Projects per year
Personal profile
Administrative Posts
- Organisms and Environment Theme Leader
- Member of the BIO Executive (UEA)
- Biodiversity Theme Leader in ELSA (Earth & Life Sciences Alliance, Norwich Research Park)
- UEA Ringing Group Founding member
Career
- Professor in Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation, University of East Anglia (2013)
- Lecturer then Reader, University of East Anglia (2009 - 2013)
- NERC Research Fellow, University of East Anglia. (2004 - 2007)
- Marie Curie Research Fellowship, University of Lund (2001 - 2003)
- Research Associate, University of Sheffield (1997 - 2001)
- Ph.D. University of Leicester (1997)
- B.Sc Applied Biology, Manchester Metropolitan University (1991)
External Activities
- NERC, BBSRC and Leverhulme Trust grant reviewer (2004 -)
- Research Council of Norway - funding committee member (2017-)
- Consultancy for Nature Seychelles (2001 - )
- Advisor to the Republic of Seychelles Government (Dept. Environment)
Enterprise and Engagement Activities
- Public lectures for numerous NGOs including RSPB, British Trust for Ornithology, Nature Seychelles (2001 - present)
Key Research Interests
Current Research Projects
- Understanding the cuases and consequences of gut microbiome variation in a natural population.
- Telomeres as bioindicators of the factors causing differential ageing in wild populations
- Transgenerational impacts of ageing in wild populations
- The evolution of cooperative breeding
- The benefits of mate choice
- The role of the Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) in sexual selection and parasite resistance
- The role of drift and selection in shaping genetic variation within and among bird populations on island archipelagos
- Population genetics and conservation of endemic bird species (e.g. the Seychelles warbler, the Cape Verde warbler
- Mating systems and conservation genetics in marine turtles
- Work on the Seychelles warbler is undertaken in collaboration with Nature Seychelles
Life in our research group
We use a powerful combination of fieldwork, molecular and analytical techniques to investigate a range of questions in evolutionary and behavioural ecology. Fieldwork focuses mainly on birds in exotic island locations which provide excellent self-contained natural laboratories in which to work. Lab work is undertaken in the extensive, well equipped molecular ecology labs at UEA. We are a dynamic, international group of students and postdocs that share interests, enthusiasm and social life! We have our own lab meetings and journal clubs to keep up with our research areas, but also engage with the seminars in BIO and beyond. Recent academic highlights have included the Annual ‘Rebellion’ student conference organised by the Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation here at UEA (of which we are part), and a trip to Prague for the 2022 European Society for Evolutionary Biology conference.
PhD Positions
Click here for current PhD opportunities in Biological Sciences. But feel free to email me to discuss projects outside these areas and alternative sources of funding.
Postdocs & Fellows
I am always happy to discuss possibilities for postdoctoral work and collaborations. Possible funding routes include applying for fellowships, e.g. EU Marie Curie fellowships, with me acting as sponsor, or grant applications with you as a named postdoc.
Areas of Expertise
Parentage and mating systems in animals; bird conservation; cooperative breeding. Ageing in wild populations
Teaching Interests
All areas of molecular and evolutionary ecology, with key interests in areas of behavioural ecology, conservation genetics and populations genetics.
Biography
I am an evolutionary ecologist with primary interests in the use of molecular markers, genetics and genomics to address questions in evolutionary, behavioural and conservation ecology. I mainly use model avian systems, including species such as the Seychelles warbler, Berthelot’s pipit and red junglefowl, to investigate the adaptive significance of reproductive and life history strategies, the causes and consequences of individual variation in ageing, host-parasite co-evolution and to study stress and senescence in wild populations. The conservation of endangered island bird species (e.g. the Seychelles warbler) is also a very important part of my work.
ResearcherID
Keywords
- Biology (general)
- Evolutionary Ecology
- Conservation
- Molecular ecology
- Cooperative breeding
- Population genetics
- MHC
- Telomeres
- Immune genes
- Sexual selection
- Senescence
Network
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Additional Support for Seychelles Warbler - Linked to Project R21069
1/10/21 → 1/02/24
Project: Research
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Gut microbiome variation, fitness and senescence within a natural vertebrate population
S Richardson, D. & Hutchings, M.
Natural Environment Research Council
1/02/20 → 31/08/23
Project: Research
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Lost in Translation - Evolutionary and Conservation Genetics in the Seychelles Warbler
1/07/12 → 31/12/26
Project: Research
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Houbara Research and Conservation Programme
Dolman, P., S Richardson, D. & Burnside, J.
