Kate Lessells

Dr Kate Lessells graduated from the University of Oxford in 1976, and continued there in the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology, first as a PhD student working on 'Some causes and consequences of family size in the Canada Goose Branta canadensis' (PhD thesis, 1982), and then as a post-doc working on the mating system of Kentish Plovers. After a two year interlude as a post-doc in Mike Hassell's group at Imperial College, working on the dynamics of patchy insect populations in the laboratory, she spent 9 years as a lecturer in the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences at the University of Sheffield, where she worked on the social behaviour of European Bee-eaters and life-history evolution of laboratory populations of bruchid beetles. She has been in the Department of Animal Ecology at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology since 1993, where her work centres on the evolution of life histories and parental investment, in particular the effects of evolutionary conflicts of interest including sexual conflict and parent-offspring conflict, using a combination of field experiments and theoretical models.
 

Journals: currently on the following editorial boards:Journal of Animal Ecology, and Acta Ethologica.
 

Teaching: teaches regularly on the annual course on the 'Ecology of life-histories' at Wageningen University and the biennial post-graduate course 'Evolution of Life-histories' on the island of Schiermonnikoog. 

Expertise

Life history evolution
See Lessells (1991) for a review chapter on the evolution of life histories.

Life histories are strictly-speaking defined as age- or state-specific rates of reproduction and survival, but are more generally taken to encompass other related variables such as cluch and egg size, parental investment and sex ratios. Because an individual's fitness is positively related to both reproduction and survival, the central question that must be addressed in understanding the evolution of life-histories is why natural selection has not maximised both of these, leading to the evolution of 'Darwinian demons' - organisms that begin reproducing the moment that they are born, producing infinite-sized litters at infinitesimal intervals, and living forever. The general answer to this question is the existence of trade-offs - an organism can only have more of one good thing (for its fitness) at the expense of another: more offspring can only be had at the expense of smaller offspring; and more reproduction now can only be had at the expense of less in the future. This gives trade-offs a central role in understanding life-histories, and in turn raises questions such as which traits are involved in trade-offs, how the the trade-offs come about and what effect a particular trade-off will have on the life history that evolves.

Trade-offs can be measured using two different approaches: the first is some kind of experimental phenotypic manipulation in which one life-history trait is manipulated, and the response in other life-history traits measured (eg Lessells 1986, Visser & Lessells 2001). This approach relies on the organism showing the appropriate adaptive phenotypic plasticity in response to the experiment (Lessells 1993). The second approach is to measure the genetic correlation that is expected between two traits involved in a trade-off, either using information from relatives (Lessells et al 1989), or from selection experiments.

Life histories are usually modelled mathematically using optimality models (eg Lessells 1985, Wilson & Lessells 1994). These models look at life-histories from the viewpoint of a single individual and ask what life history would give that individual maximum fitness. However, this approach is inadequate when individuals are in competition (or cooperation) with other individuals. Broadly speaking, these other individuals fall into one of two groups: the first group is unrelated individuals, as would be the case when more than one female may use the same oviposition site, for example when bruchid beetles oviposit on seeds. (Lessells (1985), Smith & Lessells (1985) and Wilson & Lessells 1994 consider these kinds of situation.) The second group of individuals is family members: although the relatedness of family members means that they have a common genetic interest in reproduction, they are rarely 100% related (for example, offspring are 50% related to each parent, and the members of a breeding pair are usually unrelated). This lack of complete relatedness creates genetic conflicts of interest, including parent-offspring conflict (Lessells & Parker 1999) and sexual conflict. In both of these cases, game theory models are needed to predict the evolutionary outcome.

Additional publication on the evolution of life histories: Lessells & Colegrave (2001) point out that the existence of molecular signals with effects on both fecundity and longevity in Caenorhabditis elegans does not rule out the occurrence of a resource allocation trade-off.

Publications on life-histories:
Lessells & Colegrave 2001 Molecular signals or the Loi de Balancement. TREE

Visser & Lessells 2001 The costs of egg prodction and incubation in great tits. Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B

Wilson & Lessells 1994 Evolution of clutch size in insects. I. A review of static optimality models. J. evol. Biol.

Lessells 1993 The cost of reproduction: do experimental manipulations measure the edge of the options set? Etología

Lessells 1991 The evolution of life-histories. In: Behavioural Ecology (Eds Krebs & Davies)

Lessells et al 1989 Is there a trade-off between egg weight and clutch size in wild lesser snow geese Anser c. caerulescens. J. evol. Biol.

