Behavioural Ecology
Claire Spottiswoode
Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellow
Email: cns26@cam.ac.uk
Tel.: +44 (0)1223 331759
My research interests lie in the evolutionary ecology of African birds, and integrate field experiments with other approaches such as population genetics and sensory ecology. My current work focusses mainly on coevolutionary arms races between brood parasitic birds, such as cuckoos, and the host species they exploit to bear the cost of raising their young. Brood parasitism is seen not only in cuckoos, and my field research in Zambia focuses on two other ancient groups of birds in which a brood parasitic lifestyle has independently evolved: the honeyguides and the parasitic finches. Questions include how parasites have evolved adaptations to exploit different host species, how hosts evolve counter-defences (such as polymorphisms in egg appearance) and how these may change through time, and how host-specific adaptations are inherited within a single parasitic species. My other areas of past and present research include life history evolution, sexual selection, bird migration, and conservation.
Selected publications
- Spottiswoode, C. N. & Stevens, M. (2012) Host-parasite arms races and rapid changes in bird egg appearance. American Naturalist 179: 633-648.
- Spottiswoode, C.N. & Koorevaar, J. (2012) A stab in the dark: chick killing by brood parasitic honeyguides. Biology Letters 8: 241-244.
- Spottiswoode, C.N., Stryjewski, K.F., Quader, S., Colebrook-Robjent, J.F.R. & Sorenson, M.D. (2011) Ancient host-specificity within a single species of brood parasitic bird. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 108, 17738-17742.
- Spottiswoode, C.N. & Stevens, M. (2011) How to evade a coevolving brood parasite: egg discrimination versus egg variability as host defences. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 278: 3566-3573.
- Spottiswoode, C.N. & Stevens, M. (2010) Visual modeling shows that avian host parents use multiple visual cues in rejecting parasitic eggs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA107: 8672-8676.
- Spottiswoode, C.N., Wondafrash, M, Gabremichael, M.N., Dellelegn, Y., Mwangi, M.K., Collar, N.J., Dolman, P.M. (2009) Rangeland degradation is poised to cause Africa’s first recorded avian extinction.Animal Conservation 12: 249-257.
- Spottiswoode, C.N., Tøttrup, A.P. & Coppack, T. (2006) Sexual selection predicts advancement of avian spring migration in response to climate change. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B 273: 3023-3029.