Ben Sheldon

Research Interests

I have broad interests in evolution, ecology and behaviour in wild populations, with a particular focus on understanding the causes and consequences of individual variation. Most of my empirical work uses wild bird populations as a model, but I have also worked on mammals, amphibians and microbes. My research group typically consists of 3-4 postdocs and associated fellows, and 5-6 graduate students, and current research themes include: (1) Evolutionary ecology of sex allocation; (2) Spatial ecology, social behaviour and dispersal; (3) Ecology and epidemiology of avian malaria; (4) Ecological genetics of life-history characters. We use a combination of long-term field studies (such as that of the great tit in Wytham Woods, running continuously since 1947), quantitative and molecular genetic analysis, as well as field experiments, to understand these problems.

Other Interests

In 2004 I was elected as the inaugural holder of the Luc Hoffmann Chair in Field Ornithology and appointed Director of the Edward Grey Institute, a research institute based within the Department of Zoology. Please follow this link for more information about the institute, its personnel, and our work.

Contacts

Selected Publications

• Ellegren, H. & Sheldon, B.C. (2008). Genetic basis of fitness differences in wild populations. Nature 452, 169-175.
• Charmantier, A., McCleery, R.H., Cole, L., Perrins, C.M., Kruuk, L.E.B. & Sheldon, B.C. (2008). Adaptive phenotypic plasticity in response to climate change in a wild bird population. Science 320, 800-803.
• Wood, M.J., Cosgrove, C.L., Wilkin, T.A., Knowles, S.C.L., Day, K.P. & Sheldon, B.C. (2007). Within-population variation in prevalence and lineage distribution of avian malaria in blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus. Mol. Ecol. 16, 3263-3273
• Charmantier, A., McCleery, R.H., Perrins, C. & Sheldon, B.C. (2006). Quantitative genetics of age at reproduction in the mute swan: support for antagonistic pleiotropy models of senescence. PNAS 103, 6587-6592.
• Garant, D., Kruuk, L.E.B., Wilkin, T.A., McCleery, R.H. & Sheldon, B.C. (2005). Evolution driven by differential dispersal within a wild bird population. Nature 433, 60-65
• Sheldon, B.C. & West, S.A. (2004). Maternal condition, dominance, and sex ratio in ungulate mammals. Amer. Nat. 163, 40-54
• West, S.A. & Sheldon, B.C. (2002). Constraints in the evolution of facultative sex ratio adjustment. Science 295, 1685-1688