seminars

LERN is delighted to present a talk by Prof. Stephen Stearns, currently Edward P. Bass Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University. Prof. Stearns research focuses on evolutionary medicine, life history variation and evolutionary functional genomics, and we are proud to present his talk entitled “Major themes in evolutionary medicine” on May 2nd. The talk is taking place […]

We are delighted to announce our first talk of 2012 by Dr John Hutchinson, from the Structure and Motion Lab at the Royal Veterinary College! The talk will be held on March 7th and will have as a title ‘The evolutionary co-option of sesamoid bones for foot support in “six-toed” elephants‘. The details of where

‘Inclusive Fitness Theory and its Discontents’ Professor Raghavendra Gadagkar, In this talk I will address the recent ongoing controversy concerning the validity and utility of inclusive fitness theory, also commonly referred to as kin selection or Hamilton’s rule. In the first part of the talk I will describe my work which, using the South Indian paper wasp Ropalidia matginata as

‘T. rex Sex, Life and Death: Inferences from the fossil record‘ Dr Chris Carbone, (Institute of Zoology, ZSL) Chris Carbone has diverse research interests, but in particular he has explored ecological and evolutionary processes influencing predator-prey relationships. This work has explored how body size influences selection of prey and hunting energetic and population dynamics across carnivore species.

‘Developmental plasticity of brain and behaviour in rodents and itsimplications for the 3Rs’ Professor Prof. Hanno Wuerbel, University of Giessen, Germany This event is supported by the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare, UFAW (www.ufaw.org.uk), and hosted by Dr. Alan McElligott (lecturer at Queen Mary University, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences) Date: March 15th, 2011, 18.00 Location: Fogg Lecture Theatre, Fogg Building,

‘The Case for Cultural Group Selection‘ By Professor Peter J. Richerson, (Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California Davis) Abstract: Robert Boyd and I have long argued that group selection on culturally transmitted variation has been an important force in gene-cultural coevolution, particularly in the evolution of human “social instincts.” This argument remains controversial. I

‘Signal selection – a complementary selection mechanism and its unique creative potential in evolution’ By Professor Amotz Zahavi (Department of Zoology, Tel-Aviv University, Israel) Abstract: Darwin realized that it was not possible to explain the evolution of certain traits, especially those of sexual extravagance, by the selection for efficiency only. He therefore suggested that an additional selection

‘Childhood Experience and the Development of Reproductive Strategies: AnEvolutionary Theory of Socialisation Revisited’ Prof Jay Belsky (Birkbeck, University of London) Abstract: Life-history theory calls attention to across- as well as within-species variation in reproductive strategies. Three decades ago Draper and Harpending (1982) reinterpreted effects of childhood father absence on adolescent sexual behaviour in reproductive strategy terms.