Lessells & Avery 1989 Hatching asynchrony in European bee-eaters Merops apiaster. J. Anim. Ecol.

Lessells 1986 Brood size in Canada geese: a manipulation experiment. J. Anim. Ecol.

Smith & Lessells 1985 Oviposition, ovicide and larval competition in granivorous insects. In: Behavioural Ecology (Eds Sibly & Smith)

Lessells 1985 Parasitoid foraging: should parasitism be density dependent? J. Anim. Ecol.

Parental investment
Parental investment (PI) is 'any investment by the parent in an individual offspring that increases the offspring’s chance of surviving (and hence reproductive success) at the cost of the parent’s ability to invest in other offspring'. It therefore encapsulates the life-history trade-off between current and future reproduction which is known as the 'cost of reproduction'. The concept is central to understanding how selection pressures shape the total reproductive effort made by parents and how it is divided between the offspring. In the absence of genetic conflicts of interest, the behavioural rules by which parents and offspring interact (provisioning rules and begging rules) are expected to evolve to achieve the evolutionarily optimal PI. However, genetic conflicts of interest occur within families, both between the male and female parents (sexual conflict), and between the parents and offspring (parent-offspring conflict). As a result of these, the evolutionarily optimal pattern of PI differs between each of the two parents and the individual offspring. The evolutionary outcome then depends on the the kinds of behavioural strategies used by the parents and by the offspring, and theoretical modelling requires the use of game theory. The upshot is that, as a result of intra-familial conflict, there is a two-way interaction between PI and behavioural mechanisms. Selection on PI determines which behavioural mechanisms evolve, but the behavioural mechanisms also determine how selecion acts on PI. A possible example comes from birds wth biparental care, where the parents can theoretically achieve closer to their optimal division of food between the offspring by feeding from different positions (Lessells 2002a). In other words, such separate feeding positions could have evolved in response to parent-offspring conflict.

Sex allocation: sex ratios and parental care
In species with separate sexes (as opposed to hermaphrodites), sex allocation is the amount of parental investment in male vs female offspring. Parents can potentially vary their sex allocation by varying the sex ratio that they produce (Lessells & Quinn 1999; eg Lessells et al 1996) or the amount of parental care that they provide to male vs female offspring (Lessells 1998; eg Lessells et al 1998). Understanding the evolution of sex allocation is complicated (and interesting!) because the fitness pay-off that a parent gets depends not only on its own sex allocation, but that of other members of the population too: the total reproductive success of the males in a population must equal that of the females in the same population. As a result, when males are common in the population, producing female offspring is a relatively good way for parents to produce descendants, and vice versa. This 'Fisherian frequency dependence' means that game theory is needed to model the evolution of both sex ratios (eg Lessells & Avery 1987) and sex-biased parental care (Lessells 1998, 2002b).

Sexual conflict
See Lessells (1999) for a review chapter on sexual conflict and Lessells (in press) for a review of various aspects of sexual conflict.

Sexual conflict is 'a conflict between the evolutionary interests of individuals of the two sexes'. This does not mean that there will necessarily be overt conflict between the sexes. Instead, it refers to the way that selection acts on the two sexes, with the optimal value of a trait being different in males and females. Sexual conflict occurs over traits to do with reproduction. In particular, sexual conflict over parental investment is ubiquitous in sexually reproducing species - except in the extreme and probably entirely hypothetical (outside the lab) situation of obligate lifelong monogamy. This is because both parents gain the fitness benefit through offspring of care provided by either parent, but each parent pays the fitness cost of only its own care. As a result each parent's own optimal level of care is lower than is optimal for the other parent. Sexual conflict can also occur over virtually any aspect of a joint reproductive attempt (Lessells 1999).

When there is sexual conflict, the trait value that evolves will depend on the behavioural strategies that are open to each sex, and can be modelled using game theory. In some cases, behaviour may evolve solely because it helps one sex to impose its optimal trait value on, or avoid exploitation by, the other sex. For example, specialisation in feeding individual offspring or types of offspring within a brood may have evolved in response to sexual conflict over parental investment (Lessells 2002a; Lessells et al in press). In many cases, behaviour involved in winning sexual conflict is harmful to the other sex. (See Lessells (in press) for a discussion of harmful behaviour.) Taken together, these two factors mean that some traits seem inexplicable if sexual conflict is not taken into account. For example, mathematical models show that it is at least theoretically possible that males can evolve harmful mating behaviour that reduces the female's survival as a way of provoking the female into increasing her oviposition rate (Lessells 2005).

