Interdisciplinary Fellow
- About
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- School/Department
- School of Biological Sciences
Biography
I am an evolutionary biologist who studies how innovations in behaviour shape trait distributions across broad swaths of space and time, particularly in birds and mammals. I frequently collaborate with linguists and anthropologists to translate methods developed in biology and palaeobiology to the study of human language/cultural evolution, with a particular interest in the relationship between people and their natural environment.
My Google Scholar page can be found here and more information about my research can be found here.
Qualifications
- DPhil Zoology2016 - University of Oxford
- BS Mathematics, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology2012 - Yale University
Memberships and Affiliations
- Internal Memberships
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* Member, SBS EDI Committee
- External Memberships
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- Senior Editor, Global Ecology and Biogeography
- Chair, BES Macro SIG
- Diversity Committee Member, American Society of Naturalists
- Research
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Research Areas
Accepting PhDs
I am currently accepting PhDs in Biological and Environmental Sciences.
Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your research ideas further.

Biological and Environmental Sciences
Accepting PhDs - Publications
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Page 1 of 1 Results 1 to 40 of 40
A new time tree of birds reveals the interplay between dispersal, geographic range size, and diversification
Current Biology, vol. 35, no. 16, pp. 3883-3895Contributions to Journals: ArticlesGlobal incidence of female birdsong is predicted by territoriality and biparental care in songbirds
Nature Communications, vol. 16, 6157Contributions to Journals: ArticlesSome birds are left behind in a race to beat the heat
Nature Ecology & Evolution, vol. 9, no. 7, pp. 1092-1093Contributions to Journals: Comments and Debates- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02727-2
Viewing conditions predict evolutionary diversity in avian plumage colour
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 292, no. 2044, 20241728Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.1728
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstreams/d20933f3-607e-44f0-81a8-94af1a9daa9d/download
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Longer wing bones in warmer climates suggest a role of thermoregulation in bird wing evolution
Global Ecology and Biogeography, vol. 34, no. 4, e70033Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.70033
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstreams/a2765d24-23cf-481e-a005-af484a033765/download
Anthropogenic nest material use in a global sample of birds
Journal of Animal Ecology, vol. 93, no. 6, pp. 691-704Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.14078
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstreams/9b7bca56-9952-4ece-8d21-6b4750f4ce80/download
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
The Evolution of Rodent Tail Morphology
American Naturalist, vol. 203, no. 6, pp. 629-643Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/729751
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Primate coloration and colour vision: a comparative approach
Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, vol. 141, no. 3, pp. 435-455Contributions to Journals: ArticlesLimited ecological opportunity influences the tempo of morphological evolution in birds
Current Biology, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 661-669.e4Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.12.055
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstreams/c995ec41-3693-4f8f-9f83-520f11e1f085/download
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Nest traits for the world's birds
Global Ecology and Biogeography, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 206-214Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13783
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstreams/5b47a040-e5a6-4e76-b8cf-14c259cb4688/download
The evolution of enclosed nesting in passerines is shaped by competition, energetic costs, and predation threat
Ornithology, vol. 141, no. 1, ukad048Contributions to Journals: ArticlesNest architecture influences host use by avian brood parasites and is shaped by coevolutionary dynamics
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 291, no. 2014, 20231734Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.1734
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
The macroevolutionary dynamics of mammalian sexual size dimorphism
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 290, no. 2011Contributions to Journals: ArticlesBeak shape and nest material use in birds
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 378, no. 1884, 20220147Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0147
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstreams/ce6ad40d-d800-459a-b861-c519b77d6864/download
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Evolution of nest architecture in tyrant flycatchers and allies
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, vol. 378, no. 1884, 20220148Contributions to Journals: ArticlesKinbank: A global database of kinship terminology
PloS ONE, vol. 18, no. 5, e0283218Contributions to Journals: ArticlesGlobal drivers of variation in cup nest size in passerine birds