1/10/11 → 30/09/24
Project: Research
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Disentangling the causes of temporal variation in the opportunity for sexual selection
Carleial, R., Pizzeri, T., Richardson, D. S. & McDonald, G. C., 22 Feb 2023, In: Nature Communications. 14, 1006.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Downloads (Pure) -
Runs of homozygosity reveal past bottlenecks and contemporary inbreeding across diverging populations of an island-colonizing bird
Martin, C. A., Sheppard, E. C., Illera, J. C., Suh, A., Nadachowska-Brzyska, K., Spurgin, L. G. & Richardson, D. S., 10 Feb 2023, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Molecular Ecology.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Downloads (Pure) -
Testing the environmental buffering hypothesis of cooperative breeding in the Seychelles warbler
Borger, M. J., Richardson, D. S., Dugdale, H., Burke, T. & Komdeur, J., 13 Jan 2023, In: acta ethologica.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Assessing the causes and consequences of gut mycobiome variation in a wild population of the Seychelles warbler
Worsley, S. F., Davies, C. S., Mannarelli, M-E., Komdeur, J., Dugdale, H. L. & Richardson, D. S., 28 Dec 2022, In: Microbiome. 10, 242.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Causes and consequences of telomere lengthening in a wild vertebrate population
Brown, T. J., Spurgin, L. G., Dugdale, H. L., Komdeur, J., Burke, T. & Richardson, D. S., Dec 2022, In: Molecular Ecology. 31, 23, p. 5933-5945 13 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile9 Citations (Scopus)25 Downloads (Pure)
Datasets
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Data from: Continental-scale patterns of pathogen prevalence: a case study on the corncrake
Fourcade, Y. (Creator), Keišs, O. (Creator), S Richardson, D. (Creator) & Secondi, J. (Creator), Dryad data repository, 8 Jul 2014
DOI: 10.5061/dryad.gt86f
Dataset
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Data from: Landscape-scale variation in an anthropogenic factor shapes immune gene variation within a wild population
Gonzalez Quevedo, C. (Creator), Davies, R. (Creator), Phillips, K. (Creator), Spurgin, L. (Creator) & S Richardson, D. (Creator), Dryad data repository, 12 Jul 2016
DOI: 10.5061/dryad.40vv8
Dataset
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Data from: Joint care can outweigh costs of nonkin competition in communal breeders
Bebbington, K. (Creator), Fairfield, E. (Creator), Spurgin, L. (Creator), Kingma, S. (Creator), Dugdale, H. (Creator), Komdeur, J. (Creator) & S Richardson, D. (Creator), Dryad data repository, 20 Sep 2017
DOI: 10.5061/dryad.984h0
Dataset
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Data from: Telomere length reveals cumulative individual and transgenerational inbreeding effects in a passerine bird
Bebbington, K. (Creator), Spurgin, L. (Creator), Fairfield, E. (Creator), Dugdale, H. (Creator), Komdeur, J. (Creator), Burke, T. (Creator) & S Richardson, D. (Creator), Dryad data repository, 6 May 2016
Dataset
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Data from: Oxidative status and fitness components in the Seychelles warbler
van de Crommenacker, J. (Creator), Hammers, M. (Creator), Van Der Woude, J. (Creator), Louter, M. (Creator), Santema, P. (Creator), S Richardson, D. (Creator) & Komdeur, J. (Creator), Dryad data repository, 10 Mar 2017
DOI: 10.5061/dryad.1d0m9
Dataset
Activities
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Research Council of Norway - funding committee (External organisation)
David S Richardson (Member)
2017 → …Activity: Membership › Committee
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Leverhulme Trust (External organisation)
David S Richardson (Grant reviewer)
2004 → …Activity: Membership › External peer review panel
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NERC Peer Review College (External organisation)
David S Richardson (Grant reviewer)
2004 → …Activity: Membership › External peer review panel
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BBSRC peer review college (External organisation)
David S Richardson (Grant reviewer)
2004 → …Activity: Membership › External peer review panel
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Consultancy for Nature Seychelles (2001 - )
David S Richardson (Consultant)
2001 → …Activity: Consultancy › Consultancy (fee based/paid)
Press/Media
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Young Seychelles warblers fare better if their elderly parents have help raising them, according to new research from UEA and the University of Groningen (Jan 2021)
19/01/21 → 20/01/21
11 items of Media coverage
Press/Media: Press / Media
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Prof David S Richardson (BIO) quoted about a $78,000 donation to Nature Seychelles by the Seychelles Warbler Research Group - a team of biologists from European universities including UEA - to construct a new research centre on Cousin Island (Oct 2020)
7/10/20 → 8/10/20
4 items of Media coverage
Press/Media: Press / Media
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The Seychelles warbler finds another island home - Article for ZWASO (Seychelles conservation magazine)
1/12/16
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Press / Media
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A healthy level of disease in the Seychelles warbler? Zwaso article (Conservation Magazine in the Seychelles)
1/05/16
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Press / Media
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The Most Amazing Conservation Success Story in Seychelles
1/03/12
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Press / Media