Optimality and game theory
Optimality and game theory models are phenotypic models of evolution that allow the optimal strategy (that yielding maximum fitness) or evolutionary stable strategy (ESS; that yielding maximum fitness given the behaviour of other interacting individuals) to be predicted given a set of assumptions about the way that selection acts directly and indirectly (via trade-offs with other traits) on the trait of interest. Optimality models can be used when the fitness pay-off of a strategy does not depend on the behaviour of other individuals (eg many foraging models (eg Lessells & Stephens 1983), including some models of females 'foraging' for oviposition sites (Lessells 1985a; Wilson & Lessells 1994)). On the other hand, game theory models are needed when fitness pay-offs do depend on the behaviour of other individuals. This can occur when there is competition with unrelated individuals, such as competition between ovipositing females (Lessells 1985a; Wilson & Lessells 1994) or larvae (Smith & Lessells 1985), or in models of sex allocation (Lessells & Avery 1987; Lessells 1998, 2002b). It can also occur when there is intra-familial conflict, including both parent-offspring and sexual conlict. Game theory is therefore particularly important in understanding the evolution of parental investment (Lessells 2002a).

One of the major uses of optimality and game theory is in making quantitative or qualitative predictions that can be tested against reality. This can give insight into the extent to which the relevant selection pressures have been indentified, or help discriminate between alternative hypotheses about selection pressures. However, an important additional use of such models is to test whether a hypothesis about selection pessures could work 'even in theory'. This is especially true when there are genetic conflicts of interest, when verbal reasoning can be a poor guide to evolutionary outcomes. For example, one explanation for harmful mating behaviour by males that reduces the female's survival is that the male can thereby provoke the female into increasing her oviposition rate. A mathematical model shows that that is indeed the case, but that - in the model at least - remating intervals would decrease, not increase as expected from verbal reasoning (Lessells 2005).

Great tits and other nestbox breeders

European bee-eaters

Selected Publications

Lessells CM, Snook RR & Hosken DJ In press
The evolutionary origin and maintenance of sperm: selection for a small, motile gamete mating type
In: Sperm Evolution (Eds TR Birkhead, DJ Hosken & S Pitnick)

Lessells CM 2008
Neuroendocrine control of life histories: what do we need to know to understand the evolution of phenotypic plasticity?
Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 363: 1589-1598

Müller W, Lessells CM, Korsten P & von Engelhardt N 2007
Manipulative signals in family conflict? On the function of maternal yolk hormones in birds.
American Naturalist 169: E84-E96

Korsten P, Limbourg T, Lessells CM & Komdeur J 2007
Effectiveness of a commonly-used technique for experimentally reducing plumage UV reflectance
J. Avian Biol. 38: 399-403

Lessells CM 2006
The evolutionary outcome of sexual conflict.
Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. B 361: 301-317

Lessells CM, Poelman EH, Mateman AC & Cassey P 2006
Consistent feeding positions of great tit parents.
Anim. Behav. 72: 1249-1257

Both C, Bouwhuis S, Lessells CM & Visser ME 2006
Climate change and population declines in a long-distance migratory bird.
Nature 441: 81-83
Full article: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v441/n7089/pdf/nature04539.pdf
Download authors' post-print
Reprint or PDF can be requested at library@nioo.knaw.nl

Wedell N, Kvarnemo C, Lessells CM & Tregenza T 2006
Sexual conflict and life histories.
Anim. Behav. 71: 999-1011

Korsten P, Lessells CM, Mateman AC, van der Velde M & Komdeur J 2006
Primary sex ratio adjustment to experimentally reduced male UV attractiveness in blue tits
Behav. Ecol. 17: 359-346
Full article: http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/arj061?ijkey=p6RM32UaiwTM4p...

