Current Member - Dr. Andrew Gosler
Faculty Member: University Research Lecturer and Human Sciences Lecturer in Biological Conservation .
Dr. Andrew (Andy) Gosler
Front cover of Ethno-Ornithology
Details
Name: Dr. Andrew Gosler
Position: University Research Lecturer and Human Sciences Lecturer in Biological Conservation
Email: andrew.gosler@zoo.ox.ac.uk
Autobiography
I read Environmental Biology at Aberystwyth (BSc 1979), and then Plant Taxonomy at Reading (MSc 1981) before studying eco-morphology of Great Tits in Wytham (DPhil 1987). My research is still based largely in Wytham and is broadly concerned with aspects of local adaptation in the tits. My teaching includes lecturing in Biological Conservation for the Institute of Human Sciences of which I am currently Head, and the practical training of bird ringing to graduate students in the EGI. I have chaired the Bird Ringing Committee of the BTO and edited the BTO journal Bird Study (1993-1998) and Ibis for the BOU (1998-2006). I am a Fellow of the International Ornithologists' Union of the IOC, President of the Oxford Ornithological Society (www.oos.org.uk), and a Visiting Lecturer in Ornithology at Birmingham University.
Research Activities
Functional ecology of eggshell pigmentation: The function of pigment spots or speckles on the eggshells of small passerines such as the Great Tit has long puzzled biologists. Having devised a simple method to characterize eggshell patterns in 1988, I have now recorded the eggshell pigment patterns of more than 2000 clutches since then. This, together with more detailed investigations undertaken with students, has revealed that the spot darkness is inherited on the female lineage only, that spots mark thinner areas of eggshell and the degree of thinning is reflected in the spot darkness, that the overall spread of pigment is related to eggshell thickness, and that both are closely related to calcium availability (reflected in soil calcium and snail abundance) near to the nest-site. Work is ongoing to determine how applicable are these finding to other species, given that this is a commonly-found pigmentation pattern among small passerines, and indeed among non-passerines.
Winter fattening in small passerines: Small passerines, such as the Great Tit, at temperate latitudes deposit fat during the day for use overnight. The amount of fat deposited and the patterning of daily fattening varies according to food availability, ambient temperature, and predation risk, the effects of which differ among individuals because of their social status. This work, now continued for over 20 years in Wytham, has documented daily and seasonal changes in fat levels of several thousand marked individuals in order to test hypotheses and theoretical models based on the trade-off of risks: predation versus starvation. The current ongoing work examines the effects of the ameliorating climate on the winter fattening patterns, and is relating this to the similarly-collected 25-year dataset on condition (fat and muscle scores) of thousands of breeding adults in the Wytham population.
Recent media coverage
Dr Gosler is interviewed on BBC Radio 4 by philosopher Dr Stephen Webster on "What Scientists Believe". For more information, click here; to listen to the interview, click here.
Selected Recent Papers
Cherry MI & Gosler AG. 2010. Avian eggshell coloration: new perspectives on adaptive explanations. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 100, 753–762
Lambrechts MM, Adriaensen F, Ardia DR, Artemyev AV, Atiénzar F, Ban'bura J, Barba E, Bouvier J-C, Camprodon J, Cooper CB, Dawson RD, Eens M, Eeva T, Faivre B, Garamszegi LZ, Goodenough AE, Gosler AG, Grégoire A, Griffith SC, Gustafsson L, Johnson LS, Kania W, Keišs O, Llambias PE., Mainwaring MC., Mänd R, Massa Br, Mazgajski T D, Møller AP, Moreno J, Naef-Daenzer B, Nilsson J-Å, Norte AC, Orell M, Otter KA., Park CR, Perrins CM, Pinowski J, Porkert J, Potti J, Remes V, Richner H, Rytkönen S, Shiao M-T, Silverin B, Slagsvold T, Smith HG, Sorace A, Stenning MJ, Stewart I, Thompson CF., Tryjanowski P, Török J, van Noordwijk AJ., Winkler DW., Ziane N. 2010. The design of artificial nestboxes for the study of secondary hole-nesting birds: a review of methodological inconsistencies and potential biases. Acta Ornithologica 45, 1-26.
