Professor Andrew Beckerman
School of Biosciences
Professor in Evolutionary Ecology, Director of Student Recruitment (Biosciences)
a.beckerman@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 0026
+44 114 222 0026
E213, Alfred Denny Building
Full contact details
Professor Andrew Beckerman
School of Biosciences
E213
Alfred Denny Building
Western Bank
Sheffield
S10 2TN
School of Biosciences
E213
Alfred Denny Building
Western Bank
Sheffield
S10 2TN
- Profile
-
- Professor in Evolutionary Ecology, University of Sheffield (2019 - present)
- Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield (2005-2019)
- NERC Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield (2002-2005)
- NERC Postdoctoral Associate, University of Stirling (1999-2002)
- PhD Yale University (1999)
- MFS Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (1994)
- BSc Tufts University, Massachusetts (1990)
- Research interests
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We explore the structure, complexity and dynamics of food webs. We use optimal foraging theory to define the rules linking predators and prey. We predict the impacts of multiple simultaneous threats to ecosystems. We study the local adaptation of plasticity in real ponds and in daphnia and algae. We explore the genes that underpin plasticity and local adaptation. We work with predators, metals and algae biotechnology. We study the conservation and demography of parrots in Central America and the Caribbean. We link this to socioeconomics and trade-offs in conservation management. We study trade networks. We build models.
- Publications
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Books
- Insights from Data with R. Oxford University Press.
- Getting Started with R. Oxford University Press.
- Getting Started with R: An Introduction for Biologists. Oxford University Press.
- Getting Started with R: An Introduction for Biologists.
Journal articles
- Nest-site selection and reproductive success of a critically endangered parrot, the Great Green Macaw (Ara ambiguus), in an anthropogenic landscape. Ibis.
- Coordination of care is facilitated by delayed feeding and collective arrivals in the long-tailed tit. Animal Behaviour, 201, 23-44.
- Reproducibility in ecology and evolution: minimum standards for data and code. Ecology and Evolution, 13(5).
- The effects of tropical elevations and associated habitat changes on firefly (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) diversity in Malaysia. Diversity, 15(1).
- Copper mediates life history responses of Daphnia pulex to predation threat. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 10.
- The context dependency of multiple stressor effects on biodiversity – a commentary on Kefford et al 2022.. Global Change Biology.
- Mesostats—a multiplexed, low-cost, do-it-yourself continuous culturing system for experimental evolution of mesocosms. PLoS ONE, 17(7). View this article in WRRO
- Coordination of care by breeders and helpers in the cooperatively breeding long-tailed tit. Behavioral Ecology, 33(4), 844-858. View this article in WRRO
- Genetic variation in reproductive investment across an ephemerality gradient in Daphnia pulex. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 39(6).
- Experimental evolution of local adaptation under unidimensional and multidimensional selection. Current Biology.
- The evolution of the traplining pollinator role in hummingbirds: specialization is not an evolutionary dead end.. Proc Biol Sci, 289(1967), 20212484.
- Climate change research and action must look beyond 2100. Global Change Biology.
- Refocusing multiple stressor research around the targets and scales of ecological impacts.. Nat Ecol Evol.
- The microbiome mediates the interaction between predation and heavy metals. Science of The Total Environment, 775. View this article in WRRO
- The myriad of complex demographic responses of terrestrial mammals to climate change and gaps of knowledge: A global analysis.. J Anim Ecol.
- Correction to ‘Marine conservation: towards a multi-layered network approach’. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 376(1817), 20200452-20200452.
- Marine conservation: towards a multi-layered network approach. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 375(1814), 20190459-20190459.
- Eco-evolutionary dynamics set the tempo and trajectory of metabolic evolution in multispecies communities. Current Biology. View this article in WRRO
- Nature notes: a new category for natural history studies. Ecology and Evolution, 10(15), 7952-7952.
- Exploring context dependency in eco‐evolutionary patterns with the stick insect Timema cristinae. Ecology and Evolution. View this article in WRRO
- Metabolic insights into infochemicals induced colony formation and flocculation in scenedesmus subspicatus unraveled by quantitative proteomics. Frontiers in Microbiology, 11. View this article in WRRO
- New perspectives on the bioremediation of endocrine disrupting compounds from wastewater using algae-, bacteria- and fungi-based technologies. International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology.