Lessells CM, Bennett AT, Birkhead TR, Colegrave N, Dall SRX, Harvey P, Hatchwell B, Hosken DJ, Hunt J, Moore AJ, Parker GA, Pitnick S, Pizzari T, Radwan J, Ritchie M, Sheldon BC, Shuker DM, Simmons LW, Stockley P, Tregenza T & Zuk M 2006
Debating sexual selection and mating
Science 312: 689-690
Full article: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/312/5774/689a.pdf
Published at full length with the title 'Nothing new under the sun: social selection is part of sexual selection theory' in Science E-letters, 6 April 2006
Reprint or PDF can be requested at library@nioo.knaw.nl

Pizzari T, Birkhead TR, Blows MW, Brooks R, Buchanan KL, Clutton-Brock TH, Harvey PH, Hosken DJ, Kokko H, Kotiaho JS, Lessells CM, Macias-Garca C, Moore AJ, Parker GA, Pitnick S, Radwan J, Ritchie M, Sheldon BC, Simmons LW, Snook RR, Stockley P, Zuk M 2006
Debating sexual selection and mating strategies
Science 312: 690
Full article: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/312/5774/689a.pdf
Published at full length with the title 'Reproductive behaviour: sexual selection remains the best explanation' in Science E-letters, 6 April 2006
Reprint or PDF can be requested at library@nioo.knaw.nl

Lessells CM 2005
Why are males bad for females? Models for the evolution of damaging male behavior.
Amer. Nat. 165: 546-563

Bouwman K, Lessells CM & Komdeur J 2005
Male reed buntings do not adjust parental effort in relation to extrapair paternity.
Behav. Ecol. 16: 499-506
Full article: http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/ari021?ijkey=14zwyc

Limbourg T, Mateman AC, Andersson S & Lessells CM. 2004
Female blue tits adjust parental effort to manipulated UV attractiveness.
Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 271: 1903-1908

Dasmahapatra KK, Lessells CM, Mateman AC & Amos W 2004
Microsatellie loci in the European bee-eater, Merops apiaster.
Molecular Ecology Notes 4: 500-502
Reprint or PDF can be requested at library@nioo.knaw.nl

Mols CMM, van Oers K, Witjes LMA, Lessells CM, Drent PJ & Visser ME 2004
Central assumptions of predator-prey models fail in a semi-natural experimental system.
Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B (supplement) 271: S85-87

Lessells CM 2002a
Parentally-biased favouritism: why should parents specialize in caring for different offspring?
Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B. 357: 381-403

Lessells CM 2002b
Parental investment in relation to offspring sex.
In: The evolution of begging behaviour. Competition, cooperation and communication (Eds J Wright & M Leonard), pp. 65-85
Publisher: Kluwer, Dordrecht

Lessells CM, Dingemanse NJ & Both C 2002
Egg weights, egg component weights and laying gaps in great tits (Parus major) in relation to ambient temperature.
Auk 119: 1091-1103

Currie D, Mateman AC, Lessells CM & Fanchette R 2002
Sexual size dimorphism in the critically endangered Seychelles scops owl Otus insularis.
Ringing & Migration 21: 16-18
Ringing and migration (journal) website
Reprint or PDF can be requested at library@nioo.knaw.nl

Lessells CM & Colegrave N 2001
Molecular signals or the Loi de Balancement?
TREE 16: 284-285

Visser ME & Lessells CM 2001
The costs of egg production and incubation in great tits.
Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B. 268: 1271-1277

Velando A, Lessells CM & Marquez JC 2001
The function of female and male ornaments in the inca tern: evidencefor links between ornament expression and both adult condition and reproductive performance.
J. Avian Biology 32: 311-318

Johnson KP, de Kort S, Dinwoodey K, Mateman AC, ten Cate C, Lessells CM & Clayton DH 2001
A molecular phylogeny of the dove genera Streptopelia and Columba
Auk 118: 874 - 887

Heg D, Dingemanse NJ, Lessells CM & Mateman AC 2000
Parental correlates of offspring sex ratio in Eurasian Oystercatchers.
Auk 117: 980-986

Lessells CM 1999
Sexual conflict in animals.
In: Levels of selection in evolution (Ed L Keller), pp. 75-99
Publisher: Princeton University Press, Princeton

Lessells CM & Parker GA 1999
Parent-offspring conflict: the full-sib-half-sib fallacy.
Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 266: 1637-1643

Lessells CM & Quinn JS 1999
Primary sex ratios: variation, causes and consequences.
In: Proc. Int. Ornithol. Congr. Durban (Eds NJ Adams & RH Slotow), pp 422-424

Heeb P, Werner I, Mateman AC, Kölliker M, Brinkhof MWG, Lessells CM & Richner H 1999
Ectoparasite infestation and sex-biased local recruitment of hosts.
Nature 400: 63-65

