Professor Andrew Beckerman

School of Biosciences

Professor in Evolutionary Ecology, Director of Student Recruitment (Biosciences)

a.beckerman@sheffield.ac.uk
+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

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: 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

Journal articles

Evans R, Beckerman AP, Wright RCT, McQueen-Mason S, Bruce NC & Brockhurst MA (2020) Eco-evolutionary dynamics set the tempo and trajectory of metabolic evolution in multispecies communities. Current Biology. View this article in WRRO
Clegg T, Ali M & Beckerman AP (2019) The impact of intraspecific variation on food web structure. Ecology, 99(12), 2712-2720. View this article in WRRO
Reger J, Lind MI, Robinson MR & Beckerman AP (2017) Predation drives local adaptation of phenotypic plasticity. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 2(1), 100-107. View this article in WRRO
Carter MJ, Lind MI, Dennis SR, Hentley WT & Beckerman AP (2017) Evolution of a predator-induced, nonlinear reaction norm. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences, 284(1861). View this article in WRRO
Lind MI, Yarlett K, Reger J, Carter MJ & Beckerman AP (2015) 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
Dennis SR, LeBlanc GA & Beckerman AP (2014) Endocrine regulation of predator-induced phenotypic plasticity. Oecologia, 176(3), 625-635. View this article in WRRO
Beckerman AP, de Roij J, Dennis SR & Little TJ (2013) 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
Robinson MR & Beckerman AP (2013) Quantifying multivariate plasticity: genetic variation in resource acquisition drives plasticity in resource allocation to components of life history.. Ecol Lett, 16(3), 281-290.
Thierry A, Petchey OL, Beckerman AP, Warren PH & Williams RJ (2011) The consequences of size dependent foraging for food web topology. OIKOS, 120(4), 493-502.
Dennis SR, Carter MJ, Hentley WT & Beckerman AP (2011) Phenotypic convergence along a gradient of predation risk.. Proc Biol Sci, 278(1712), 1687-1696.
Stapley J, Reger J, Feulner PGD, Smadja C, Galindo J, Ekblom R, Bennison C, Ball AD, Beckerman AP & Slate J (2010) Adaptation genomics: the next generation.. Trends Ecol Evol, 25(12), 705-712.
Hammill E, Rogers A & Beckerman AP (2008) Costs, benefits and the evolution of inducible defences: a case study with Daphnia pulex.. J Evol Biol, 21(3), 705-715.
Petchey OL, Beckerman AP, Riede JO & Warren PH (2008) Size, foraging, and food web structure.. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 105(11), 4191-4196. View this article in WRRO
Beckerman AP, Petchey OL & Warren PH (2006) Foraging biology predicts food web complexity.. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 103(37), 13745-13749.
Graham K, Beckerman AP & Thirgood S (2005) Human-predator-prey conflicts: ecological correlates, prey losses and patterns of management. BIOL CONSERV, 122(2), 159-171.
Schmitz OJ, Hambäck PA & Beckerman AP (2000) Trophic Cascades in Terrestrial Systems: A Review of the Effects of Carnivore Removals on Plants.. Am Nat, 155(2), 141-153.

Research group

PhD Students

Hana Mayall (2021 - 2025) - ACCE Sheffield/NERC/CASE - Unilever - Ecological risk assessment and food webs: multiple stressor effects on biodiversity and ecosystem function (with Dylan Childs, Lorraine Maltby and Claudia Rivetti, Andrea Gredelj from Unilever)
Tom Malpas (2021 - 2025) - ACCE Sheffield/NERC/CASE - Unilever - Ecological risk assessment and food webs: identifying ecosystem tipping points under multi-stress (co-supervisor with with Dylan Childs (lead), Lorraine Maltby and Claudia Rivetti, Andrea Gredelj from Unilever)
Zuzanna Zagrodzka (2020 - 2024) - Sheffield/JISC PhD - Evaluating the perceptions of bias, replication and transparency in evolution and climate change science
Penelope Blyth (2020 - 2024) - Sheffield PhD - The impact of variation in body size scaling on complex food web models
Erika Hansson (2016-2022) - Sheffield PhD - Trade-offs between resistance and defence (with Dylan Childs)
Tom Lewis (2018 - 2022) - ACCE Sheffield/NERC/CASE - Chester Zoo (co-supervisor with Dylan Childs and Ben Hatchwell)
Nathan White (2017 - 2021) - ACCE Sheffield/NERC - The Impact of Multiple Selection Pressures on Evolution (co-supervisor with Roger Butlin)

PDRA

Dr Thomas Johnson - The coherence of ecological stability among ecosystems and across ecological scales
Dr Eva Delmas - Towards a general theory of ecological impacts of multiple, simultaneous stressors
Dr Chris Griffiths - The coherence of ecological stability among ecosystems and across ecological scales

MRes and MBiolSci Students

Laura Klages - Invasive Species Impacts on Food Webs
Lauren Mayo - Using Audio Data to Determine Parrot Species Distributions

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

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

Professor Andrew Beckerman

Journal articles

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