Carpenter J, Smart J, Amar A, Gosler A, Hinsley S & Charman E. 2010. National-scale analyses of habitat associations of Marsh Tits Poecile palustris and Blue Tits Cyanistes caeruleus: two species with opposing population trends in Britain. Bird Study 57, 31-43.
Perrins CM & Gosler AG. 2010. Ch 9 - Birds. In Savill P, Perrins C, Kirby K, & Fisher N (Eds) Wytham Woods: Oxford’s Ecological Laboratory, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pages 145-172.
Tidemann S & Gosler A (Eds) 2010. Ethno-Ornithology – Birds, Indigenous Peoples, Culture and Society. Publ. Earthscan Ltd. London.
Gosler A with Buehler D & Castillo A. 2010. The broader significance of ethno-ornithology. In Tidemann S & Gosler A (Eds) Ethno-Ornithology – Birds, Indigenous Peoples, Culture and Society. Publ. Earthscan Ltd. London, pages 31-46.
Wilkin TA, Gosler AG, Garant D, Reynolds SJ, Sheldon BC. 2009. Calcium effects on life-history traits in a wild population of the great tit (Parus major): analysis of long-term data at several spatial scales. Oecologia 159: 463–472.
Colles FM, McCarthy ND, Howe JC, Devereux CL, Gosler AG, Maiden MC. 2009. Dynamics of Campylobacter colonization of a natural host, Sturnus vulgaris (European Starling). Environ Microbiol. 11, 258–267. Read paper online
Garcia-del-Rey E, Gosler AG, Gonzalez J & Wink M. 2008. Sexual size dimorphism and moult in the Plain Swift Apus unicolor. Ringing & Migration 24, 81–87
Neto, J.M., Encarnação, V., Fearon, P. & Gosler, A.G. 2008. Autumn migration of Savi’s Warblers Locustella luscinioides in Portugal: differences in timing, fuel deposition rate and non-stop flight range between the age-classes Bird Study 55
Hinsley, S.A., Carpenter, J.E., Broughton, R.K., Bellamy, P.E., Rothery, P., Amar, A., Hewson, C.M., & Gosler A.G. 2007. Habitat selection by Marsh Tits Poecile palustris in the UK Ibis 149, 224-233
Wilkin, T.A. Garant, D., Gosler, A.G., & Sheldon, B.C. 2007. Edge effects in the Great Tit: analyses of long-term data with GIS techniques Conservation Biology 21, 1207-1217 | Read abstract/paper online
Chamberlain, D.E., Gosler, A.G. & Glue, D.E. 2007. Effects of the winter beechmast crop on bird occurrence in British gardens. Bird Study 54, 120–126.
Jagannath, A., Shore, R.F., Walker, L.A., Ferns, P.N. & Gosler, A.G. 2007. Eggshell Pigmentation indicates Pesticide Contamination. J. App. Ecol. 45, 133-140
Higham, J.P. & Gosler, A.G. 2006. Speckled eggs: water-loss and incubation behaviour in the great tit Parus major. Oecologia 149, 561-570.
Jubb, M., Wilkin, T. A. & Gosler, A. G. 2006. Soil calcium and the local abundance, distribution and diversity of woodland snails (Mollusca). Ardea 94, 59-70.
Wilkin, T. A., Garant, D., Gosler, A. G. & Sheldon, B. C. 2006. Density effects on life-history traits in a wild population of the great tit (Parus major): analyses of long-term data with GIS techniques. J. Anim. Ecol. 75, 604-615
Macleod, R. & Gosler, A.G. 2006. Capture and mass change: perceived predation risk or interrupted foraging? Animal Behaviour 71, 1081-1087.
Gosler, A.G., Higham, J.P. & Reynolds, S.J. 2005. Why are birds' eggs speckled. Ecology Letters, 8: 1105-1113
Macleod, R., Gosler, A.G. & W.Cresswell. 2005. Diurnal mass gain strategies and perceived predation risk in the great tit Parus major. J. Anim. Ecol. 74, 956-964
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