Dr Andrew Beckerman
Tel: +44 (0)114 222 0026
Fax: +44 (0)114 222 0002
email : a.beckerman@sheffield.ac.uk
website:http://www.beckslab.staff.shef.ac.uk
Career
BSc Tufts University (1990)
MFS Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (1994)
PhD Yale University (1999)
NERC Post-Doctoral Associate, University of Stirling (1999-2002)
NERC Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield (2002-2005)
Lecturer, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield (2005-2007)
Senior Lecturer, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield (2007-)
Key Research Interests
We aim link genetics, behaviour and life history to the distribution and abundance of organisms and the structure and dynamics of communities. We do so by combining empirical and theoretical tools with a range of aquatic and terrestrial organisms, in the lab and in the field. Our research centres around two study systems: Predator - prey dynamics & food webs (Daphnia and Theory) and Parrot Conservation and Behaviour in Bonaire.
Professional Activities
Associate Editor, Ecology Letters (2009 - ) and Journal of Animal Ecology (2007-)
NERC Peer Review College (2006-2009)
BES Council (2007-2010)
Symposium Organiser, Ecological Society of America (2007)
Teaching
Dr Andrew Beckerman is a Senior Lecturer and the former Director and now consultant to UG Admissions. He is a member of the Teaching Committee and of the Graduate Committee.
At level 1, I coordinate and teach on APS123 - Introduction to Population and Community Ecology.
At Level 2, I coordinate and teach on APS273 - Advanced Population and Community Ecology, a course combining lectures and a variety of workshops focused on technology, modelling and applications. These modules reflect my interest in population and community ecology and ideas about how evolution shapes the interactions among species and between species and their environments.
I also coordinate and teach APS405 - Advanced Statistics for Biologists, a week long intensive training module for 4th year MBiolSci students and 1st year PhD students. This module reflects my interests in computing and statistics and specifically in presenting results of research with high quality graphics.
I have supervised a number of level 4 MBiolSci students. Most work on my water flea system, and projects range from examining the role of hormones in prey defences against their predators to linking animal foraging behaviour to food web structure.
Current Research Group
Postdocs
Dr Stuart Dennis
The endocrine basis of predator induced plasticity - NERC
Dr Dirk Mikolajewski
Multiple predator effects on prey behaviour and life history - DFG/Marie Curie Incoming Fellow
PhD Students
Rowan Martin
NERC - World Parrot Trust, Case Partner (co-supervisor Ben Hatchwell)
Sam Williams
NERC - World Parrot Trust, Case Partner (co-supervisor Ben Hatchwell)
Julia Reger
NERC - Freshwater Biology Association (co-supervisor Jon Slate)
Aaron Thierry
BBSRC - Microsoft Research (co-supervisors Owen Petchey & Phil Warren)
Recent Publications (2001 to date)
Beckerman, A.P., Sharpe, S., Hatchwell, B.J. 2009. Predation and the evolution of cooperative breeding. submitted American Naturalist
Rogers, G., Dennis, S.R., Beckerman, A.P. Contrasting developmental changes in D. pulex facing fish and midge larvae predation risk. submitted Ecology
Hammill, E. and Beckerman, A.P. 2009. Exposure to defended prey and fish kairomones affects Chaoborus life history strategy and morphology. submitted Oecologia
Hammill, E., Kratina, P. Beckerman, A.P and Anholt, B. 2009. Precisely timed interactions between behavioural and morphological defences. submitted Ecology Letters
Barton, B.T, Beckerman, A.P., Schmitz, O.J. 2009. Climate affects direct and indirect interactions in an old-field food web. In review Ecology
Hammill, E., Rogers, A. Beckerman, A.P. 2008. The evolutionary cology of inducible defences: a case study with Daphnia pulex. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 21 (3) , 705–715 (doi:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2008.01520.x)
Petchey, O.L., A.P. Beckerman, P.H. Warren 2008. Size, foraging and food web structure. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 105: 4191– 4196 doI 10.1073 pnas.0710672105.
Beckerman, A.P., K. Wieski, & D.R. Baird. 2007. Direct, developmental changes in the face of predation risk – the decoupling of feeding and life history. Oecologia 152:335-343 DOI 10.1007/s00442-006-0642-6.
Beckerman, A.P., Boots, M.J., Gaston, K.J. 2007. Urban bird declines and the fear of cats. Animal Conservation 10:320-325 (doi:10.1111/j.1469-1795.2007.00115.x)
Beckerman, A.P., Petchey, O.L. & Warren, P.H. 2006. Foraging biology predicts food web complexity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103: 13745-13749
Beckerman, A.P., T.G. Benton, C.T. Lapsley, & N. Koesters. 2005. How effective are maternal effects at having effects? Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series B. 273:485-493. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2005.3315
Schmitz, O.J., P. Hamback, and A.P. Beckerman 2000. Trophic cascades in terrestrial systems: A review of the effect of top predator removals on plants. American Naturalist 155: 141-153
Benton, T.G., Plaistow, S.J., Beckerman, A.P., Lapsley, C.T., Littlejohns, S. 2005. Changes in maternal investment in eggs can affect population dynamics. Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series B 272:1351-1356
Beckerman, A.P., Benton, T.G., C.T. Lapsley, and N. Koesters. 2003. Talkin´ Bout My Generation- Environmental Variability and Cohort Effects. American Naturalist 162:754-767.
Beckerman, A.P., Benton, T.G., Ranta, E., Kaitala, V., Lundberg, P. 2002. History making life-history: population dynamics and the consequences of delayed life-history effects Trends in Ecology and Evolution 17:263-269.
Ranta, E., V. Kaitala, T.G. Benton, and A.P. Beckerman 2001. Maternal effects and stability of population dynamics. Journal of Animal Ecology 70:590-599.
Benton, T.G. C.T. Lapsley, A.P. Beckerman, A.P. 2001. Population synchrony and environmental variation: an experimental demonstration. Ecology Letters 4:236-243.
Beckerman, A.P. 2000. Counterintuitive outcomes of interspecific competition between two grasshoppers along a resource gradient. Ecology 81: 948-957.
Beckerman, A.P., M. Uriarte and O.J. Schmitz. 1997. Experimental evidence for a behaviorally mediated trophic cascade in a terrestrial food chain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 94:10735-10738.
Schmitz, O.J., A.P. Beckerman and K. O'Brien. 1997. Behaviorally-mediated trophic cascades: effects of predation risk on food web interactions. Ecology 78:1388-1399.
Teaching
APS123 Population and Community Ecology
APS208 Animal Population and Community Ecology