April 23rd, 2025
Ben Sheldon, Luc Hoffmann Professor of Ornithology, University of Oxford
Ben Sheldon is a biologist whose work spans evolution, ecology, and behavior, with a focus on understanding individual variation and its interaction with environmental change. His research uses long-term population studies, particularly of Great Tits in Wytham Woods, to explore the effects of social interactions, spatial scaling of phenological co-adaptation, and life-history evolution. He obtained his PhD at the University of Sheffield and held postdoctoral fellowships at Uppsala and Edinburgh before joining Oxford as a Royal Society University Research Fellow. In 2004, he became the inaugural holder of the Luc Hoffmann Chair in Field Ornithology and Director of the Edward Grey Institute. His work has received major grants and earned him awards including the Zoological Society’s Scientific Medal and the Linnean Medal.
The Power of the Individual in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior
Long-term studies of individually identifiable animals in wild populations have been of central importance in the development of ideas in many areas in evolution, ecology and behavior. I will review how the key to their success lies the ability to connect individual identities to causes and outcomes, to link between generations, and to integrate across multiple scales of ecological variation. I will conclude by showing how they continue to increase in scientific relevance as new questions and approaches develop.
About the Series:
The Tracy and Ruth Storer Lectureship in the Life Sciences is the most prestigious of the endowed seminars at UC Davis. Established in 1960, the Storer Endowment makes it is possible to invite distinguished biological scientists to campus to present two lectures and meet with faculty members and graduate students in their field of interest. The series is presented by the UC Davis College of Biological Sciences.
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