Welcome
I am a behavioural ecologist interested in individual differences in behaviour, including cognition and animal personality, and how this variation allows animals to survive in their environment.
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I have worked extensively on avian field biology, monitoring wild nest box populations to record reproductive success measures, life history traits and parental provisioning rate. I have undertaken many assays for cognitive and personality traits in the field and the lab, and examined how these traits are associated with foraging ecology and diet.
Previously I worked on collective action and numerical assessment in jackdaws and colour change and camouflage in shore crabs.
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I completed my PhD in 2021 at University College Cork in Ireland with Professor John Quinn. My research looked at links between the diet, cognition and foraging behaviour and how environmental factors like predation and food value influence these relationships.
Recent publication
(as co-author)
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"Inhibitory control performance is repeatable over time and across contexts in a wild bird population"
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18th March 2022
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Recent Research
Recent article
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"Birds' feeding habits are affected by their personality and self-control - new research"
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16th November 2021