Department of Zoology

Principal Investigators

Research area - Population and Community Ecology

I have wide interests in conservation biology. I am especially interested predicting the impacts of environmental change, especially on bird populations. Some of this work combines field data and models while other work is purely based on field work. While much of our work has been in the UK I have been involved in many projects elsewhere in the world and welcome suggestions for collaborations. Another major theme is using evidence-based conservation to collate experience of the effectiveness of interventions (via the website www.conservationevidence.com) and then use this evidence to advise practice. We hope that this will eventually revolutionise global conservation practice.

Research group - Conservation Science Group
Personal Page

Selected publications

• Gill, J.A., Norris, K., Potts, P.M., Gunnarsson, T.G., Atkinson, P.W. and Sutherland, W.J. (2001) The buffer effect and large-scale population regulation in migratory birds. Nature 412, 436-438
• Ridley, J., and Sutherland, W.J. (2002) Kin competition within groups: the offspring depreciation hypothesis. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 269, 2559-2564
• Sutherland, W.J. (2003) Parallel extinction risk and global distribution of languages and species. Nature 423, 276-279
• Kleijn, D. and Sutherland, W.J. (2003) How effective are European agri-environment schemes in conserving and promoting biodiversity? Journal of Applied Ecology 40, 947-969
• Sutherland, W.J. (2006) Predicting the ecological consequences of environmental change: a review of the methods. Journal of Applied Ecology 43, 599-616
• Sutherland, W.J., Armstrong-Brown, S., Armsworth, P. R., Brereton, T.,  Brickland, J.,  Campbell, C. D., Chamberlain, D. E.,  Cooke, A. I., Dulvy, N. K., Dusic, N. R.,  Fitton, M., Freckleton, R. P., Godfray, H. C., Grout,  N., Harvey, H. J., Hedley, C., Hopkins, J. J., Kift, N. B.,  Kirby, J., Kunin, W. E., MacDonald, D. W., Markee, B., Naura, M., Neale, A.R., Oliver, T., Osborn, D., Pullin, A. S.,  Shardlow, M. E. A., Showler, D. A., Smith, P. L., Smithers, R. J., Solandt, J.-L., Spencer, J., Spray, C. J., Thomas, C. D., Thompson, J., Webb, S. E., Yalden, D.W., Watkinson, A. R. (2006) The identification of one hundred ecological questions of high policy relevance in the UK. Journal of Applied Ecology 43, 617-627.
• Freckleton, R.P., Watkinson, A.R, Green, R.E. & Sutherland, W.J. (2006). Census error and the detection of density-dependence. Journal of Animal Ecology 75, 837-851.
• Sutherland, W.J., Pullin, A.S., Dolman, P.M. & T.M. Knight (2004). The need for evidence-based conservation. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 19, 305-308