- The impact of intraspecific variation on food web structure. Ecology, 99(12), 2712-2720. View this article in WRRO
- Structural equation modelling reveals that nutrients and physicochemistry act additively on the dynamics of a microcosm-based biotic community. Biology, 8(4). View this article in WRRO
- Metaproteomics of Freshwater Microbial Communities, 145-155.
- Predictability of the impact of multiple stressors on the keystone species Daphnia. Scientific Reports, 8. View this article in WRRO
- The Chronic Effects of Copper and Cadmium on Life History Traits Across Cladocera Species: A Meta-analysis. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. View this article in WRRO
- Competitive growth experiments with a high-lipid Chlamydomonas reinhardtii mutant strain and its wild-type to predict industrial and ecological risks. AMB Express, 7. View this article in WRRO
- Predation drives local adaptation of phenotypic plasticity. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 2(1), 100-107. View this article in WRRO
- Statistical EOF analysis of spatiotemporal glacier mass-balance variability: a case study of Mittivakkat Gletscher, SE Greenland. Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography. View this article in WRRO
- Evolution of a predator-induced, nonlinear reaction norm. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences, 284(1861). View this article in WRRO
- The Andes Cordillera. Part IV: spatio-temporal freshwater run-off distribution to adjacent seas (1979-2014). International Journal of Climatology, 37(7), 3175-3196. View this article in WRRO
- Daphnia magna transcriptome by RNA-Seq across 12 environmental stressors. Scientific Data, 4.
- Erratum to: The use of natural infochemicals for sustainable and efficient harvesting of the microalgae Scenedesmus spp. for biotechnology: insights from a meta-analysis. Biotechnology Letters.
- Academic practice in ecology and evolution: Soliciting a new category of manuscript. Ecology and Evolution, 7(14), 5030-5031. View this article in WRRO
- The use of natural infochemicals for sustainable and efficient harvesting of the microalgae Scenedesmus spp. for biotechnology: insights from a meta-analysis.. Biotechnol Lett. View this article in WRRO
- A metaproteomic analysis of the response of a freshwater microbial community under nutrient enrichment.. Frontiers in Microbiology, 7, 1172-1172. View this article in WRRO
- Antagonistic interactions between an invasive alien and a native coccinellid species may promote coexistence. Journal of Animal Ecology, 85(4), 1087-1097. View this article in WRRO
- Daphnia magna transcriptome by RNA-Seq across 12 environmental stressors. Scientific Data, 3. View this article in WRRO
- Ecology and evolution in an open world (or: why supplementary data are evil). Ecology and Evolution, 6(9), 2655-2656.
- Eco-evolutionary Biology: Feeding and Feedback Loops. Current Biology, 26(4), R161-R164.
- The alignment between phenotypic plasticity, the major axis of genetic variation and the response to selection. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 282(1816). View this article in WRRO
- Mass loss and imbalance of glaciers along the Andes Cordillera to the sub-Antarctic islands. Global and Planetary Change, 133, 109-119.
- The ecological forecast horizon, and examples of its uses and determinants. Ecology Letters, 18(7), 597-611. View this article in WRRO
- How maladaptation can structure biodiversity: eco-evolutionary island biogeography. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 30(3), 154-160.
- Endocrine regulation of predator-induced phenotypic plasticity. Oecologia, 176(3), 625-635. View this article in WRRO
- The relationship of leaf photosynthetic traits -VcmaxandJmax- to leaf nitrogen, leaf phosphorus, and specific leaf area: a meta-analysis and modeling study. Ecology and Evolution, 4(16), 3218-3235. View this article in WRRO
- Greenland precipitation trends in a long-term instrumental climate context (1890-2012): Evaluation of coastal and ice core records. International Journal of Climatology.
- Can invasions occur without change? A comparison of G-matrices and selection in the peach-potato aphid, Myzus persicae. Ecology and Evolution, 3(15), 5109-5118. View this article in WRRO
- A shared mechanism of defense against predators and parasites: Chitin regulation and its implications for life-history theory. Ecology and Evolution, 3(15), 5119-5126. View this article in WRRO
- Ecological and demographic correlates of helping behaviour in a cooperatively breeding bird.. J Anim Ecol, 82(2), 486-494.
