llUniversity of Cambridge
people and researchPublicationsopportunitiesLongterm Projects

STUART SHARP

MEERKAT

FLEDGLING
STUART SHARP   
............................................................................................................................................
Cooperative breeding, life history and demography in vertebrates



Now a Senior Teaching Associate at Lancaster University



Research during time at LARG
.............................................................................................................................................

My research uses a combination of field experiments, genetic analyses and long-term data in order to answer questions about the evolution of cooperative breeding. Previously, this has included studies of acoustic communication and kin recognition, and the relationship between dispersal, population structure and kin-selected cooperation. Through this work, I have also developed an interest in refining ways of measuring and studying dispersal more generally.  More recently, my research has focused on senescence in cooperative breeding systems, and I am interested in how kin selection and sociality may influence patterns of ageing.


Publications
............................................................................................................................................

17. Sharp SP, M Simeoni, A McGowan K-B Nam & BJ Hatchwell (2011). Patterns of recruitment, relatedness and cooperative breeding in two populations. Animal Behaviour (in press).

16. Nam K-B, M Simeoni, SP Sharp & BJ Hatchwell (2010). Kinship affects investment by helpers in a cooperatively breeding bird. Proc. R. Soc. B. 277: 3299-3306.

15. Sharp SP & TH Clutton-Brock (2010). Reproductive senescence in a cooperatively breeding mammal. Journal of Animal Ecology 79: 176-183.

14. Christmas SE, WJ Halton, K Brides & SP Sharp (2010). Predominantly northward dispersal of grey herons Ardea cinerea from a heronry in Greater Manchester, UK. Ringing & Migration 25: 52-55.

13. Sharp SP (2009). Bird ringing as a tool for behavioural studies. Ringing & Migration 24: 213-219.

12. Evans KL, KJ Gaston, AC Frantz, SP Sharp, A McGowan, M Simeoni, J Parkecke, T Burke & BJ Hatchwell (2009). Independent colonisation of multiple urban centres by a forest bird species. Proc. R. Soc. B 276:2403-2410.

11. Hatchwell BJ, SP Sharp, M Simeoni & A McGowan (2009). Factors influencing overnight loss of body mass in the communal roosts of a social bird. Functional Ecology 23:367-372. 

10. Evans KL, KJ Gaston, SP Sharp, A McGowan, M Simeoni & BJ Hatchwell (2009). Effects of urbanisation on disease prevalence and age structure in blackbird Turdus merula populations. Oikos 774-782.

9. Evans KL, KJ Gaston, SP Sharp, A McGowan & BJ Hatchwell (2009). The effect of urbanisation on avian morphology and latitudinal gradients in body size. Oikos 118:251-259. 

8. Sharp SP, M Simeoni & BJ Hatchwell (2008). Dispersal of sibling coalitions promotes helping
among immigrants in a cooperatively breeding bird. Proc. R. Soc. B 275: 2125-2130. 

7. Sharp SP, MB Baker, JD Hadfield, M Simeoni & BJ Hatchwell (2008). Natal dispersal and recruitment in a social bird. Oikos 117: 1371-1379. 

6. McGowan A, SP Sharp & BJ Hatchwell (2006). Competition for position in the communal roosts of long-tailed tits. Animal Behaviour 72: 1035-1043. 

5. Hatchwell BJ & SP Sharp (2006). The role of kinship in the cooperative breeding system of long-tailed tits. Advances in the Study of Behaviour 36: 355-395. 

4. Sharp SP & BJ Hatchwell (2006). Development of family-specific contact calls in the long-tailed tit Aegithalos caudatus. Ibis 148: 649-656. 

3. Sharp SP & BJ Hatchwell (2005). Individuality in the contact calls of cooperatively breeding long-tailed tits. Behaviour 142: 1559-1575. 

2. Sharp SP, A McGowan, MJ Wood & BJ Hatchwell (2005). Learned kin recognition cues in a social bird. Nature 434: 1127-1130. 

1. McGowan A, SP Sharp & BJ Hatchwell (2004). The structure and function of nests of long-tailed tits Aegithalos caudatus. Functional Ecology 18: 578-583.