NERC GW4+ DTP PhD studentship: From sexual conflict to social evolution.

Main supervisor: Dr Safi K Darden, University of Exeter
Co-supervisor: Dr Eduarda Santos, University of Exeter
Co-supervisor: Dr Richard James, University of Bath

This project is one of a number that are in competition for funding from the NERC Great Western Four+ Doctoral Training Partnership (GW4+ DTP). The GW4+ DTP consists of the Great Western Four alliance of the University of Bath, University of Bristol, Cardiff University and the University of Exeter plus six Research Organisation partners: British Antarctic Survey, British Geological Survey, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the Met Office, the Natural History Museum and Plymouth Marine Laboratory. The partnership aims to provide a broad training in earth and environmental sciences, designed to train tomorrow’s leaders in earth and environmental science. For further details about the programme please see http://nercgw4plus.ac.uk/

At least 4 fully-funded studentships that encompass the breadth of earth and environmental sciences are being offered to start in September 2017 at Exeter. The studentships will provide funding for a stipend which is currently £14,296 per annum for 2016-2017, research costs and UK/EU tuition fees at Research Council UK rates for 42 months (3.5 years) for full-time students, pro rata for part-time students.

Project description:

The topic of social disruption has captured the attention of a number of disciplines ranging from the humanities to the sciences. This is most likely driven by the fact that one of the unifying behavioural characteristics of many species is that they live in social groups or communities. Grouping behaviour can be generated by a simple positive social attraction among individuals leading to social aggregations. However, for the majority of social species sociality is underpinned by some form of social recognition and preference. Individuals will actively associate with preferred social partners and avoid others and, as such, construct a social niche that can mediate selective pressures and influence individuals and populations as a whole. In fact, evidence is quickly mounting that the social ties that individuals have with others in the population is directly related to their health, survival and reproductive success. Environmental factors that disrupt the formation and maintenance of social ties among individuals in a population are thus likely to come at a significant cost. Using the Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata), a study system where females live in highly dynamic societies and experience differing levels of social disruption depending on their exposure to sexually coercive males, this project will examine the evolution of mechanisms that reduce or avoid disruption of social ties and the consequences of these for population level processes.

The project will take three approaches for a true interdisciplinary investigation:

(1) It will use natural and established lines of fish to examine how populations vary in social traits as a function of levels of social disruption experienced over the course of selection.

(2) It will use molecular techniques to examine biological processes underpinning variation in social traits across populations.

(3) It will use mathematical modelling to understand how variation in social disruption and social traits affects population level processes.

Location: Streatham Campus, University of Exeter, Exeter, Devon.

Entry requirements:

Applicants should have obtained, or be about to obtain, a First or Upper Second Class UK Honours degree, or the equivalent qualifications gained outside the UK. Applicants with a Lower Second Class degree will be considered if they also have Master’s degree. Applicants with a minimum of Upper Second Class degree and significant relevant non-academic experience are encouraged to apply. All applicants would need to meet our English language requirements by the start of the project http://www.exeter.ac.uk/postgraduate/apply/english/. The majority of the studentships are available for applicants who are ordinarily resident in the UK and are classed as UK/EU for tuition fee purposes; however up to 9 fully-funded studentships across the DTP are available for EU/EEA applicants not ordinarily resident in the UK. Applicants who are classed as International for tuition fee purposes are not eligible for funding.