Professor Stuart West

I am an evolutionary biologist whose main interest is adaptation, and especially the evolution of social behaviours, such as cooperation, altruism, spite, mutualism, and how these can influence major evolutionary transitions. I use a mixture of techniques including theory, experiment and across species comparative studies.

My empirical work has utilised a range of organisms, including bacteria, protozoa, insects (especially parasitoid wasps), fish, birds and mammals.

Cooper, G.A. & West, S.A. (2018) Division of labour and the evolution of extreme specialisation.NatureEcology & Evolution. 10.1038.

dos Santos, M., Ghoul, M. & West, S.A. (2018) Pleiotropy, cooperation and the social evolution of genetic architecture.PLoS Biology16(10): e2006671

Cooper, G.A. & West, S.A. (2018) Division of labour and the evolution of extreme specialisation. Nature Ecology & Evolution. 10.1038.

dos Santos, M., Ghoul, M. & West, S.A. (2018) Pleiotropy, cooperation and the social evolution of genetic architecture. PLoS Biology 16(10): e200667

Burton-Chellew, M.N., El Mouden, C. & West, S.A. (2016) Conditional cooperation and confusion in public-goods games. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA 113, 1291-1296.

Caro, S.M., Griffin, A.S., Hinde, C.A. & West, S.A. (2016) Unpredictable environments lead to the evolution of parental neglect in birds. Nature Communications. 7:10985.

West, S.A., Fisher, R.M., Gardner, A. & Kiers, E.T. (2015) Major evolutionary transitions in individuality. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA 112, 10112-10119.

Fisher, R.M., Cornwallis, C.K., & West, S.A. (2013) Group formation, relatedness and the evolution of multicellularity. Current Biology 23, 1120-1125.

Davies, N.B., Krebs, J.R. & West, S.A. (2012) An Introduction to Behavioural Ecology. Wiley-Blackwell.

West, S.A. (2009) Sex Allocation. Princeton University Press (Monograph in Population Biology Series).

For a full publication list click here.

Research Interests

Contact Details

West Lab

Selected Publications

The Department of Zoology is at the centre of Oxford University's research and teaching in biology