music

I am particularly seeking a PhD student for a project on the cultural evolution of music. The PhD student would use music as a model system to investigate the cultural evolution of complex behavioural sequences, using experimental and/or phylogenetic statistical approaches. Please get in touch to discuss potential funding sources if you are interested and potentially suitable. 

 

Research groups

Evolutionary Anthropology 

Centre for the Coevolution of Biology and Culture

• 2017-present: Assistant Professor in evolutionary approaches to cognition and culture, Durham University.
• April-July 2017: Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the evolution of animal construction, University of St Andrews, supervised by Prof Kevin Laland.
• 2014-2017: Postdoctoral Research Assistant in comparative analyses of vertebrate invasion success, University of Hull, supervised by Dr Isabella Capellini.
• 2010-2014: PhD in primate brain evolution and sexual selection, University of St Andrews, supervised by Dr Gillian Brown and Prof Kevin Laland.
• 2008-2010: MSc in Evolutionary Psychology, University of Liverpool.
• 2005-2008: BA in Politics and Sociology, University of Leeds

• Macro-evolutionary anthropology
• Phylogenetic comparative methods
• Technical skill: music, tool use, construction
• Human/animal interactions

Chapter in book

• Street, S., & Laland, K. (2016). Social Learning, Intelligence, and Brain Evolution. In S. V. Shepherd (Ed.), The Wiley Handbook of Evolutionary Neuroscience (495-513). John Wiley and Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118316757.ch18

Journal Article

• Street, S., Eerola, T., & Kendal, J. The role of population size in folk tune complexity (preprint). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/2he8k. Manuscript submitted for publication
• Sheard, C., Street, S. E., Healy, S. D., Troisi, C. A., Clark, A. D., Yovcheva, A., …Lala, K. N. (2024). Nest traits for the world's birds. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 33(2), 206-214. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13783
• Vanadzina, K., Street, S., & Sheard, C. (2024). The evolution of enclosed nesting in passerines is shaped by competition, energetic costs, and predation threat. Ornithology, 141(1), https://doi.org/10.1093/ornithology/ukad048
• Sheard, C., Street, S. E., Evans, C., Lala, K. N., Healy, S. D., & Sugasawa, S. (2023). Beak shape and nest material use in birds. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 378(1884), https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0147
• Street, S. E., Gutiérrez, J. S., Allen, W. L., & Capellini, I. (2023). Human activities favour prolific life histories in both traded and introduced vertebrates. Nature Communications, 14(1), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-35765-6
• Vanadzina, K., Street, S. E., Healy, S. D., Laland, K. N., & Sheard, C. (2023). Global drivers of variation in cup nest size in passerine birds. Journal of Animal Ecology, 92(2), https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13815
• Street, S. E., Jaques, R., & De Silva, T. N. (2022). Convergent evolution of elaborate nests as structural defences in birds. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 289(1989), Article 20221734. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.1734
• Marley, C. L., Pollard, T. M., Barton, R. A., & Street, S. E. (2022). A systematic review of sex differences in rough and tumble play across non-human mammals. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 76(12), Article 158. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-022-03260-z
• Street, S., Eerola, T., & Kendal, J. (2022). The role of population size in folk tune complexity. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 9, Article 152. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01139-y
• Mearing, A. S., Burkart, J. M., Dunn, J., Street, S. E., & Koops, K. (2022). The evolutionary drivers of primate scleral coloration. Scientific Reports, 12, Article 14119. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-18275-9
• Mainwaring, M. C., & Street, S. E. (2021). Conformity to Bergmann's rule in birds depends on nest design and migration. Ecology and Evolution, 11(19), 13118-13127. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8034
• Lemmers, S. A., Dirks, W., Street, S. E., Ngoubangoye, B., Herbert, A., & Setchell, J. M. (2021). Dental microstructure records life history events: A histological study of mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) from Gabon. Journal of Human Evolution, 158, Article 103046. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103046
• Kavanagh, E., Street, S. E., Angwela, F. O., Bergman, T. J., Blaszczyk, M. B., Bolt, L. M., …Slocombe, K. (2021). Dominance style is a key predictor of vocal use and evolution across nonhuman primates. Royal Society Open Science, 8(7), Article 210873. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.210873
• Cooney, C. R., Sheard, C., Clark, A. D., Healy, S. D., Liker, A., Street, S. E., …Wright, A. E. (2020). Ecology and allometry predict the evolution of avian developmental durations. Nature Communications, 11(1), Article 2383. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16257-x
• Powell, L. E., Barton, R. A., & Street, S. E. (2019). Maternal investment, life histories, and the evolution of brain structure in primates. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 286(1911), Article 20191608. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.1608
• Street, S. E., Morgan, T. J., Thornton, A., Brown, G. R., Laland, K. N., & Cross, C. P. (2018). Human mate-choice copying is domain-general social learning. Scientific Reports, 8(1), Article 1715. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-19770-8
• Street, S., Navarrete, A., Reader, S., & Laland, K. (2017). Coevolution of cultural intelligence, extended life history, sociality, and brain size in primates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(30), 7908-7914. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1620734114
• Allen, W., Street, S., & Capellini, I. (2017). Fast life history traits promote invasion success in amphibians and reptiles. Ecology Letters, 20(2), 222-230. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12728
• Navarrete, A., Reader, S., Street, S., Whalen, A., & Laland, K. (2016). The coevolution of innovation and technical intelligence in primates. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 371(1690), Article 20150186. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0186
• Street, S., Cross, C., & Brown, G. (2016). Exaggerated sexual swellings in female nonhuman primates are reliable signals of female fertility and body condition. Animal Behaviour, 112, 203-212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.11.023
• Capellini, I., Baker, J., Allen, W., Street, S., & Venditti, C. (2015). The role of life history traits in mammalian invasion success. Ecology Letters, 18(10), 1099-1107. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12493
• Hall, Z., Street, S., Auty, S., & Healy, S. (2015). The coevolution of building nests on the ground and domed nests in Timaliidae. Ornithology, 132(3), 584-593. https://doi.org/10.1642/auk-15-23.1
• Morgan, T., Uomini, N., Rendell, L., Chouinard-Thuly, L., Street, S., Lewis, H., …Laland, K. (2015). Experimental evidence for the co-evolution of hominin tool-making teaching and language. Nature Communications, 6, Article 6029. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7029
• Brown, G., Cross, C., Street, S., & Brand, C. (2014). Comment: Beyond “Evolutionary versus Social”: Moving the Cycle Shift Debate Forward. Emotion Review, 6(3), 250-251. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073914523050
• Hall, Z., Street, S., & Healy, S. (2013). The evolution of cerebellum structure correlates with nest complexity. Biology Letters, 9(6), Article 20130687. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0687