Lapworth Lecture - The Importance of Fieldwork for Macroecology and Macroevolution

We are currently living through a golden age for macroecology and macroevolutionary studies. Large life history datasets, more and better supported phylogenies, and the ease of using specialised R libraries, have made macroecology more accessible to researchers than at any previous time. This has produced some excellent and high impact science, and led to significant insights into how traits evolved across taxa.

However, it has also contributed to the “death of experience” in biology. The natural history fieldwork which macroecology bases its raw data for is increasingly difficult to fund, and to publish.

In this lecture, Daniel will discuss why macroecologists should engage with, and if they can, in fieldwork. Not just because fieldwork is the source of the raw data which macroecologists require for our work, but because working with ecosystems in the field can give us a better insight into how traits evolve, and lead us to ask new and interesting questions.

This lecture is open to everyone and free to attend.

About Daniel

Daniel A. Villar is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Anthropology, Durham University, working with Jamie Tehrani and Sally Street on cultural phylogenetic comparative methods. Daniel completed his DPhil at the Edward Grey Institute for Field Ornithology, Department of Biology, University of Oxford, working on the conservation and ecology of the Titicaca Grebe. This project involved over 18 months of fieldwork in Altiplano region of Peru and Bolivia. He has worked on several projects focused on the macroecology of avian behavioural traits, including the effect of elevation on sexual dichromatism and the how dispersal ability influences responses to climate change. Before his DPhil, he obtained an MRes from the University of St Andrews, and a BA from Wadham College, Oxford.

This event takes place on campus in room WG12, Aston Webb A-Block, or via Zoom. Please register for the Zoom webinar.

Open to everyone and free to attend.