Faculty Member: Royal Society University Research Fellow, University Lecturer (elect)

Current Members | Former Members | Photos


Dr. Nathalie Seddon

Nat birding in Pembrokeshire, April 2009

Details

Name: Dr. Nathalie Seddon
Positions: Royal Society University Research Fellow, University Lecturer (elect)
Fellow and Senior Subject Tutor in Biology, Wadham College, Oxford.
Other affiliations: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute; Centre for Tropical Research (UCLA)
Email: nathalie.seddon@zoo.ox.ac.uk

Autobiography

After graduating in Zoology from Cambridge (1996), I completed a PhD on the behavioural ecology and conservation of the subdesert mesite in Madagascar (Cambridge, 1997-2001). I then held a Gibbs Travelling Research Fellowship to study vocal communication in the pale-winged trumpeter in Peru (Newnham College, Cambridge, 2001-2002), before beginning my studies of speciation in Amazonian birds as a Junior Research Fellow (Newnham College, Cambridge, 2002-2005). I am continuing these studies as a Royal Society University Research Fellow based at the EGI.

Note: I was on Maternity Leave April 2010-March 2011.

Research Activities

I have broad interests in the behaviour, evolution, diversification and conservation of birds. My current work explores the processes underlying avian diversity and biogeography in South America, focusing on the roles of ecology and sexual selection in driving speciation and facilitating species co-existence.

With two diverse assemblages of suboscine passerines, the antbirds (Thamnophilidae) and the ovenbirds (Furnariidae) as the main study systems, our group employs a combination of comparative analyses, experimental field studies and molecular techniques to tackle the following interconnected research themes:

  • Signal evolution: the roles of natural selection versus sexual selection
  • Speciation: is signal divergence a catalyst or a consequence of avian diversification?
  • Amazonian diversity: the roles of geography, habitat heterogeneity and behaviour
  • Species coexistence: how do closely related taxa partition ecological and signalling space?
Map of the four main study sites Four main sites where detailed field studies are ongoing: (1) Cocha Cashu Biological Station; (2) Los Amigos Research Station; (3) Noel Kempff Mercado National Park; and (4) Rio Cristalino Jungle Lodge.
The yellow-breasted warbling antbird The Peruvian warbling antbird (Hypocnemis peruviana) is one of two closely related species that are being studied in a contact zone in SE Peru, as part of a long term study into the role of signals and ecology in avian speciation.

Other Information

I am on the Editorial Boards for Evolution and Journal of Animal Ecology, sit on the Royal Society Research Grant Panel, and am a member of the NEScent working group on Sexual Selection and Speciation. In July 2009, I was awarded a L'Oreal UK For Women in Science Fellowship in July 2009, (click here for video). My research is funded by NERC, The Royal Society, John Fell Fund and EPSRC.

Selected Papers

Derryberry EP, Seddon N, Claramunt S, Tobias JA, Baker A., Aleixo A, Brumfield RT (2012) 'Magic traits' in suboscine birds: correlated evolution of beak morphology and song in the Neotropical woodcreeper radiation. Evolution In press.

Tobias, J. A., Gamarra-Toledo, V., Garcia-Olaechea, D., Pulgarin, P. C. & Seddon, N. (2011) Year-round resource defence and the evolution of male and female song in suboscine birds: social armaments are mutual ornaments. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 24: 2118-2138. | Read paper

Tobias, J.A., Seddon, N., Spottiswode, C. N., Pilgrim, J. D., Fishpool, L. D. C. & Collar, N. J. 2010. Quantitative criteria for species delimitation Ibis 152: 724-746. | Read paper | Read reviews in Nature & Ibis

Tobias, J.A., Aben, J., Brumfield, R. T., Derryberry, E., Halfwerk, W., Slabbekoorn, H. & Seddon, N. 2010. Song divergence by sensory drive in Amazonian birds Evolution 64: 2820–2839. | Read paper | Front cover

Seddon, N. & Tobias, J.A. 2010. Character displacement from the receiver's perspective: species and mate-recognition despite convergent signals in suboscine birds. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 277: 2475-2483. | Read paper Faculty of 1000

Tobias, J.A. & Seddon, N. 2009. Signal design and perception in Hypocnemis antbirds: evidence for convergent evolution via social selection. Evolution 63: 3169-3189. | Read paper | Press release | Science | BBC | Science Daily | ESA

Tobias, J.A. & Seddon, N. 2009. Signal jamming mediates sexual conflict in a duetting bird. Current Biology 19: 577-582. | Read paper | Press Release | National Geographic | Washington Post | New York Times | Sunday Telegraph | Daily Mail | The Age | Times Online | BBC Radio 5 Live

Tobias, J.A. & Seddon, N. 2009. Sexual selection and ecological generalism are correlated in antbirds. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22: 623-636. | Read paper | Front cover

Tobias, J.A., Bates, J.M., Hackett, S., & Seddon, N. 2008. Comment on "The Latitudinal Gradient in Recent Speciation and Extinction Rates of Birds and Mammals". Science 319: 901c. | PDF

Seddon, N., Merrill, R. M. & Tobias, J.A. 2008. Sexually selected traits predict patterns of species richness in a diverse clade of suboscine birds. American Naturalist 171: 620-631. | Read paper

Seddon, N. 2005. Ecological adaptation and species recognition drives vocal evolution in Neotropical suboscine birds. Evolution 59: 200-215. | Read paper

Seddon, N., Amos, W., Mulder, R. & Tobias, J. A. 2004. Male heterozygosity predicts territory size, song structure and reproductive success in a cooperatively breeding bird. Proceedings of the Royal Society London, Series B 271: 1823-1829. | Read paper online

View complete list of publications