Professor Terry Burke
School of Biosciences
Chair in Molecular Ecology
- Profile
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- BSc (1979) University of Wales, Bangor; PhD (1984) University of Nottingham
- NERC Postdoctoral Research Fellow and "Special" Research Fellow, University of Leicester (1984-88)
- SERC Advanced Research Fellow, University of Leicester (1988-90)
- Royal Society University Research Fellow, University of Leicester (1990-93)
- Lecturer and Reader in Zoology, University of Leicester (1993-97)
- Professor of Molecular Ecology, University of Leicester (1997-98)
- Professor of Molecular Ecology, University of Sheffield (1998-present)
- Head, NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility–Sheffield (1998-present)
- (formerly known as Sheffield Molecular Genetics Facility)
- Director, NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility [UK-wide] (2008–present)
- Leverhulme Trust Research Fellow (2015–17)
- Research interests
-
My research falls into three themes:
- Mating systems and sexual selection
- Ecological and evolutionary genetics
- Molecular and quantitative genetics in birds
- Publications
-
Journal articles
- What is the best fitness measure in wild populations? A case study on the power of short-term fitness proxies to predict reproductive value. PLoS ONE, 17(4).
- Immunogenetic variation shapes the gut microbiome in a natural vertebrate population. Microbiome, 10(1).
- Telomere heritability and parental age at conception effects in a wild avian population. Molecular Ecology, 31(23), 6324-6338.
- Gut microbiome composition, not alpha diversity, is associated with survival in a natural vertebrate population. Animal Microbiome, 3(1).
- Monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in municipal wastewater to evaluate the success of lockdown measures for controlling COVID-19 in the UK. Water Research, 200.
- Genetics and evidence for balancing selection of a sex-linked colour polymorphism in a songbird. Nature Communications, 10. View this article in WRRO
- Breeders that receive help age more slowly in a cooperatively breeding bird. Nature Communications, 10. View this article in WRRO
- Meta-analysis challenges a textbook example of status signalling and demonstrates publication bias.. eLife, 7. View this article in WRRO
- Demographic causes of adult sex ratio variation and their consequences for parental cooperation. Nature Communications, 9(1).
- A sex-linked supergene controls sperm morphology and swimming speed in a songbird. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 1, 1168-1176. View this article in WRRO
- Predictably Philandering Females Prompt Poor Paternal Provisioning. The American Naturalist, 188(2), 000-000. View this article in WRRO
- Red Carotenoid Coloration in the Zebra Finch Is Controlled by a Cytochrome P450 Gene Cluster. Current Biology, 26(11), 1435-1440. View this article in WRRO
- Linkage mapping of a polymorphic plumage locus associated with intermorph incompatibility in the Gouldian finch (Erythrura gouldiae). Heredity, 116(4), 409-416. View this article in WRRO
- A supergene determines highly divergent male reproductive morphs in the ruff. Nature Genetics, 48(1), 79-83.
- Are extra-pair males different from cuckolded males? A case study and a meta-analytic examination. Molecular Ecology, 24(7), 1558-1571.
- Reduced fitness in progeny from old parents in a natural population. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) ISSN 1091-6490, 112(13), 4021-4025. View this article in WRRO
- Museum DNA reveals the demographic history of the endangered Seychelles warbler. Evolutionary Applications, 7(9), 1134-1143.
- Costly infidelity: low lifetime fitness of extra-pair offspring in a passerine bird.. Evolution, 68(10), 2873-2884.
- Cooperative investment in public goods is kin directed in communal nests of social birds. Ecology Letters, 17(9), 1141-1148.
- Badger responses to small-scale culling may compromise targeted control of bovine tuberculosis.. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 111(25), 9193-9198.
- The impact of translocations on neutral and functional genetic diversity within and among populations of the Seychelles warbler.. Mol Ecol, 23(9), 2165-2177.
- The impact of reproductive investment and early-life environmental conditions on senescence: Support for the disposable soma hypothesis. Journal of Evolutionary Biology.
- A systematic review of phenotypic responses to between-population outbreeding.. Environmental Evidence, 2, 13.
- Age-specific breeding success in a wild mammalian population: selection, constraint, restraint and senescence. Molecular Ecology, 20(15), 3261-3274.
- Evolutionary analysis and expression profiling of zebra finch immune genes.. Genome Biology & Evolution, 2, 781-790.
