Mark Adrian Elgar is an Australian

behavioural Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions of individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or organisms as well as the inanimate ph ...

and evolutionary ecologist, based at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

since 1991. He established his reputation with research on bird foraging strategies and

sexual cannibalism Sexual cannibalism is when an animal, usually the female, Cannibalism, cannibalizes its mate prior to, during, or after Copulation (zoology), copulation. This trait is observed in many arachnid orders, several insect and crustacean clades, Gastro ...

spiders Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species di ...

,Mark Elgar (1992
''Cannibalism: Ecology and Evolution Among Diverse Taxa''

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. .Mark A. Elgar, David R. Nash (1988
"Sexual cannibalism in the garden spider ''Araneus diadematus''"
''

Animal Behaviour Ethology is a branch of zoology that studies the behavior, behaviour of non-human animals. It has its scientific roots in the work of Charles Darwin and of American and German ornithology, ornithologists of the late 19th and early 20th cen ...

'', 36(5): 1511-1517 (September–October 1988). , .Mark A. Elgar, Jutta M. Schneider, Marie E. Herberstein (2000
"Female control of paternity in the sexually cannibalistic spider ''Argiope keyserlingi''
''

Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B In academia and librarianship, conference proceedings are a collection of academic papers published in the context of an academic conference or workshop. Conference proceedings typically contain the contributions made by researchers at the confere ...

'', 267: 2439-2443 (7 December 2000). . but now explores a variety of

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

ary questions around

sexual selection Sexual selection is a mechanism of evolution in which members of one sex mate choice, choose mates of the other sex to mating, mate with (intersexual selection), and compete with members of the same sex for access to members of the opposite sex ...

social behaviour Social behavior is behavior among two or more organisms within the same species, it encompasses any behavior in which one member affects another. Social behavior can be seen as similar to an exchange of goods, with the expectation that when you ...

and chemical communication.

Research career

In January 1980, Elgar completed his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

with Honours at

Griffith University Griffith University is a public university, public research university in South East Queensland on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of Australia. The university was founded in 1971, but was not officially opened until 1975. Griffith ...

.Mark Elgar profile
''

The Conversation ''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American neo-noir mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It stars Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert who faces a moral dilemma when his recordings reveal a potential ...

''. Retrieved 10 April 2016. From 1982 to 1985, he undertook his PhD research at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

under Nick Davies, studying the flocking and foraging strategies of house sparrows. According to Elgar, Davies taught him "the value of asking questions that can be resolved by simple experiments, and of treating colleagues respectfully." Elgar was also influenced by evolutionary biologist

John Maynard Smith John Maynard Smith (6 January 1920 – 19 April 2004) was a British mathematical and theoretical biology, theoretical and mathematical evolutionary biologist and geneticist. Originally an aeronautical engineer during the Second World War, he ...

, who attended one of Elgar's seminars at

Sussex University The University of Sussex is a public research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the South Downs National Park, and provide ...

and was enthusiastic about his research. Following the completion of his PhD, Elgar served as a Science and Engineering Research Fellow at

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

(1985-1987). He then returned to Australia, working as a University Research Fellow (1987-1989) and

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

Research Fellow (1989-1990) at

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

. He joined the

in 1991,Mark Elga
investigator Official website: Principal Investigator
Retrieved 10 April 2016.Mark A. Elgar profile
''Loop''. Retrieved 10 April 2016. where he became a professor in 2005. There he has served in several roles including Elected Member, University Council (2004-2007); Associate Dean (Graduate Programs), Faculty of Science (2006-2009); and Domain Leader (Ecology & Evolution), School of BioSciences (2018-2019). From 2013 to 2016 he was Member, College of Experts,

Australian Research Council The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...

. Elgar has served as President of the Australasian Evolution Society and Councillor for the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. He was

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of the journal ''

Behavioral Ecology Behavioral ecology, also spelled behavioural ecology, is the study of the evolutionary basis for ethology, animal behavior due to ecology, ecological pressures. Behavioral ecology emerged from ethology after Niko Tinbergen outlined Tinbergen's f ...

'' (2006-2011),"Editor-in-Chiefs' Reports, ''Behavioral Ecology''"
International Society for Behavioral Ecology newsletter, 18(2), November 2006. Retrieved 10 April 2016. and has also been editor-of-chief for the ''

Australian Journal of Zoology The ''Australian Journal of Zoology'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by CSIRO Publishing. It covers research on all aspects of zoology, with a special focus on the fauna of Australia. The editor-in-chief is Paul Coope ...

''. As of 2016, he is Field Chief Editor for ''

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution Frontiers Media SA is a publisher of peer-reviewed, open access, scientific journals currently active in science, technology, and medicine. It was founded in 2007 by Kamila and Henry Markram. Frontiers is based in Lausanne, Switzerland, with of ...

''. In 2021 Elgar opined that an increase in wasp numbers in residential areas may be due to bushfires destroying their nests in natural environments.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elgar, Mark Living people Australian biologists Australian zoologists Evolutionary biologists Academic staff of the University of Melbourne Alumni of the University of Cambridge Griffith University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Australian people 21st-century Australian people