Faculty Member: Departmental Lecturer in Behavioural Mechanisms .

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Dr. John Quinn

Dr. John Quinn

Details

Name: Dr. John Quinn
Position: Departmental Lecturer in Behavioural Mechanisms
Email: john.quinn@zoo.ox.ac.uk

Autobiography

My undergraduate years were spent at University College Dublin after which I did an MSc at York and spent 6 years at the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust. I finished my DPhil at Oxford in 2000, staying on to hold a succession of post doctoral positions, including a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship. I am currently a Departmental Lecturer in Behavioural Mechanisms at the Department of Zoology and a Biology Tutor at Pembroke College, Oxford.

Research Activities

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(1) The evolutionary ecology of behaviour

My current research focus is on the underlying causes and consequences of behavioural variation. My general aim is to understand the implications of individual behavioural variation for a) how animals adapt to living in natural and changing environments and b) how behavioural variation is maintained in the population.

Since 2005 I have been studying "personality" and cognitive traits (problem solving performance) in the great tit population at Wytham Woods. My overall approach is to, first, conduct quantitative genetic and selection analyses on these traits and, second, to investigate the underlying mechanisms of selection. Mechanisms I am currently investigating include individual behavioural plasticity in life history traits, competition for resources and predation risk management. My long term goal is to apply a similar broad approach to understanding a variety of ecological issues in vulnerable populations.

For more information, see webpages of Ella Cole and Julie Morand-Ferron.




Red-breasted goose carcass at Peregrine eyrie

(2) Behavioural ecology and predator-prey interactions

The nesting association between red-breasted geese, peregrines and snowy owls formed the basis of my DPhil. Predation, group living and distribution theories were all invoked to explain the association. I am also interested in pursuit deterrent signals used by geese in their specialised foraging ecology. My first post doc was on a Scottish estuary where predation by sparrowhawks on redshanks was witnessed regularly.

I am continuing to work on this system, focusing on the indirect effects of predation risk and on prey manipulation by predators.

Counting birds on wetlands

(3) Ecology and conservation research

Other topics I am interested in include:

i) ecological determinants of wetland bird distribution;

ii) explaining individual variation in the survival of captive reared grey partridges when released into the wild;

iii) identifying behavioural mechanisms that underlie population declines in farmland bird populations.



For more information please visit the Behavioural Ecology page.

Study Systems

  • A songbird population in temperate woodland (Wytham, Oxford)
  • Jumping spiders and Drosophila (laboratory)
  • Sparrowhawks and redshanks on a Scottish Estuary
  • Farmland bird ecology
  • Wetland birds on rice paddies in Uganda
  • Red-breasted geese in Arctic Russia

Selected Recent Papers

Cole,E.F. & Quinn, J.L. Personality and innovativeness explain individual variation in competitive ability in the wild. Proceedings of the Royal Society London B (in press).

Morand-Ferron, J. & Quinn, J.L. Larger groups of passerines are more efficient problem-solvers in the wild Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (in press).

Dunn, J.C., Cole, E.F. and Quinn, J.L. 2011. Personality and parasites: Sex-dependent associations between avian malaria infection and multiple behavioural traits. Behav. Ecol. & Sociobiol. (in press).

Quinn, J.L, Cole, E.F. Patrick, S. and Sheldon, B.C. 2011. Scale and state-dependence of the relationship between personality and dispersal in a great tit population. Journal of Animal Ecology (in press).

Cole, E.F., Cram. D., and Quinn, J.L. 2011. Individual variation in spontaneous problem-solving performance among wild great tits. Animal Behaviour 81: 491-498. | Read abstract/paper online

Cresswell, W. & Quinn, J.L. 2011. Predicting the optimal prey group-size from predator hunting behaviour. Journal of Animal Ecology 80: 310-319. | Read abstract/paper online

Cresswell, W. & Quinn, J.L. 2010. Attack frequency, attack success and choice of prey group size for two predators with contrasting hunting strategies. Animal Behaviour 80: 643-648. | Read abstract/paper online

Cresswell, W., Lind, J. & Quinn, J.L. 2010. Predator hunting success and prey vulnerability: quantifying the spatial scale over which lethal and non-lethal effects of predation occur. Journal of Animal Ecology 79: 556-562. | Read abstract/paper online

Korsten, P. Mueller, J.C., Hermannstädter, C., Bouwman, K.M., Dingemanse, N.J., Matthysen, E., van Oers, K., van Overveld, T, Patrick, S.C., Quinn, J.L., Sheldon, B.C., Kempenaers, B. 2010. Association between the DRD4 gene polymorphism and personality variation in four wild great tit populations. Molecular Ecology 19:832-843. | Read abstract/paper online

Quinn, J.L., Patrick, S, Wilkin, T.D, & Sheldon, BC. 2009. Heterogeneous selection on a temperament trait in a variable environment. Journal of Animal Ecology 78:1203-1215. | Read abstract/paper online

Quinn, J.L. & Ueta, M. 2008. Protective nesting associations in birds. Ibis 150(S1):146-167. | Read abstract/paper online

Quinn, J.L. & Cresswell, W. 2006. Testing domains of danger in the selfish herd: sparrowhawks target widely spaced redshanks in flocks. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B 273:2521-2526. | Read abstract/paper online

Quinn JL, Charmantier A, Garant D & Sheldon BC. 2006. Data depth, data completeness, and their influence on quantitative genetic estimation in two contrasting bird populations. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 19: 994-1002. | Read abstract/paper online

Quinn, J.L. & Cresswell, W. 2005. Personality, anti-predation behaviour and behavioural plasticity in the chaffinch Fringilla coelebs. Behaviour 142:1377-1402. | Read abstract/paper online

Quinn, J.L. & Cresswell, W. 2005. Escape response delays in wintering redshank, Tringa totanus, flocks: perceptual limits and economic decisions. Animal Behaviour 69: 1285-1292. | Read abstract/paper online

Quinn, J.L. & Cresswell, W. 2004. Predator hunting behaviour and prey vulnerability. Journal of Animal Ecology 73:143-154. | Read abstract/paper online

Download complete list of publications in PDF format