- Genetic variation in plant morphology contributes to the species-level structure of grassland communities.. Ecology, 91(5), 1344-1354.
- Using isolation-by-distance-based approaches to assess the barrier effect of linear landscape elements on badger (Meles meles) dispersal.. Molecular Ecology, 19(8), 1663-1674.
- Using spatial Bayesian methods to determine the genetic structure of a continuously distributed population: clusters or isolation by distance?. Journal of Applied Ecology, 46(2), 493-505.
- Reproductive skew and relatedness in social groups of European badgers, Meles meles. Molecular Ecology, 17(7), 1815-1827.
- What is the best fitness measure in wild populations? A case study on the power of short-term fitness proxies to predict reproductive value. PLoS ONE, 17(4).
- Professional activities and memberships
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- 2017 Chair, Molecular Ecology Prize Committee
- 2017 Member, Institut Universitaire de France, professorial fellowships jury
- 2016– Member, Royal Society Newton International Fellowship committee (Biological Sciences)
- 2016– Member, University of Liverpool Centre for Genomic Research Science Advisory Board
- 2015 Chair, NERC CDT in Smart and Autonomous Observation Systems for the Environmental Sciences – Assessment Panel
- 2013 Member, NERC PRC Panels D&E Appointments Panel
- 2012–15 Member, NERC Training Advisory Group
- 2012 Member, STFC Global Challenges Concepts and Networks Panel
- 2012 Member, Research Councils UK Capital Investment Strategic Framework External Advisory Group
- 2010–13 Member, NERC Science and Innovation Strategy Board
- 2010–13 Member, NERC Evaluation Advisory Group
- Editorial Board International Journal of Evolutionary Biology 2009–
- Editorial Board International Journal of Zoology 2008–
- Editorial Review Board Conservation Genetics 2000–
- Editorial Review Board Journal of Animal Ecology 2000–2003
- Joint Founding Editor Molecular Ecology, 1992–95; Chief Editor 1996–99
- Editorial Board Heredity 1991–1996
- Head of Service, NERC Sheffield Molecular Genetics Facility, 1999-present
- NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Programme Development Group on Biodiversity, 1999-present
- NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Programme Review Group on Monitoring, Data, Assessment and Valuation, 1996-99
- NERC Terrestrial Sciences Programme Review Committee, 1997-98
- NERC Terrestrial Sciences Research Grants and Training Awards Committee, 1995-97
- NERC Advisory Board on the Aberdeen Molecular Genetics in Ecology Initiative, 1995-99
Recent Invited Lectures include:
- 2017 Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College.
- 2016 Edward Grey Institute, U Oxford.
- 2015 GeLIFES, U Groningen.
- 2013 Celebration of Alec Jeffreys’ Career, U Leicester.
- Department of Biology, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver. (2012) 175th Anniversary Symposium, Institute of Zoology, University of Greifswald, Germany. (2011)
- 15th Annual Convention of ADNAT (Association for Promotion of DNA Fingerprinting and Other Technologies), Hyderabad, India. (2011)
- Innovation in modelling insect-vector population and disease dynamics, Research and Policy for Infectious Disease Dynamics (RAPIDD) Workshop, Oxford. (2010)
- Speciation workshop, Losehill Hall. (2010)
- Workshop on Genome Mapping in Natural Bird Populations, Sigtuna, Sweden. (2006)
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology, University of Uppsala, Sweden. (2004)
- Symposium on Organisms Interacting with their Environment, University of Bristol. (Plenary lecture) (2004)
- Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour, University of Sussex. (2004)
- Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Annual Rebellion, University of E Anglia. (2004)
- Symposium on Molecular Ecology – the Genomic Basis of Adaptations, University of Lund, Sweden. (Plenary lecture) (2003)
- Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland. (2003)
- 4th International Symposium on Physiology and Behaviour of Wild and Zoo Animals, Berlin, Germany. (2002)
- Wilhelmine Key Lecture, American Genetics Association, University of Yale, USA (2000);
- Department of Animal Genetics and Conservation, University of Porto, Portugal (1999);
- Institute of Ecology, Paris (1998);
- Conference on Evolution and Behaviour of Birds, University of Queensland,Australia (1996)
- Co-organiser, Population Genetics Group Conference, University of Sheffield, January 2015.
- Organiser, Population Genetics Group Conference, University of Sheffield, January 2001.