Tim clutton brock biography template

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I am also interested in the capacity of hormones to integrate suites of traits – behaviour, physiology, life history- and thereby potentially constrain or facilitate life history evolution, for which I will use the Damaraland Mole-Rat as a case study.

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Website: http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/directory/philippe-vullioud

Contact: [email protected]

Socio-endocrine mechanisms of individual variation in cooperative behaviours

Large differences in cooperative effort are a universal characteristic of cooperative societies.

Tim Clutton-Brock, is Professor of Animal Ecology of the University of Cambridge and is project director together with Prof. Steroid hormones such as the glucocorticoid stress hormones and androgens (testosterone) may be pivotal for individuals to adjust their level of cooperation as a consequence of their secretions’ combined ability to integrate internal and social cues and exert profound phenotypical effects, including developmental ones.

Science 291: 478–481 (PMID 11161200)

  • Clutton-Brock TH et al.. In cooperative breeding societies, where reproduction is monopolised by a minority of individuals, one may question whether breeders and non-breeders differ in the way they deal with such trade-off. However, the exciting possibility that cooperative phenotypes may be programmed prenatally has remained untested.

    Science 318: 1882–1885

    • Articles

  • Clutton-Brock TH, Vincent AC. (1991) Sexual selection and the potential reproductive rates of males and females. Nonetheless, little effort has examined the proximate basis of mole-rat life histories from an ecological perspective. Damaraland mole-rat life-histories appear to be broadly similar to those of naked mole-rats though Damaralands more commonly outbreed and males are larger than females.

    The aim of the project is to provide an integrated understanding of social evolution and organisation in mammalian societies.

    Unravelling the mechanisms of cooperative investments’ plasticity, both within and between individuals, is essential to develop a more comprehensive understanding of how cooperation works in nature. The colonies forage by cooperatively building extensive burrows that provide access to tubers and roots which are the sole source of food and water. We use manipulations of group composition (size, kinship), food availability, growth rates and endocrine parameters to investigate the consequences for reproductive suppression, division of labour, adaptive plasticity, telomere dynamics, oxidative stress and the expression of maternal effects.

    Current research is investigating:

    • the dynamic of colonies
    • the extent and causes of reproductive suppression
    • the division of labour within colonies
    • maternal effect on development
    • social factors affecting ageing

     

    Website: http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/directory/tim-clutton-brock

    Contact: [email protected]

     

    More information about current projects can be found by clicking on the group members’ names below.

    Damaraland Mole-rat Project

    Website: http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/directory/dr-markus-zottl

    Contact: [email protected]

    Variation in cooperative behaviour, life-histories and individual fitness in Damaraland mole-rat

    My main research interest is the evolution and the maintenance of helping and seemingly altruistic behaviour in animals.

    tim clutton brock biography template

    Editor with Paul H. Harvey. Much of his recent work focuses on three long-term studies: of Red Deer on the Scottish island of Rùm, of Soay sheep on St Kilda, and of meerkats in the southern Kalahari. (1987, Edinburgh University Press; ISBN 0-85224-513-0)

  • Reproductive Success: Studies of Individual Variation in Contrasting Breeding Systems (Editor, 1990, University Of Chicago Press; ISBN 0-226-11059-1)
  • The Evolution of Parental Care (1991, Princeton University Press; ISBN 0-691-02516-9)
  • Changes and Disturbance in Tropical Rainforest in SouthEast Asia.

    Chicago & London:University of Chicago Press. Through this work, he greatly improved our understanding of how sexual and parental behaviours evolve and are related to the ecological conditions in which animals live.

    Timothy has written many books and scientific articles, a number of which have been published in the prestigious journal Nature.

    (2006) Intrasexual competition and sexual selection in cooperative mammals. Currently, research focuses on the following areas:

    • costs and benefits of cooperative behaviour
    • hormonal regulation of cooperative behaviour
    • demographic consequences of cooperative breeding
    • communication mechanisms and evolution
    • anti-predator strategies
    • patterns of decision-making in cooperative groups

    The project was founded in the Kgalagadi National Park (formerly the Gemsbok National Park) in north-west South Africa, but was relocated in 1993 to what became the Kuruman River Reserve (KRR).

    The project founder, Prof.

    Smuts, B.B., Cheney, D.L., Seyfarth, R.M., Wrangham, R.W., Struhsaker, T.T. (eds). My PhD aims to investigate: i) whether individual variation in helping behaviour is accompanied by variation in oxidative profile and if this can impact future reproductive success; ii) whether the need for increased helping effort differently affects breeders and helpers oxidative profile and iii) how breeding possibilities may affect OS and the optimal allocation of defences towards self-maintenance and reproductive functions.

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