Ecology research group

Head: Professor James Cook

The Ecology Group comprises eight academic staff, three research fellows and an excellent network of collaborators in the UK and overseas. Our research strengths cover insect, mammal and evolutionary ecology, from both pure and applied perspectives. Our current research projects include the ecology of mammals and birds, insect/plant and host/parasite interactions, insect community ecology, grassland restoration ecology, pesticide impacts on biodiversity, and agent-based models of animals in spatially-heterogeneous environments.

Our collaborations 

Within the University, we have joint projects with the Centre for Agri-Environmental Research and the School of Environmental and Human Sciences. Externally, we have strong links with the NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, The Royal Horticultural Society, Syngenta at Jeallott's Hill and with several overseas organisations, including INRA in France, Universiti Putra Malaysia and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Our Research is funded primarily by the NERC, BBSRC, EU, Leverhulme and DEFRA.

Field research 

We undertake a great deal of field research: locally on the wildlife-rich Whiteknights campus, in urban and rural Berkshire, and overseas, e.g. in Namibia, Brasil and Australia.

Several of our projects have a strong conservation focus and we also engage with the public to aid in our research and to publicise our findings, especially in our urban ecology research.

 

Further information about the research interests of individual staff members can be found in the table below.

Academic Staff		Research Interests
Professor James Cook		Head of Ecology research group Symbiosis and coevolution, Sex ratios and mating systems, Insect-plant interactions, Figs and fig wasps
Dr Phil Baker		Vertebrate Conservation
Dr Amanda Callaghan		Applied Ecology, Insecticide Resistance, Ecotoxicology, Aquatic Toxicology, Entomology, Freshwater Biology, Stress responses, Molecular Ecology, Microarrays
Dr Mark Fellowes		Applied Ecology
Dr Graham Holloway		Applied ecology
Dr Jonathan Mitchley		Grassland ecology, biodiversity conservation, landscape conservation practice and policy and Europe and China
Dr Colin Prescott		Vertebrate pests and their control
Professor Richard Sibly		Metabolic Theory of Ecology; Agent Based Models (ABMs) in ecology.