I am on a Marie Curie fellowship in the Andy Gardner group at the University of St Andrews. I have broad interests in evolutionary biology and use mathematical approaches to address questions on brain evolution, the evolution of social behavior, and the species problem.Research Brain evolution: This work studies factors promoting large brain evolution. We find that cognitive ability can be proportional to brain mass if memory is metabolically costly enough, and that large brains may evolve in the absence of evolutionary arms races caused by social interactions. Evolution of social behavior: This work studies a classic hypothesis that considers social behavior as arising from manipulation by others. I find that eusociality arising from maternal manipulation can become stable due to the evolution of helper specialization. The species problem: This work studies a classic notion of species and explores its consequences. I find that populations can belong to multiple species due to gradual evolution of reproductive isolation. Contact information
School of Biology |