- Quantifying multivariate plasticity: genetic variation in resource acquisition drives plasticity in resource allocation to components of life history.. Ecol Lett, 16(3), 281-290.
- Sexual size dimorphism and the integration of phenotypically plastic traits. Ecological Entomology.
- Latitude or biogeographic breaks? Determinants of phenotypic (co)variation in fitness-related traits in Betaeus truncatus along the Chilean coast. Marine Biology, 1-8.
- Getting Started with R: An Introduction for Biologists. Animal Behaviour, 84(6), 1597-1600.
- From adaptation to molecular evolution.. Heredity (Edinb), 108(4), 457-459.
- The consequences of size dependent foraging for food web topology. OIKOS, 120(4), 493-502.
- Fit, efficiency, and biology: some thoughts on judging food web models.. J Theor Biol, 279(1), 169-171. View this article in WRRO
- Adaptive foraging and the rewiring of size-structured food webs following extinctions. Basic and Applied Ecology, 12(7), 562-570.
- Predation and kin-structured populations: An empirical perspective on the evolution of cooperation. Behavioral Ecology, 22(6), 1294-1303.
- Phenotypic convergence along a gradient of predation risk.. Proc Biol Sci, 278(1712), 1687-1696.
- Adaptation genomics: the next generation.. Trends Ecol Evol, 25(12), 705-712.
- Predator-driven trait diversification in a dragonfly genus: covariation in behavioral and morphological antipredator defense.. Evolution, 64(11), 3327-3325.
- The reaction norm of size and age at maturity under multiple predator risk.. J Anim Ecol, 79(5), 1069-1076.
- Consequences of 'load-lightening' for future indirect fitness gains by helpers in a cooperatively breeding bird.. J Anim Ecol, 79(3), 529-537.
- Reciprocity in predator-prey interactions: exposure to defended prey and predation risk affects intermediate predator life history and morphology.. Oecologia, 163(1), 193-202.
- Little evidence for limiting similarity in a long-term study of a roadside plant community. J ECOL, 98(2), 480-487.
- Precise time interactions between behavioural and morphological defences. OIKOS, 119(3), 494-499.
- Adaptive foragers and community ecology: linking individuals to communities and ecosystems. FUNCT ECOL, 24(1), 1-6.
- Climate warming strengthens indirect interactions in an old-field food web.. Ecology, 90(9), 2346-2351.
- Infectious food webs.. J Anim Ecol, 78(3), 493-496.
- Combined use of pheromone trails and visual landmarks by the common garden ant Lasius niger. BEHAV ECOL SOCIOBIOL, 63(2), 261-267.
- Costs, benefits and the evolution of inducible defences: a case study with Daphnia pulex.. J Evol Biol, 21(3), 705-715.
- Size, foraging, and food web structure.. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 105(11), 4191-4196. View this article in WRRO
- Urban bird declines and the fear of cats. ANIM CONSERV, 10(3), 320-325.
- Behavioural versus physiological mediation of life history under predation risk.. Oecologia, 152(2), 335-343.
- Intraspecific competition: the role of lags between attack and death in host-parasitoid interactions.. Ecology, 88(5), 1225-1231.
- Foraging biology predicts food web complexity.. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 103(37), 13745-13749.
- How effective are maternal effects at having effects?. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 273(1585), 485-493. View this article in WRRO
- Oil pollution and climate have wide-scale impacts on seabird demographics. Ecology Letters, 8(11), 1157-1164.
- The shape of things eaten: the functional response of herbivores foraging adaptively. OIKOS, 110(3), 591-601.
- Changes in maternal investment in eggs can affect population dynamics.. Proc Biol Sci, 272(1570), 1351-1356.
- The combined effects of energy and disturbance on species richness in protist microcosms. ECOL LETT, 8(7), 730-738.
- Experimental removal and elevation of sexual selection: does sexual selection generate manipulative males and resistant females?. Am Nat, 165 Suppl 5, S72-S87.
- Human-predator-prey conflicts: ecological correlates, prey losses and patterns of management. BIOL CONSERV, 122(2), 159-171.
- Population dynamics in a noisy world: Lessons from a mite experimental system. ADV ECOL RES, 37, 143-181.
