A number of members of staff in the Department of Biology have active research programmes in the broad field of Evolutionary Biology. Individual research groups are headed by Professor Paul Hart, Dr Eamonn Mallon, Dr Iain Barber and Dr Richard Gornall, with current projects attracting research funding from the NERC, BBSRC, the Royal Society and the EU. Researchers in this area contribute to several research themes within the College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology, including Genomic Science, Behaviour and Neurobiology and Population Biology.

Hart Group

Hart’s research focuses on two major themes: the evolution of foraging behaviour and morphology in fish, and fisheries ecology. Recent and currently funded projects have investigated how patterns of tooth wear can be used to re-construct the diets of fossil fishes, how fish use social and environmental cues to select foraging habitats, and how an appreciation of human behaviour can inform policy decisions about the exploitation of fisheries.

• Professor Paul Hart: staff profile
• Hart Lab: research areas

Barber Group

Research in Barber’s lab focuses on a range of topics in the fields of fish behaviour, ecology and parasitology. Currently funded projects are investigating stickleback behavioural adaptation and plasticity in response to stream flow rate modification, the impacts of river impoundment on fish morphology and the effects of experimental parasite infections on stickleback sexual development and behaviour.

• Dr Iain Barber: staff profile
• Barber Research Lab

Mallon Group

Research questions in Mallon’s lab focus primarily on host-pathogen interactions in invertebrate hosts, specifically addressing how activation of the insect immune system affects behaviour. Currently funded research includes investigating co-evolution and host specificity in the bumblebee-Crithidia host-parasite model and the evolutionary trade-offs between learning and immunity.

• Dr Eamonn Mallon: staff profile
• Mallon Lab: Research areas

Gornall Group

Richard Gornall is the Director of Leicester University’s Botanic Garden and has research interests in the taxonomy and evolutionary biology of flowering plants.

• Dr Richard Gornall: staff profile
• Botanic Garden

Collaborations

Much of the work undertaken by members of the Evolutionary Biology group benefits from a collaborative approach. Members are involved in funded collaborations with researchers based in other departments at the University (including Genetics and Geology), with researchers at other academic institutions and governmental research agencies in the UK, and internationally with groups in Norway, Switzerland and Germany.

Facilities and modules

Facilities available to members of the Evolutionary Biology group include a range of temperature controlled aquaria fitted with high quality recirculating systems, insect growth rooms, microscopy and molecular genetics laboratories. Support is supplied by specialist technical staff with expertise in fish and insect husbandry, computing and molecular biology.

Members of the groups are committed to the high quality teaching of undergraduates and post-graduate students and have a high profile within the departments degree schemes and our research directly informs our teaching.

Modules taught by members of the Evolutionary Biology group include:

• BS-1008 Environmental and Evolutionary Biology
• BS-1013 Animal and Plant Physiology
• BS-2067 Evolutionary Parasitology
• BS-2068 Behavioural Ecology
• BS-2070 Island Biology and Speciation
• BS-3051 Social Evolution
• BS-3063 Biology of Marine Mammals.
• BS-3065 Molecular Ecology
• BS-3066 Behavioural Ecology in Nature
• BS-3067 Current Research Topics in Animal Behaviour

Selected Publications