Kölliker M, Heeb P, Werner I, Mateman AC, Lessells CM & Richner H 1999
Offspring sex ratio is related to male body size in the great tit (Parus major).
Behav. Ecol. 10: 68-72
Full article: http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/10/1/68?ijkey=Qx.taJsIk3sxE&keytype=ref&siteid=beheco

Lessells CM 1998
A theoretical framework for sex-biased parental care.
Anim. Behav. 56: 395 - 407

Lessells CM, Oddie KR & Mateman AC 1998
Parental behaviour is unrelated to experimentally manipulated great tit brood sex ratio.
Anim. Behav. 56: 385-393

Lessells CM & Mateman AC 1998
Sexing birds using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers.
Molec. Ecol. 7: 187 - 195

Visser ME, van Noordwijk AJ, Tinbergen J & Lessells CM 1998
Warmer springs lead to mis-timed reproduction in Great Tits (Parus major).
Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 265: 1867 - 1870

Lessells K 1997
More mutations in males.
Nature 390: 236 - 237

Lessells CM & Mateman AC 1996
Molecular sexing of birds.
Nature 383: 761 - 762

Lessells CM, Mateman AC & Visser J 1996
Great tit hatchling sex ratios.
J. Avian Biol. 27: 135 - 142

Colegrave N, Birkhead TR & Lessells CM 1995
Sperm precedence in zebra finches does not require special mechanisms of sperm competition.
Proc. R. Soc. B 259: 223 - 228

Lessells CM 1995
Putting resource dynamics into continuous input ideal free distribution models.
Anim. Behav. 49: 487-494

Lessells CM, Rowe CL & McGregor PK 1995
Individual and sex differences in the provisioning calls of European bee-eaters.
Anim. Behav. 49: 244 - 247

Lessells CM 1994
Baby bunting in paternity probe.
Nature 371: 655 - 656

Lessells CM 1994
Guêpier d'Europe Merops apiaster.
In: Nouvel atlas des oiseaux nicheurs de France 1985-1989 (Eds D Yeatman-Berthelot & G Jarry), pp 422-423
Publisher: Société ornithologigue de France, Paris

Lessells CM, Avery MI & Krebs JR 1994
Nonrandom dispersal of kin: why do bee-eater brothers nest close together?
Behav. Ecol. 5: 105 - 113
Full article: http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/5/1/105?ijkey=TbxMdNkxA.vPw&keytype=ref&siteid=beheco

Wilson K & Lessells CM 1994
Evolution of clutch size in insects. I. A review of static optimality models.
J. evol. Biol. 7: 339 - 363

Lessells CM 1993
The cost of reproduction: do experimental manipulations measure the edge of the options set?
Etología 3: 95 - 111

Szekely T & Lessells CM 1993
Mate change by Kentish Plovers Charadrius alexandrinus.
Ornis Scand. 24: 317-322

Lessells CM 1991
The evolution of life histories.
In: Behavioural Ecology (Eds JR Krebs & NB Davies), pp 32-68
Publisher: Blackwell Scientific Publications

Lessells CM, Coulthard ND, Hodgson PJ & Krebs JR 1991
Chick recognition in European Bee-eaters Merops apiaster: acoustic playback experiments.
Anim. Behav. 42: 1031 - 1033

Jones CS, Lessells CM & Krebs JR 1991
Helpers-at-the-nest in European Bee-eaters (Merops apiaster): a genetic analysis.
In: DNA fingerprinting (Eds T Burke, G Dolf, A Jeffreys & R Wolff), pp 169-192
Publisher: Birkhauser Verlag, Basel

Lessells CM 1990
Helping at the nest in European bee-eaters: who helps and why?
In: Population biology of passerine birds, an integrated approach (Eds J Blondel, A Gosler, J D Lebreton & R.McCleery), pp 357-368
Publisher: NATO ASI series, Springer-Verlag
Download available with kind permission of Springer Science and Business Media
Reprint or PDF can be requested at library@nioo.knaw.nl

Lessells CM & Birkhead TR 1990
Mechanisms of sperm competition in birds: mathematical models.
Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 27: 325 - 337

Lessells CM, Cooke F & Rockwell R 1989
Is there a trade-off between egg weight and clutch size in wild Lesser Snow Geese Anser c. caerulescens?
J. evol. Biol. 2: 457 - 472

Lessells CM & Avery MI 1989
Hatching asynchrony in European Bee-eaters Merops apiaster.
J. Anim. Ecol. 58: 815 - 835