- Age and size at maturity: sex, environmental variability and developmental thresholds.. Proc Biol Sci, 271(1542), 919-924. View this article in WRRO
- Talkin' 'bout my generation: environmental variability and cohort effects.. Am Nat, 162(6), 754-767.
- The distribution of Melanoplus femurrubrum: fear and freezing in Connecticut. OIKOS, 99(1), 131-140.
- Population dynamic consequences of delayed life-history effects. TRENDS ECOL EVOL, 17(6), 263-269.
- The population response to environmental noise: population size, variance and correlation in an experimental system. J ANIM ECOL, 71(2), 320-332.
- Maternal effects and the stability of population dynamics in noisy environments. J ANIM ECOL, 70(4), 590-599.
- Population synchrony and environmental variation: an experimental demonstration. ECOL LETT, 4(3), 236-243.
- Counterintuitive outcomes of interspecific competition between two grasshopper species along a resource gradient. ECOLOGY, 81(4), 948-957.
- Trophic Cascades in Terrestrial Systems: A Review of the Effects of Carnivore Removals on Plants.. Am Nat, 155(2), 141-153.
- Reconciling variability and optimal behaviour using multiple criteria in optimization models. EVOL ECOL, 12(1), 73-94.
- Functional responses of adaptive consumers and community stability with emphasis on the dynamics of plant-herbivore systems. EVOL ECOL, 11(6), 773-784.
- Experimental evidence for a behavior-mediated trophic cascade in a terrestrial food chain.. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 94(20), 10735-10738.
- Behaviorally mediated trophic cascades: Effects of predation risk on food web interactions. ECOLOGY, 78(5), 1388-1399.
- Adaptive phenotypic plasticity is under stabilizing selection in Daphnia. Nature Ecology & Evolution.
- Niche and neutral processes leave distinct structural imprints on indirect interactions in mutualistic networks. Functional Ecology.
- Bridging gaps in demographic analysis with phylogenetic imputation. Conservation Biology.
- What can modern statistical tools do for limnology?. Journal of Limnology, 73(s1).
- Designing synthetic bacterial consortia for landfill leachate treatment based on community matrices and regression tree analysis.
- Evaluating additive versus interactive effects of copper and cadmium on daphnia pulex life history. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. View this article in WRRO
- Global analysis reveals complex demographic responses of mammals to climate change.
- Reconstruction of the Greenland Ice Sheet surface
mass balance and the spatiotemporal distribution of
freshwater runoff from Greenland to surrounding seas. View this article in WRRO
- Stabilizing selection shapes variation in phenotypic plasticity.
Chapters
- Dealing with data 1, Insights from Data with R (pp. 141-168).
- Dealing with data 2, Insights from Data with R (pp. 169-194).
- Getting acquainted, Insights from Data with R (pp. 19-54).
- Getting to grips with ggplot2, Insights from Data with R (pp. 195-210).
- Introduction, Insights from Data with R (pp. 1-18).
- Looking back and looking forward, Insights from Data with R (pp. 271-282).
- Making deeper insights part 1, Insights from Data with R (pp. 211-246).
- Making deeper insights part 2, Insights from Data with R (pp. 247-270).
- Workflow Demonstration part 1, Insights from Data with R (pp. 55-96).
- Workflow Demonstration part 2, Insights from Data with R (pp. 97-140).
- Preface (pp. v-xx). Oxford University PressOxford
- Advancing Your Statistics in R, Getting Started with R (pp. 131-166). Oxford University Press
- Getting Started with Generalized Linear Models, Getting Started with R (pp. 167-202). Oxford University Press
- Pimping Your Plots: Scales and Themes in ggplot2, Getting Started with R (pp. 203-218). Oxford University Press
- Visualizing Your Data, Getting Started with R (pp. 79-92). Oxford University Press
- Introducing Statistics in R, Getting Started with R (pp. 93-130). Oxford University Press
- Data Management, Manipulation, and Exploration with dplyr, Getting Started with R (pp. 57-78). Oxford University Press
- Closing Remarks: Final Comments and Encouragement, Getting Started with R (pp. 219-222). Oxford University Press
- Getting Your Data into R, Getting Started with R (pp. 35-56). Oxford University Press
- Getting and Getting Acquainted with R, GETTING STARTED WITH R: AN INTRODUCTION FOR BIOLOGISTS, 2ND EDITION (pp. 1-34).
