Biography
I joined the Department of Zoology in May 2023 as a Research Associate in the Marine Behavioural Ecology Group working with Dr James Herbert-Read. Prior to this I was a Research Associate at the University of Bristol (2018-2021) working with Prof. Christos Ioannou. I obtained my PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Tasmania in 2017, which was supervised by Prof. Tobias Uller (Lund University) and Dr Geoffrey While (University of Tasmania). I also hold a BA in Biological Sciences and an MSc in Biology (Integrative Bioscience) from the University of Oxford.
Research
I am interested in the drivers and consequences of variation in animal behaviour. I have had the opportunity to work on a range of study systems on topics including sexual selection, phenotypic divergence and animal personality. My most recent research has focused on collective behaviour and decision-making in shoaling fish. My current research with Dr James Herbert-Read is investigating how fish use hydrodynamic motion cues generated by conspecifics, predators, and prey in their movement decision-making.
Publications
For a full list of publications see here.
MacGregor HEA, Ioannou CC, 2021. Collective motion diminishes, but variation between groups emerges, through time in fish shoals. Royal Society Open Science 8:210655.
MacGregor HEA, Cottage A, Ioannou CC, 2021. Suppression of personality variation in boldness during foraging in three-spined sticklebacks. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 75: 71.
MacGregor HEA, Herbert-Read JE, Ioannou CC, 2020. Information can explain the dynamics of group order in animal collective behaviour. Nature Communications 11:1-8.
MacGregor HEA, Lewandowsky RA, d'Ettorre P, Leroy C, Davies NW, While GM, Uller T, 2017. Chemical communication, sexual selection, and introgression in wall lizards. Evolution 71:2327-2343.
MacGregor HEA, While GM, Barrett J, Pérez i de Lanuza G, Carazo P, Michaelides S, Uller T, 2017. Experimental contact zones reveal causes and targets of sexual selection in hybridizing lizards. Functional Ecology 31:742-752.
