Insect Behavioural Ecology

Thursday 8 September 2022

Research Centre:

Group Highlights

Our research group believes in international collaborations, and we remain committed to a strong EU, even if the UK no longer wishes to be a part of it. Collaborations between scientists, be they early-stage researchers or established PIs, break down intellectual and social barriers, and enrich us all. Dave strongly opposes leaving the EU.

We study the evolution and ecology of insect behaviour, particularly sexual and reproductive behaviour. Shuker and Simmons 2014

We are interested in how natural and sexual selection interact to shape behavioural diversity across insects. In particular, we consider how conflicting processes of selection resolve themselves into the patterns of phenotypic evolution we see around us. Our research uses theory-led whole-organism and genetic approaches, in the lab and the field, to try and understand phenotypic evolution and its ecological context.

Our work at the moment focuses on two groups of insects – parasitoid wasps and lygaeid seed-bugs – and current research includes the genetic basis of adaptive sex allocation, the evolution of polyandry, the context-dependence of reproductive decision-making, the interaction between pre- and post-copulatory sexual selection, and the links between sexual conflict over mating and reproductive interference.

If these are the sorts of questions that interest you, for the latest news on available post-doc positions, PhD studentships, and undergraduate research experience, please see our opportunities page or email me at:

[email protected]

Dr David Shuker
Harold Mitchell Building
University of St Andrews
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9TH
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1334 463376
Fax: +44 (0)1334 463366

Group website: https://shuker.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/

Research

We are interested in the evolution of reproductive behaviour, particularly in insects. We use our studies of insect reproduction to try and explain the tremendous diversity of insect strategies we see around us, and also to try and uncover general principles of adaptive evolution. Our work has focused on sexual selection, sexual conflict, and sex allocation.

In the lab at the moment our research focuses on sex allocation and the evolution of multiple mating in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis (pictured) and also sexual conflict and inter-species reproductive interference among five species of lygaeid seed bug. We mix behavioural experiments, ecological fieldwork, theoretical modelling, and genetic analysis to explore the evolutionary causes and consequences of variation in reproductive and sexual behaviour.

Previous insects that David and the lab have worked on include (in rough chronological order): butterflies (from the Natural History Museum to the North Wales coast); the damselfly Calopteryx splendens; the seaweed fly Coelopa frigida; the beetle Psilothrix viridicoeruleus; the mediterranean fruit-fly Ceratitis capitata; the meadow grasshopper Chorthippus paralellus; the two-spot ladybird Adalia bipunctata; the mealybug Planococcus citri. Further additions to this list are always welcome, and may even include Drosophila one of these days.

David has also done a little bit of general insect ecology (in Bolivia and Namibia) and has also worked on humans and thought about puzzles in coevolution (especially hosts and parasites and immune systems).

Group Members

People

Dr David Shuker

My research interests focus on insect behavioural ecology, especially the evolution of insect reproductive behaviour. We use whole-organism and genetic approaches to explore how insect behaviour evolves, testing ecological and evolutionary theory in the process. Until recently I was also the Secretary for the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

Brief CV
2015-2015 Visiting Research Fellow, University of Western Australia, Australia.
2013-date Senior Lecturer, University of St Andrews, U.K.
2012-2013 Lecturer, University of St Andrews, U.K.
2009-2011 NERC Advanced Research Fellow & Lecturer, University of St Andrews, U.K.
2007-2009 NERC Advanced Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh, U.K.
2004-2006 NERC Post-doc, University of Edinburgh, U.K.
2001-2004 BBSRC Post-doc, University of Edinburgh, U.K.
2000-2001 NERC Post-doc, University of Leeds, U.K.
1999-2000 Research Assistant, University of Manchester, U.K.
1998-1999 Teaching Fellow, University of Nottingham, U.K.
1994-1998 PhD. University of Nottingham, U.K.
1991-1994 BSc. (Hons) Pure and Applied Ecology, University of Sheffield, U.K.
1990-1991 The Natural History Museum, London.

For a thinly disguised pen-portrait of me, Dan Brown borrowed me for a character in one of his novels – please go HERE to read it.

Eleanor Gourevitch

University of St Andrews PhD student (2019-date)

Sexual selection in true bugs

Vicki Balfour

University of St Andrews PhD Apprentice (2017-date)

Mating failure in seed bugs

Publications

Chapters

It is the endless forms, stupid: a commentary on Svensson
Shuker, D. M., 9 Mar 2023, Evolutionary biology: contemporary and historical reflections upon core theory. Dickins, T. E. & Dickins, B. J. A. (eds.). Cham: Springer Nature, p. 219-223 5 p. (Evolutionary biology: new perspectives on its development; vol. 6).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

On genetics, ecology, and the role of philosophy in evolutionary biology: a reply to Distin
Shuker, D. M., 9 Mar 2023, Evolutionary biology: contemporary and historical reflections upon core theory. Dickins, T. E. & Dickens, B. J. A. (eds.). Cham: Springer Nature, p. 511-514 4 p. (Evolutionary biology: new perspectives on its development; vol. 6).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

The curious incident of the wasp in the fig fruit: sex allocation and the extended evolutionary synthesis
Shuker, D. M., 9 Mar 2023, Evolutionary biology: contemporary and historical reflections upon core theory. Dickens, T. E. & Dickens, B. J. A. (eds.). Cham: Springer Nature, p. 473-504 32 p. (Evolutionary biology: new perspectives on its development; vol. 6).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

