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

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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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