Wednesday 12 October 2016

Biosciences Seminar Speaker 13 October 2016

Biosciences Seminar Series - Autumn 2016
13 October 2016 - 1pm - Zoology Museum (Wallace 129)



Macrocolouration: 

the evolutionary ecology of animal colouration

Dr William Allen

Image from: freehdw.com

Our speaker of this week, Dr William Allen from Swansea University, is an ecologists and in his work he uses comparative approaches to understand patterns of diversity in animals’ traits, to understand their evolutionary history and ecological context. Given the title of his talk, come to listen and watch a colourful seminar! 


Abstract
The colours and patterns of animals are perhaps their most apparent and charismatic features. This ease of observation along with the role colouration can have in a wide range of ecological and evolutionary processes (predation, competition, mate choice, thermoregulation etc.) also makes it an important phenotype for scientific investigation. In this talk I give an overview of my work on understanding broad scale patterns in colour pattern diversity between species. Studies span a wide range of vertebrate taxa including primates, ruminants, cats, geckos and snakes. Topics include the ecological and behavioural factors that underlie colour differences, what form can tell us about function and mechanism, and how investigating colouration can inform our understanding of basic evolutionary processes such as speciation. 



Hope to see many of you - everyone most welcome to attend!

For the list of forthcoming seminars this term, see here.

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