Research group

Ecology and Evolution

Reddish butterfly on yellow flower surrounded by green.

Our research focuses on adaptations to changing environments, including the responses of organisms to stress factors brought about by environmental change at physiological, population and community levels.

About

We are addressing current and future issues of global significance such as:

  • adaptations to changing environments 
  • sustainable use of natural resources including energy 
  • food and water security
  • biodiversity conservation 

 
Our research works across a variety of scales: 

  • from molecules to whole organisms 
  • populations
  • communities
  • landscapes 

 
We use and combine expertise from: 

  • ecological and evolutionary processes
  • conservation science
  • genetics
  • modern analytical approaches for big data 

Research highlights

People, projects and publications

People

Dr Becky Morris

Associate Professor

Accepting applications from PhD students

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Dr Jan Janouskovec PhD

Lecturer in Ecology

Research interests

  • Protist diversity and ecology
  • Evolution of eukaryotic cells
  • Metabolism in plastids & mitochondria

Accepting applications from PhD students

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Dr Jeff Thompson

Lecturer

Research interests

  • Evolution of animal body plans
  • Macroevolution
  • Molecular Palaeobiology

Accepting applications from PhD students

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Dr Jorn Cheney

Lecturer in Natural Sciences

Research interests

  • Locomotion
  • Wing morphing
  • Tissues and tissue mechanics

Accepting applications from PhD students

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Dr Kelvin Peh

Assoc Professor of Conservation Science

Research interests

  • Kelvin Peh’s interests range from forest ecology to urban wildlife in respect of diversity and distribution. He is interested in all areas of wildlife-human conflicts and wildlife ecology in human-dominated landscapes, and in the application of his research results to the conservation/management of biological resources.
  • Tropical Forest Ecology – Kelvin’s work on monodominance in tropical tree-dominated systems - has helped rekindle scientific interest in this fascinating, yet relatively unexplored phenomenon in tropical forests. He has completed editing – as a principal editor – a “Routledge Handbook of Forest Ecology” that was published by Routledge under its “Earthscan” imprint. Currently, he is working on the 2nd edition of this handbook.
  • Ecosystem Services – Kelvin is best known for his leading role in the development of TESSA (Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site-based Assessment). TESSA v3.0, published on 31 Oct 2022, is now available at http://tessa.tools/. He continues working on this ecosystem service assessment project to develop and test novel tools for rapidly assessing the net impact of site-based conservation on the provision of ecosystem services. This project runs in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, BirdLife International, Tropical Biology Association, Anglia Ruskin University and UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with Kelvin

Dr Luis Guerra

Research Fellow

Research interests

  • Evolution of the nervous system
  • Pharmacology
  • GPCRs Non-bilaterian metazoansReceptor deorphanisations 

Accepting applications from PhD students

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Dr Mark Chapman

Associate Professor

Accepting applications from PhD students

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Dr Neil J. Gostling BSc PhD FLS

Associate Professor

Research interests

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Palaeobiology
  • Molecular Biology

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with Neil J.

Professor Patrick Doncaster

Professor of Ecology

Research interests

  • Population ecology 
  • Conservation management of forest and freshwater lake ecosystems
  • Conservation technology and tools for data analysis
Connect with Patrick

Dr Robert Holland

Lecturer in Natural Sciences

Accepting applications from PhD students

Connect with Robert
I am interested in the interplay between ecological and evolutionary processes, specifically in the interaction between insects and their parasites or pathogens.
Principal Teaching Fellow