Biosciences Seminar Series - Spring 2018
03 May 2018 - 1pm - Zoology Museum
The ecology of ageing in wild animal populations
Dr Hannah Froy
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| from: pixabay.com |
The Biosciences Seminar Series resumes for the Spring Term with a talk by Dr Hannah Froy from the Institute of Evolutionary Studies at the University of Edinburgh (UK). Hannah is an evolutionary ecologist and demographer; after a Masters at Imperial College at Silwood Park on the joint dynamics of body mass and demography underlying small mammal population fluctuations, she completed a PhD on the ecology of aging in albatrosses at the University of Edinburgh, where she then continued as postdoctoral researcher. Hannah is especially interested in using log-term longitudinal individual datasets from natural populations to understand what drives the patterns and individual variation in aging, from variations in telomere length to individual movements and space use.
Ageing, and the associated declines in performance, is something we are familiar with in humans and domestic species. Despite early scepticism about the occurrence of senescence in the wild, declines in survival and reproduction are increasingly documented in later life in natural vertebrate populations. However, a remarkable diversity in ageing rates is often observed even within species, and the causes of this variation are not well understood. We use data from longitudinal field studies, following individuals throughout their lives, to provide new insights into the processes that drive age-related variation in reproduction and survival. I will present recent results exploring how home ranges and immune function change over adulthood in two ungulate populations, and the consequences of these changes for fitness, using data from red deer on the Isle of Rum, and the Soay sheep of St Kilda, Scotland.
Hope to see many of you - everyone most welcome to attend!
For the list of forthcoming seminars see here
For the list of forthcoming seminars see here
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