Journal of Animal Ecology, vol. 92, no. 2, pp. 338-351Contributions to Journals: ArticlesDeterministic assembly and anthropogenic extinctions drive convergence of island bird communities
Global Ecology and Biogeography, vol. 31, no. 9, pp. 1741-1755Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/geb.13556
- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13556
- [ONLINE] AM in Oxford University repository
- [ONLINE] https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:7db7408d-2ef4-4279-b670-62cd4a2c72a0/download_file?file_format=application%2Fpdf&safe_filename=Triantis_et_al_2022_Deterministic_assembly_and_.pdf&type_of_work=Journal+article
Morphological adaptations linked to flight efficiency and aerial lifestyle determine natal dispersal distance in birds
Functional Ecology, vol. 36, no. 7, pp. 1681-1689Contributions to Journals: ArticlesAvonet: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds
Ecology Letters, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 581-597Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstreams/6cccef97-2a31-4221-a29c-9fc485862c0f/download
The Evolution of Australian Kin Terminologies: Models, Conditions, and Consequences
Current Anthropology, vol. 63, no. 1, pp. 60-61Contributions to Journals: Comments and Debates- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/719365
Ecological and behavioural drivers of offspring size in marine teleost fishes
Global Ecology and Biogeography, vol. 30, no. 12, pp. 2407-2419Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13392
- [ONLINE] AM in University of St Andrew's Repository
Aposematism in mammals
Evolution, vol. 75, no. 10, pp. 2480-2493Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.14320
Tempo and mode of morphological evolution are decoupled from latitude in birds
PLoS Biology, vol. 19, no. 8, e3001270Contributions to Journals: ArticlesCHIELD: the causal hypotheses in evolutionary linguistics database
Journal of Language Evolution, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 101-120Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] https://academic.oup.com/jole/article/5/2/101/5821004
- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jole/lzaa001
Pama-Nyungan grandparent systems change with grandchildren, but not cross-cousin terms or social norms
Evolutionary Human Sciences, vol. 2, e30Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2020.31
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstreams/23058819-e5db-4d19-bf99-cc4195d98a7c/download
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Ecological drivers of global gradients in avian dispersal inferred from wing morphology
Nature Communications, vol. 11, no. 1, 2463Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16313-6
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Ecology and allometry predict the evolution of avian developmental durations
Nature Communications, vol. 11, 2383Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16257-x
Macroevolutionary convergence connects morphological form to ecological function in birds
Nature Ecology & Evolution, vol. 4, pp. 230-239Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-1070-4
Evolution of avian egg shape: underlying mechanisms and the importance of taxonomic scale
Ibis, vol. 161, no. 4, pp. 922-925Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ibi.12755
- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.v161.4
Usage frequency and lexical class determine the evolution of kinship terms in Indo-European
Royal Society Open Science, vol. 6, no. 10, pp. 191385Contributions to Journals: ArticlesTempo and timing of ecological trait divergence in bird speciation
Nature Ecology & Evolution, vol. 2, no. 7, pp. 1120-1127Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0570-y
The macroecological dynamics of species coexistence in birds
Nature Ecology & Evolution, vol. 2, no. 7, pp. 1112-1119Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-018-0572-9
Flight range, fuel load and the impact of climate change on the journeys of migrant birds
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. B, Biological Sciences, vol. 285, no. 1873, 20172329Contributions to Journals: ArticlesAvian egg shape: Form, function, and evolution
Science, vol. 356, no. 6344, pp. 1249-1254Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaj1945
Professional medical writing support and the reporting quality of randomized controlled trial abstracts among high-impact general medical journals
F1000Research, vol. 6, pp. 1489Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.12268.2
Quantifying species contributions to ecosystem processes: a global assessment of functional trait and phylogenetic metrics across avian seed-dispersal networks
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. B, Biological Sciences, vol. 283, no. 1844Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.1597
Territoriality, Social Bonds, and the Evolution of Communal Signaling in Birds
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, vol. 4, 74Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2016.00074
Ecological traits reveal functional nestedness of bird communities in habitat islands: a global survey
Oikos, vol. 124, no. 7, pp. 817-826Contributions to Journals: ArticlesLoan and inheritance patterns in hunter-gatherer ethnobiological systems
Journal of Ethnobiology, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 195-227Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.2993/0278-0771-34.2.195
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus