MSc by Research in Ecology and Evolution - Evolution and Behaviour

University of Leeds

The Ecology and Evolution Research Group (EERG) operates at two levels when trying to understand the responses of organisms to their environment. Behavioural ecology encompasses the range of animal behaviour work that goes on in the group, including the use of laboratory model systems (the fruit fly Drosophila, the Indian meal moth Plodia, and the red flour beetle Tribolium), long-term field projects (seabirds, Caspian seals, badgers). Central to all of these systems is the pursuit of an understanding of how individual behaviours contribute to larger scale processes, whether that is population dynamics, the evolution (or evolutionary history) of particular traits, or the future of ecological networks. EERG research in physiological ecology follows a parallel path: testing fundamental hypotheses that explain variation in plant and animal physiological responses to changing environments.