Nasonia wasp behavior genetics
Buellesbach, J., Watt, R. & Shuker, D. M., 1 Jan 2019, Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior. Elsevier Inc., p. 282-291 10 p.
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

Sexual Selection Theory
Shuker, D. M., 2014, The Evolution of Insect Mating Systems. Shuker, D. & Simmons, L. (eds.). Oxford University Press, p. 20-41
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

The genetic basis of speciation in a grasshopper hybrid zone
Shuker, D. M., King, T. M., Bella, J. L. & Butlin, R. K., 20 Sept 2005, Insect Evolutionary Ecology: Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society's 22nd Symposium. CABI Publishing, p. 423-450 28 p.
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

Articles

Male mating behaviour is shaped by previous experience of both conspecific and heterospecific females in the seed bug Lygaeus simulans
Balfour, V. L., Aumont, C., Corliss, M. K. & Shuker, D. M., Jan 2026, In: Ecology and Evolution. 16, 1, p. 1-13 13 p., e72883.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Are studies of mating systems too inbred? A commentary on Clo et al. (2025)
Shuker, D. M. & Smith, E. B. W., 21 Jul 2025, In: Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 38, 6, p. 712-715 4 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Hamilton's rule predicts sibling cannibalism in a wild population of insects
Abbs, M. M., Kennedy, J. R., Drago Rosa, A. & Shuker, D. M., 12 May 2025, In: Animal Behaviour. 224, 123196.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

On the biological basis of beauty
Mendelson, T. C., Renoult, J. P., Rosenthal, G. G. & Shuker, D. M., Aug 2025, In: Biological Reviews. 100, 4, p. 1578-1593 16 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Sexual selection in wild populations of seed bugs: the role of size in pre-copulatory mate choice by females and males
Fritsch, O. S. & Shuker, D., Nov 2025, In: Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 38, 11, p. 1519–1532 14 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Is mating failure caused by cryptic male choice in the seed bug Lygaeus simulans?
Balfour, V. L., Armand, M. & Shuker, D. M., Sept 2024, In: Ecology and Evolution. 14, 9, 11 p., e70341.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Post‐copulatory sexual selection in an insect with high levels of mating failure
Balfour, V., Armand, M. & Shuker, D., 16 Oct 2024, In: Ecology and Evolution. 14, 10, 12 p., e70407.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

The role of condition on sexual selection in the seed bug Lygaeus simulans
Balfour, V. L., Corliss, M. K. & Shuker, D. M., 4 Sept 2024, In: Ecology and Evolution. 14, 9, 10 p., e70226.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Context-dependent use of visual cues in the shell selection behaviour of the hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus
Rimmer, J. E. V., Todd, C. D. & Shuker, D. M., Jul 2021, In: Behavioural Processes. 188, 5 p., 104414.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Environmental correlates of sexual signaling in the Heteroptera: a prospective study
Gourevitch, E. H. Z. & Shuker, D. M., 30 Nov 2021, In: Insect. 12, 12, 28 p., 1079.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

Reviews

Book review: Genotype-by environment interactions and sexual selection. Edited by John Hunt & David J. Hosken. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons (2014)
Shuker, D. M., 2015, In: Animal Behaviour. 107, p. 209-211
Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review › peer-review

Other publications

Facultative parthenogenesis
Smith, E. B. W. & Shuker, D. M., 24 Mar 2025, In: Current Biology. 35, 6, p. R204-R206 3 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate › peer-review

Gametes best discriminate natural and sexual selection: a comment on Janicke 2024
Shuker, D. M. & Kvarnemo, C., 15 Oct 2025, In: Behavioral Ecology. 36, 5, p. 1-2 2 p., araf089.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate

Measuring heritability: why bother?
Shuker, D. M. & Dickins, T. E., 13 Sept 2022, In: Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 45, e175.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate › peer-review

The definition of sexual selection: a response to comments on Shuker and Kvarnemo
Shuker, D. M. & Kvarnemo, C., 9 Aug 2021, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Behavioral Ecology. Advance articles
Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate › peer-review

Supergenes
Black, D. & Shuker, D. M., 8 Jul 2019, In: Current Biology. 29, 13, p. R615-R617
Research output: Contribution to journal › Short survey › peer-review

Cryptic male choice
Aumont, C. & Shuker, D. M., 22 Oct 2018, In: Current Biology. 28, 20, p. R1177-R1179
Research output: Contribution to journal › Short survey › peer-review

General intelligence does not help us understand cognitive evolution
Shuker, D. M., Barrett, L., Dickins, T. E., Scott-Phillips, T. C. & Barton, R. A., 1 Jan 2017, In: The Behavioral and brain sciences. 40, p. e218
Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate › peer-review

Postcopulatory sexual selection when a female mates once
Dougherty, L. R., Simmons, L. W. & Shuker, D. M., Jun 2016, In: Animal Behaviour. 116, p. 13-16 4 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate › peer-review

Mate choice and mating decisions: a response to comments on Dougherty & Shuker
Dougherty, L. R. & Shuker, D. M., Mar 2015, In: Behavioral Ecology. 26, 2, p. 326-327 3 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Editorial › peer-review

Mating failure
Greenway, E. V., Dougherty, L. R. & Shuker, D. M., 29 Jun 2015, In: Current Biology. 25, 13, p. R534-R536 3 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Editorial › peer-review

Contact

[email protected]

Dr David Shuker
Harold Mitchell Building
University of St Andrews
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9TH
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1334 463376
Fax: +44 (0)1334 463366

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