The Team
THE ANIMAL SOCIETIES TEAM
Andy Young
Associate Professor of Evolutionary Ecology
My team study Social Evolution and Senescence (Ageing) via large long-term field studies of wild social vertebrates, including cooperative Kalahari weaver birds and European badgers. We also collaborate with microbiologists to study social evolution and ageing in unicellular organisms. We ask both evolutionary and mechanistic questions, given the potential for each to inform the other.
We are based at the University of Exeter’s renowned Centre for Ecology & Conservation in Cornwall (UK), where I am a co-Director of Research, working to promote supportive, inclusive and open research culture.
I started my career at the University of Cambridge, completing my Honours degree and PhD, followed by a Research Fellowship at Magdalene College. I then won a NERC Fellowship to move to Exeter’s Centre for Ecology & Conservation in 2007 and set up the Kalahari sparrow weaver project, followed by a BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship in 2010. I have since complemented our Kalahari work with a long-term collaboration with the Animal & Plant Health Agency, using their remarkably 50-year longitudinal field study of European badgers.
Away from the office, I am a rock climber, kayaker, photographer, mammalwatcher and father of twins.
Will Singleton
PhD candidate
The Evolution and Mechanisms of Ageing in Unicellular Organisms
Will’s research combines empirical work (using timelapse microfluidics to study cellular life-histories) with evolutionary modelling, to shed light on the origins of ageing in our most distant ancestors.
Co-supervisors: Stefano Pagliara, Bram Kuijper & Angus Buckling
Tasha Hammond
PhD candidate
Drivers of microbiome variation
in European badgers
Tasha’s research investigates the drivers of microbiome variation in European badgers and their environments, seeking to shed light on the role of badgers in transmission of bovine TB and antimicrobial resistance genes.
Main supervisor: Xav Harrison
Co-supervior: Dez Delehay (APHA)
Ben Asthon & Ines Goncalves
Independent DECRA Fellow
Social causes & consequences of variation in cognitive performance
Ben & Ines are close collaborators based at Flinders University, leading their own research on social drivers of cognition in our Kalahari sparrow-weavers.
RECENT GRADUATES
Melanie Weedon
NERC PhD 2023
Senescence and Parental age effects
in wild European badgers
Mel studied parental age effects and the ageing of the inflammatory immune system in wild European badgers.
Mel discovered…
- Early severe maternal age effects on offspring lifetime reproductive success
- Paternal age effect arising from a terminal effect of father’s last year of life
- Compelling evidence of inflammageing and its fitness consequences in the wild
Antony Brown
BBSRC PhD 2022
Mechanisms of age-related changes in performance in a cooperative bird
Ant studied parental age effects, telomere biology & cellular senescence in sparrow weaver societies.
Ant discovered…
- That senescent cells triggered by telomeres do not accumulate in the wild
- Positive effects of parental age on offspring telomere length
- That the oldest birds dominate reproductive competition, with implications longevity evolution
Pablo Capilla Lasheras
BBSRC PhD 2020
The Evolution of Cooperation in Variable Environments
Pablo studied the evolution of cooperation & maternal plasticity in Kalahari sparrow weavers.
Pablo discovered…
- That sex differences in cooperation can arise from trade-offs with dispersal
- That mothers plastically increase egg size when they have more help
COLLABORATORS
We work with a wide range of expert collaborators, allowing us to conduct
integrative evolutionary and mechanistic research across a range of model systems
Pablo Capilla Lasheras
Climate x Social interactions
Sue Healy & Lauren Guillette
Weaving behaviour and Culture
Marc Naguib & Nina Bircher
Song & movement ecology
Sparrow-weaver Project
Ben Ashton & Ines Goncalves
Social effects on Cognition
Jon Blount
Oxidative stress
Joao Passos & Anthony Lagnado
Cell biology
Alastair Wilson
Evolutionary Genetics
Nigel Bennett & Simone Meddle Endocrinology
Xavier Harrison
Molecular Ecology
European badgers
Dez Delahay & Ruth Cox
Badger and disease ecology
Barbara Tschirren Immunology
Matt Silk
Social Networks
TJ McKinley
Epidemiology
Dave Hodgson
Demography
Xav Harrison
Microbiomes
Bacterial Ageing
Stefano Pagliara & Ula Lapinksa
Mechanistic microbiology
& microfluidics
Angus Buckling
Evolutionary Microbiology
Past group members
Chris Beirne (APHA PhD & BBSRC Post-doc)
Senescence and disease susceptibility in European badger societies
Dominic Cram (NERC PhD)
Oxidative stress & the evolution of cooperation
in sparrow weaver societies
Rafael Mares (Senacyt PhD)
The evolution and development of prospecting
behaviour in meerkat societies
Olivia O’Callaghan (MbyRes)
Social & climatic effects on survival in a wild social bird
Emma Wood (BBSRC PhD)
Senescence in sparrow weaver societies: magnitudes & mechanisms
Charlotte Martin-Taylor (MbyRes)
Out-group conflict and its implications for cooperation in the wild
Faye Thompson (NERC PhD & Post-doc, with Mike Cant)
Dispersal and inter-group conflict in banded mongooses
Lindsay Walker (NERC PhD)
The evolution and regulation of cooperation in a wild bird
Xavier Harrison (BBSRC Post-doc)
Reproductive skew and extra-group paternity in sparrow weaver societies
Jenny York (PhD & BBSRC Post-doc)
The function and regulation of dawn song
in sparrow weaver societies
Jenni Sanderson (NERC PhD & NERC Post-doc, with Mike Cant)
The regulation of care, mating & aggression
in banded mongoose societies