Evolution and Ecology Research Group

Understanding the Evolution and Ecology of Populations

The Evolution and Ecology research group is a highly collaborative, multi-disciplinary community of academics, postgraduate students, and postdoctoral researchers. We aim to understand the evolution and ecology of populations, species, and communities across all levels of biological organisation, from genes through to ecosystems. Key themes within our research include the diversification of species over time, the response of species, populations and communities to global change, and behavioural ecology.

Our interdisciplinary research benefits from strong links with members of the School of Psychology and the School of Computer Science, other research groups within Life Sciences, particularly the Animal Behaviour, Cognition and Welfare group, and through a network of national and international collaborations.

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Our group supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which are an urgent call for action to tackle some of the world's most pressing problems, now and into the future.

Our Research

Community and Ecosystem Ecology

We rely on ecosystems to provide food and shelter. How can we understand such complexity and how do we make such systems more resilient to the many and various human impacts?

Explore Our Research

Evolutionary Ecology

Understanding the behavioural and physiological strategies of organisms and how they evolve and respond to changing social and environmental conditions is key to understanding and preserving this biodiversity.

Explore Our Research

Biophysics

Our research ignores disciplinary boundaries and is linked by the central theme of using physics and engineering principles as a way of understanding complex problems in biology.

Explore Our Research

Disease Ecology

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the fundamental importance of the ecology of disease both in humans and in other organisms and highlighted the links between our own diseases and those of other animals and plants.

Explore Our Research

Paleobiology

We use fossil records to untangle models of group diversification, patterns of trait evolution over time, and the response of biota to global- and local-scale environmental changes and to mass extinctions.

Explore Our Research