Professor Justin Travis

Professor Justin Travis
Professor Justin Travis
Professor Justin Travis

Personal Chair

About
Email Address
justin.travis@abdn.ac.uk
Telephone Number
+44 (0)1224 274483
Office Address

Room 407 Zoology Building

School/Department
School of Biological Sciences

Biography

2006 –     Lecturer (from 2008, Senior lecturer, and from, 2013 Professor) in Ecological and Evolutionary Modellinf, University of Aberdeen.

2004 – 2006   Senior Scientific Officer, NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Banchory, UK

2001- 2004    University of St Andrews, UK. Research Fellow in the Centre for Conservation Science.

1999 -2001    University of Lund, Sweden, Research fellow within the Climate Impacts Group

Degrees: PhD 1999 Imperial College London.    MSc 1996 University of York.     BSc(hons)1994 University of York

 

Memberships and Affiliations

Internal Memberships

Advisor of Studies ( 2009 - ).

External Memberships

Full member of NERC Peer Review College ( 2011 - ).

Subject Editor for Oikos ( 2010 - ).

Associate Editor for BMC Ecology ( 2011 - ).

Research

Research Overview

Much of my research uses models to study the population and evolutionary dynamics of spatially structured populations. Key interests include (1) the evolutionary ecology and population genetics of range expansions, (2) incorporating greater realism into the dispersal process within spatial population models, (3) evolvability (including the causes and consequences of mutation rate) and  (4) the evolutionary ecology of longevity.  While most of my group's work focusses on using stochastic individual-based models, I am increasingly interested in how these can be combined both with modern statistical methods (including Bayesian approaches) and analytical approximations to gain greater insights and predictive capabilities.

Funding and Grants

Substantial Grants Awarded Since 2012:

2018-2022 NERC Research Grant, "Forecasting biodiversity losses in Wallacea from ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes". PI of international team. (£850,000)

2018-2022 BBSRC Studentship Grant, "Using artificial intelligence to improve the forecast for biodiversity under environmental change" (£99,000)

2017-2021 NERC Research Grant, “Linking demographic theory and data to forecast the dynamics of spatially-structured seasonally-mobile populations” (£650,000). Co-I responsible for developing mechanistic migration models.

2017-2019 Marie Curie International Fellowship (Є215,000) Scientist in charge for Dr Aurore Ponchon.

2015-2016 STFC Newton AgriTech (£350,000) Local PI responsible for systems modelling of fire risk in China.

2015-2017 Marie Curie International Fellowship (Є220,000). Scientist in Charge for Dr Job Aben.

2012-2014 Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship (Є190,000). Scientist in Charge for Dr Kamil Barton.

2012-2015 NERC Responsive, PI “Managing Landscapes for Biodiversity Under Climate Change” (£355,000) 

Teaching

Teaching Responsibilities

Most of my teaching is at Masters level. In particular, I co-ordinate two modules, one on Population Ecology and one on Advanced Ecological Modelling. At undergraduate level, I contribute to several courses at both 3rd and 4th year, most substantially to 3rd year Population Ecology where I introduce ecological modelling.

Teaching Philosophy: I enjoy the challenge of making quantitative topics and programming accessible to as many students as possible, and this is the focus of most of my teaching. I believe that almost all students are capable of learning to program, and that many obtain considerable satisfaction from the realisation that they can master it. I am interested in employing active learning methods within quantitative courses that have traditionally relied heavily on often dry lectures. In my Masters teaching I have been using 'learning through teaching' methods where individuals are each guided in putting together material to teach their peers about a particular aspect of modeling. This is proving a very successful way of improving understanding and creates considerable enthusiasm.

Publications

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  • Using distribution models to test alternative hypotheses about a species' environmental limits and recovery prospects

    Anderson, B. J., Arroyo, B. E., Collingham, Y. C., Etheridge, B., Fernandez-De-Simon, J., Gillings, S., Gregory, R. D., Leckie, F. M., Sim, I. M. W., Thomas, C. D., Travis, J., Redpath, S. M.
    Biological Conservation, vol. 142, no. 3, pp. 488-499
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • The evolution of an 'intelligent' dispersal strategy: biased, correlated random walks in patchy landscapes

    Barton, K. A., Phillips, B. L., Morales, J. M., Travis, J. M. J.
    Oikos, vol. 118, no. 2, pp. 309-319
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • The dynamics of climate-induced range shifting: perspectives from simulation modelling

    Mustin, K., Benton, T. G., Dytham, C., Travis, J. M. J.
    Oikos, vol. 118, no. 1, pp. 131-137
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Thermal conditions during juvenile development affect adult dispersal in a spider

    Bonte, D., Travis, J. M. J., De Clercq, N., Zwertvaegher, I., Lens, L.
    PNAS, vol. 105, no. 44, pp. 17000-17005
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Landscape structure and boundary effects determine the fate of mutations occurring during range expansions

    Burton, O. J., Travis, J. M. J.
    Heredity, vol. 101, no. 4, pp. 329-340
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Evaluating the influence of epidemiological parameters and host ecology on the spread of Phocine Distemper virus through populations of harbour seals

    Harris, C. M., Travis, J. M. J., Harwood, J.
    PloS ONE, vol. 3, no. 7, e2710
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Reid's paradox revisited: The evolution of dispersal kernels during range expansion

    Phillips, B. L., Brown, G. P., Travis, J. M. J., Shine, R.
    The American Naturalist, vol. 172, no. S1, pp. S34-S48
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • The frequency of fitness peak shifts is increased at expanding range margins due to mutation surfing

    Burton, O. J., Travis, J. M. J.
    Genetics, vol. 179, no. 2, pp. 941-950
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
  • Facilitation in plant communities: the past, the present, and the future

    Brooker, R. W., Maestre, F. T., Callaway, R. M., Lortie, C. L., Cavieres, L. A., Kunstler, G., Liancourt, P., Tielboerger, K., Travis, J. M. J., Anthelme, F., Armas, C., Coll, L., Corcket, E., Delzon, S., Forey, E., Kikvidze, Z., Olofsson, J., Pugnaire, F., Quiroz, C. L., Saccone, P., Schiffers, K., Seifan, M., Touzard, B., Michalet, R.
    Journal of Ecology, vol. 96, no. 1, pp. 18-34
    Contributions to Journals: Literature Reviews
  • Scaling issues in long-term socio-ecological biodiversity research: a review of European cases

    Dirnbock, T., Bezak, P., Dullinger, S., Haberl, H., Lotze-Campen, H., Mirtl, M., Peterseil, J., Redpath, S., Singh, S. J., Travis, J. M. J., Wijdeven, S. M.
    Working Papers: Working Papers
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