Current Member - Dr. Oscar Vedder
Postdoctoral Researcher
Oscar Vedder
Details
Name: Dr. Oscar Vedder
Position: Postdoctoral Researcher
Email: oscar.vedder@zoo.ox.ac.uk
Autobiography
After completing projects on costs and consequences of extreme sexual size dimorphism in Eurasian sparrowhawks, hormonal suppression in cooperatively breeding Seychelles warblers, and multiple aspects of ultraviolet colouration in blue tits, I obtained my masters degree in 2005 at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. I continued working on blue tits at the University of Groningen on a PhD project with Jan Komdeur and Michael Magrath, which investigated how extra-pair paternity is integrated with maternal effects. After defending my thesis successfully, I started a 2-year NWO-Rubicon postdoctoral research fellowship at the EGI in March 2011 with Ben Sheldon.
Research Activities
I am broadly interested in how selection shapes integration of functionally related traits, and whether this limits plasticity in independent expression of traits. In investigating this I generally adopt an experimental approach. Past projects included pinpointing social contexts that can facilitate adaptive linkage of aggression and colouration, and assessment of how functional changes in female state, associated with the onset of incubation, can shape the relationship between extra-pair paternity, laying order and clutch size. To further explore the concept of functional integration of traits, I plan to work on individual plasticity in timing of reproduction and other traits that are involved in adaptation to climate change. In addition I monitor sparrowhawk territories in Wytham Woods to locate prey remains, and determine their impact on the Wytham tit population.
Selected Papers
Vedder O, Komdeur J, van der Velde M, Schut E, Magrath MJL (2011) Polygyny and extra-pair paternity enhance the opportunity for sexual selection in blue tits. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 65: 741-752. | Read abstract/paper online
Vedder O, Schut E, Magrath MJL, Komdeur J (2010) Ultraviolet crown coloration affects contest outcomes among male blue tits, but only in the absence of prior encounters. Functional Ecology 24: 417-425. | Read abstract/paper online
Vedder O, Magrath MJL, Harts AMF, Schut E, van der Velde M, Komdeur J (2010) Reduced extrapair paternity in response to experimental stimulation of earlier incubation onset in blue tits. Behavioral Ecology 21: 9-15. | Read abstract/paper online
Magrath MJL, Vedder O, van der Velde M, Komdeur J (2009) Maternal effects contribute to the superior performance of extra-pair offspring. Current Biology 19: 792-797. | Read abstract/paper online
Kingma SA, Komdeur J, Vedder O, Von Engelhardt N, Korsten P, Groothuis TGG (2009) Manipulation of male attractiveness induces rapid changes in avian maternal yolk androgen deposition. Behavioral Ecology 20: 172-179. | Read abstract/paper online
Vedder O, Korsten P, Magrath MJL, Komdeur J (2008) Ultraviolet plumage does not signal social status in free-living blue tits; an experimental test. Behavioral Ecology 19: 410-416. | Read abstract/paper online
Vedder O, Kingma SA, Von Engelhardt N, Korsten P, Groothuis TGG, Komdeur J (2007) Conspecific brood parasitism and egg quality in blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus. Journal of Avian Biology 38: 625-629. | Read abstract/paper online
Vedder O, Dekker AL, Visser GH, Dijkstra C (2005) Sex-specific energy requirements in nestlings of an extremely sexually size dimorphic bird, the European sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 58: 429-436. | Read abstract/paper online
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