- Getting Started with R An Introduction for Biologists Second Edition Preface, GETTING STARTED WITH R: AN INTRODUCTION FOR BIOLOGISTS, 2ND EDITION (pp. IX-XVIII).
- Why R?, Getting Started with R (pp. 1-4). Oxford University Press
- Final Comments and Encouragement, Getting Started with R (pp. 105-108). Oxford University Press
- Final Comments and Encouragement, GETTING STARTED WITH R: AN INTRODUCTION FOR BIOLOGISTS (pp. 105-107).
- Doing your Statistics in R Getting Started, GETTING STARTED WITH R: AN INTRODUCTION FOR BIOLOGISTS (pp. 65-104).
- Import, Explore, Graph III Graphs, GETTING STARTED WITH R: AN INTRODUCTION FOR BIOLOGISTS (pp. 39-64).
- Import, Explore, Graph II Importing and Exploring, GETTING STARTED WITH R: AN INTRODUCTION FOR BIOLOGISTS (pp. 23-37).
- Import, Explore, Graph I Getting Started, GETTING STARTED WITH R: AN INTRODUCTION FOR BIOLOGISTS (pp. 5-22).
- Food Webs John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Conference proceedings papers
- METHODOLOGICAL ADVANCES IN INFERRING ANCIENT FOOD WEBS. GSA 2020 Connects Online
- REFUGIA OF FUTURES PAST: USING THE DEEP PAST TO SCOPE HUMAN-ENVIRONMENTAL FUTURES AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR ADAPTATION. GSA Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, USA - 2019
- Herbivory and plant resource competition: a review of two interacting interactions. OIKOS, Vol. 101(1) (pp 26-37)
Preprints
- Predator-induced shape plasticity in D. pulex, Authorea, Inc..
- Nest site selection and productivity of a critically endangered parrot, the great green macaw (Ara ambiguus), in an anthropogenic landscape, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- Inadequate sampling of the soundscape leads to overoptimistic estimates of recogniser performance: a case study of two sympatric macaw species, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- Using passive acoustic monitoring to estimate the abundance of a critically endangered parrot, the great green macaw (Ara ambiguus), Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- Accelerating the Open Research agenda to solve global challenges, Center for Open Science.
- Overconfidence undermines global wildlife abundance trends, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- Mesostats – A multiplexed, low-cost, do-it-yourself continuous culturing system for experimental evolution of mesocosms, bioRxiv.
- Innovation and elaboration on the avian tree of life, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- Extinction cascades, community collapse, and recovery across a Mesozoic hyperthermal event, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- Climate change research and action must look beyond 2100, California Digital Library (CDL).
- Polygenic variation in sexual investment across an ephemerality gradient in Daphnia pulex, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- Experimental Evolution of Local Adaptation Under Unidimensional and Multidimensional Selection.
- Niche and neutral processes leave distinct structural imprints on indirect interactions in mutualistic networks, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- The Ecological Forecast Horizon, and examples of its uses and determinants, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- Insights from Data with R. Oxford University Press.
- Research group
- Teaching activities
-
At level 1, I coordinate and teach on APS123 (Population and Community Ecology 1), based on lectures, an all-day field trip and a data presentation workshop.
At Level 2, I coordinate and teach on APS273 (Population and Community Ecology 2), a course combining lectures and a variety of workshops focused on modelling populations and conservation applications.
I also coordinate and teach APS405; APS6606; APS 6607 (Advanced Biological Analysis), a week-long intensive training module for 4th year MBiolSci students, MRes students and fist year PhD students.
I supervised level 4 MBiolSci students with project focused on food webs, phenotypic plasticity, biotechnology and conservation modelling.
- Professional activities and memberships
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- Board of Directors, DRYAD
- Editor-in-Chief, Ecology and Evolution (Wiley - BES - SSE- ESEB; 2014 - present)
- External Examiner, Periodic Review, Life Sciences, University of Liverpool (2019)
- External Examiner, Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, Imperial College London (2017-2019)
- Director of Student Recruitment, School of Biosciences (2018 - present)
- R4All - Training and Statistics in R