Nicholas Barry Davies
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Nicholas Barry Davies FRS (born 1952) is a British field naturalist and zoologist , and Emeritus Professor of Behavioural Ecology at the University of Cambridge , [1] where he is also a Emeritus Fellow of Pembroke College.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/Prof_Nick_Davies.jpg/220px-Prof_Nick_Davies.jpg)
Research
His books with John Krebs helped to define the field of behavioural ecology , the study of how behaviour evolves in response to selection pressures from ecology and the social environment. [2]
His study of a small brown bird, the dunnock , linked detailed behavioural observations of individuals to their reproductive success, using DNA profiles to measure paternity and maternity, and revealed how sexual conflicts gave rise to variable mating systems including: monogamy, polygyny , polyandry and polygynandry .
His studies of cuckoos and their hosts have revealed an evolutionary arms race of brood parasite adaptations and host counter-adaptations.
Other studies include: territory economics in pied wagtails ; contest behaviour and mate searching in butterflies and toads; parent-offspring conflict and the transition to independence in young birds.
Awards and distinctions
- Scientific Medal of the Zoological Society of London , 1987
- Fellow of the Royal Society, 1994
- University of Cambridge Teaching Prize, 1995
- William Bate Hardy Prize of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 1995 [3]
- Medal of the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour, 1996
- President of the International Society for Behavioural Ecology, 2000-2002
- British Trust for Ornithology / British Birds "Best Book of the Year Award" in 2000 (for Cuckoos, Cowbirds and Other Cheats ) and in 2015 (for Cuckoo - Cheating by Nature ).
- Frink Medal of the Zoological Society of London, 2001
- Elliott Coues Medal of the American Ornithologists' Union , 2005 [4]
- Hamilton Prize Lecture of the International Society for Behavioural Ecology, 2010
- Croonian Medal and Lecture of the Royal Society, 2015 [5]
- Godman Salvin Medal of the British Ornithologists' Union, 2022 [6]
Key Publications
- Krebs, J.R ; Davies, N.B., eds. (1997). Behavioural Ecology - An Evolutionary Approach (4th ed.). Blackwell Science .
- Krebs, J.R ; Davies, N.B. (1981). An Introduction to Behavioural Ecology (1st ed.). Blackwell Science.
- Davies, N.B. (1992). Dunnock Behaviour and Social Evolution . Oxford University Press .
- Davies, N.B. (2000). Cuckoos, Cowbirds and Other Cheats . T. & A.D. Poyser . p. 310.
- Davies, N.B.; Krebs, J.R. ; West, S.A. (2012). An Introduction to Behavioural Ecology (4th ed.). Wiley-Blackwell .
- Davies, Nick (2015). Cuckoo - Cheating by Nature . Bloomsbury . [7]
Media
In 2009, his research was featured as a BBC Natural World program "Cuckoo", produced by Mike Birkhead and narrated by David Attenborough.
In 2011 he presented a BBC Radio 4 documentary entitled 'The Cuckoo'. [8]
In 2016 he was the subject of a BBC Radio documentary in the series The Life Scientific. [9]
In 2017 he was the guest of Michael Berkeley on BBC Radio 3 Private Passions. [10]
In 2017 he appeared in an episode of the BBC Radio 4 Natural Histories series entitled "Cuckoo". [11]
References
- ↑ "Professor Nick Davies FRS" . 3 June 2013.
- ↑ Milinski, M. 2012. Nature 485, 444. Royle, Nick J. (2013) Book Review: An Introduction to Behavioural Ecology, Animal Behaviour , Volume 85, Issue 3, March, Pages 686–687.
- ↑ "Nicholas B. Davies" . American Ornithologists' Union . Retrieved 18 May 2012 .
- ↑ "AOU | Elliott Coues Award | Nicholas B. Davies" . www.aou.org . Archived from the original on 17 September 2010.
- ↑ "Cuckoos and their victims: An evolutionary arms race | Royal Society" .
- ↑ Kilner, Rebecca (13 April 2022). "Godman‐Salvin Prize: Nicholas B. Davies" . Ibis . 164 (3): 858–859. doi : 10.1111/ibi.13057 . ISSN 0019-1019 . S2CID 248172655 .
- ↑ Dalrymple, Theodore (September 2015). "Review of Cuckoo: cheating by nature by Nick Davies" . New English Review .
- ↑ "BBC iPlayer" . Retrieved 11 March 2014 .
- ↑ al-Khalili, Jim (2016) The Life Scientific : Nick Davies, BBC Radio 4 (Broadcast June 21, 2016)
- ↑ Private Passions BBC Radio 3 (broadcast August 6th, 2017)
- ↑ Natural Histories BBC Radio 4 (broadcast August 8th, 2017)
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