Lessells CM & Krebs JR 1989
Age and breeding performance of European Bee-eaters.
Auk 106: 375 - 382

Lessells CM & Ovenden GN 1989
Heritability of winglength and weight in European Bee-eaters (Merops apiaster).
Condor 91: 210 - 214

Birkhead TR & Lessells CM 1988
Copulation behaviour of the Osprey Pandion haliaetus.
Anim. Behav. 36: 1672 - 1682

Lessells CM 1987
Parental investment, brood size and time budgets: behaviour of Lesser Snow Goose Anser c. caerulescens families.
Ardea 75: 189 - 203

Lessells CM & Avery MI 1987
Sex ratio selection in species with helpers at the nest: some extensions of the repayment model.
Amer. Nat. 129: 610 - 620

Lessells CM & Boag P 1987
Unrepeatable repeatabilities: a common mistake.
Auk 104: 116 - 121

Lessells CM 1986
Brood size in Canada Geese: a manipulation experiment.
J. Anim. Ecol. 55: 669 - 689

Lessells CM 1985
Parasitoid foraging: should parasitism be density dependent?
J. Anim. Ecol. 54: 27 - 41

Lessells CM 1985
Natal and breeding dispersal in Canada Geese.
Ibis 127: 31 - 41

Smith RH & Lessells CM 1985
Oviposition, ovicide and larval competition in granivorous insects.
In: Behavioural ecology (Eds: R Sibly & RH Smith), pp 423-448
Publisher: Blackwell, Oxford

Hassell MP, Lessells CM & McGavin GC 1985
Inverse density dependent parasitism in a patchy environment: a laboratory system.
Ecol. Entomol. 10: 393 - 402

Lessells CM 1984
The mating system of Kentish Plovers.
Ibis 126: 474 - 483

Lessells CM & Stephens DW 1983
Central place foraging: single prey loaders again.
Anim. Behav. 31: 238 - 243

Lessells CM, Sibly RM, Owen M & Ellis S 1979
Weights of female Barnacle Geese during breeding.
Wildfowl 30: 72 - 74

Swingland IR & Lessells CM 1979
The natural regulation of Giant Tortoise populations on Aldabra Atoll. Movement polymorphism, reproductive success and mortality.
J. Anim. Ecol. 48: 639 - 654

Leslie R & Lessells CM 1978
The migration of Dunlin Calidris alpina through northern Scandinavia.
Ornis Scand. 9: 84 - 86

Links

Master Class 'Ecology of Life Histories'
http://www.bio.uu.nl/AnimalBiology/classesandcourses/ecologyoflifehistor...

Journal: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B
http://www.pubs.royalsoc.ac.uk/proceedingsb.shtml

Research School of Functional Ecology
http://www.rug.nl/biologie/onderzoek/onderzoekScholen/functionalEcology/...
Coordinates postgraduate education in the fields of ecology and evolution in the Netherlands

Journal: Journal of Animal Ecology
http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0021-8790

Journal: Behavioral Ecology
http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/

Journal: Acta Ethologica
http://gort.ucsd.edu/newjour/a/msg03627.html

Journal: Population Ecology
http://www.springer.com/sgw/cda/frontpage/0,,5-0-72-1139641-0,00.html

International Ornithological Congress, August 2006
http://www.i-o-c.org/

ESF network: E-BIRD
http://e-bird.cefe.cnrs.fr/ESF network on 'Adaptation and constraints in avian reproduction: integrating ecology and evolution'

ESF E-BIRD workshop: Trade-offs and constraints
http://e-bird.cefe.cnrs.fr/workshop_2004.htm

Powerpoint presentation: Maternal effects and evolution
http://depts.washington.edu/ebirdusa/workshops/PPT/PPT-Lessells.ppt

NWO research programme 'Evolution and Behaviour'
http://www.nwo.nl/subsidiewijzer.nsf/pages/NWOP_5FKJ94_Eng
Research programme of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO)

European Ornithologists' Union
http://www.eou.at/

Department of Animal Population Biology, CTE, NIOO-KNAW
http://www.nioo.knaw.nl/node/83

Marcel Visser's personal webpage
http://www.nioo.knaw.nl/users/mvisser/

Arie van Noordwijk's personal webpage
http://www.nioo.knaw.nl/users/avannoordwijk/ 

Journal: Ringing and Migration
http://www.bto.org/ringing/rmj/index.htm
 

 
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