Faculty Member: Lecturer in Ornithology .

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Dr. Tommaso Pizzari

Dr. Tommaso Pizzari

Details

Name: Dr. Tommaso Pizzari
Position: Lecturer in Ornithology
Email: tommaso.pizzari@zoo.ox.ac.uk

Autobiography

I graduated in Zoology from the University of Aberdeen in 1996, went on to do a PhD on Reproductive strategies in birds at the University of Sheffield where I stayed until 2000 for a post-doc. My interest in bird sexual behaviour then took me to Sweden for some post-doctoral work (2001-2003) at the Universities of Stockholm, SLU (Skara & Uppsala) and Linkoping to study different aspects of sexual promiscuity, using the domestic fowl as an avian model system. I followed this work with a Lectureship at the University of Leeds (2003-2004), until the EGI lured me to Oxford with the promise of combining chicken work with studies of 'real' birds.

Research Activities

I am interested in sexual behaviour and its evolutionary implications. My work focuses on resolving different aspects of sexual selection with particular emphasis on post-copulatory episodes of sexual selection: sperm competition and cryptic female choice. I use the fowl, Gallus gallus-, as a model species which enables me to use a combination of experimental work, physiological and molecular tools. I am also interested in studying sexual behaviour and sexual selection in other taxa.

Our group currently comprises one research fellow, one post-doc and 4 PhD students. Our work is funded by: BBRSC, FORMAS, NERC, the Nuffield Foundation, and the Royal Society, and currently explores a range of topics including:

  • Sexual conflict
  • The evolution of ejaculate phenotypes under sperm competition
  • Dynamics of Reproductive strategies
  • Strategies of female partner choice and Cryptic female choice
  • Senescence and sexual selection
  • The evolution of female sexual ornaments and male mate choice
  • Inbreeding, kin selection and conflict

Other Information

I am currently member of the NERC Peer review panel, editor of PLoS ONE, Behavioural Processes, consulting editor of Animal Behaviour, and in 2005 I was awarded the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour Outstanding Young Investigator Award.

Selected Recent Papers

Worley, K., Gillingham, M., Jensen, P., Kennedy, L. J., Pizzari, T., Kaufman, J. & Richardson D. S. 2008. Characterisation of variation across BF/BLB loci and the signature of selection in a population of red junglefowl. Immunogenetics. In press.

Pizzari, T., Dean, R., Pacey, A., Moore, H. & Bonsall, M. B. 2008. The evolutionary ecology of pre- and post-meiotic sperm senescence. Trends Ecol. & Evol. In press.

Wright, D., Kerje, S., Brändström, H., Schütz, K., Kindmark, A., Andersson, L., Jensen, P., Pizzari, T. 2008 The genetic architecture of a female sexual ornament. Evolution 62, 86-98. | Read abstract/paper online

Dean, R., Bonsall, M. B. & Pizzari, T. 2007. Aging and Sexual conflict. Science 316, 383-384. | Read abstract/paper online

Løvlie H & Pizzari T. 2007. Sex in the morning or in the evening? Females adjust daily mating patterns to the intensity of sexual harassment. Am. Nat., 170, E1-E13. Read abstract/paper online

Pizzari, T. 2007. Fowl play. Planet Earth Autumn, 18-19.

Pizzari T, Cornwallis CK & Froman DP. 2006. Social competitive ability associated with rapid fluctuations in sperm quality in male fowl. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B, 274, 853 - 860. | Read abstract/paper online

Løvlie H, Cornwallis CK, Pizzari T. 2005. Male mounting alone reduces female promiscuity in the fowl. Curr. Biol. 15, 1222-1227. | Read abstract/paper online

Moore A. J. & Pizzari T. 2005. Quantitative genetic models of sexual conflict based on interacting phenotypes. Am. Nat., 165 (5): S88-S97. | Read abstract/paper online

Pizzari T. et al. 2004. Sex-specific, counteracting responses to inbreeding in a bird. Proc. R. Soc. B Lond 271, 2115-2121. | Read abstract/paper online

Pizzari T. et al. 2003. Sophisticated sperm allocation in male fowl. Nature 426, 70-74. 4. | Read abstract/paper online

Pizzari T. & Snook R. R. 2003. Perspective: Sexual conflict and sexual selection: Chasing away paradigm shifts. Evolution 57, 1223-1236. | Read abstract/paper online

Pizzari T. & Birkhead T. R. 2002. The sexually-selected sperm hypothesis: sex-biased inheritance and sexual antagonism. Biol. Rev. 77, 183-209. | Read abstract/paper online

Birkhead T. R. & Pizzari T. 2002 Postcopulatory sexual selection. Nature Rev Genet 3, 262-273. | Read abstract/paper online

Pizzari T. & Birkhead T. R. 2000. Female feral fowl eject sperm of subdominant males. Nature 405, 787 - 789. | Read abstract/paper online