Nicholas Barry Davies (born 1952) is a British field naturalist and

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

, and

Emeritus Professor ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

of Behavioural Ecology at the

University of Cambridge 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 ...

, where he is also a Emeritus Fellow of Pembroke College.

Research

His books with

John Krebs John Richard Krebs, Baron Krebs, FRS (born 11 April 1945) is an English zoologist researching in the field of behavioural ecology of birds. He was the principal of Jesus College, Oxford, from 2005 until 2015. Lord Krebs was President of the ...

helped to define the field of

behavioural ecology Behavioral ecology, also spelled behavioural ecology, is the study of the evolutionary basis for animal behavior due to ecological pressures. Behavioral ecology emerged from ethology after Niko Tinbergen outlined four questions to address when ...

, the study of how behaviour evolves in response to selection pressures from ecology and the social environment. His study of a small brown bird, the

dunnock The dunnock (''Prunella modularis'') is a small passerine, or perching bird, found throughout temperate Europe and into Asian Russia. Dunnocks have also been successfully introduced into New Zealand. It is the most widespread member of the acce ...

, linked detailed behavioural observations of individuals to their reproductive success, using DNA profiles to measure paternity and maternity, and revealed how sexual conflicts gave rise to variable mating systems including: monogamy,

polygyny Polygyny () is a form of polygamy entailing the marriage of a man to several women. The term polygyny is from Neoclassical Greek πολυγυνία (); . Incidence Polygyny is more widespread in Africa than in any other continent. Some scholar ...

polyandry Polyandry (; ) is a form of polygamy in which a woman takes two or more husbands at the same time. Polyandry is contrasted with polygyny, involving one male and two or more females. If a marriage involves a plural number of "husbands and wives ...

and

polygynandry Polygynandry is a mating system in which both males and females have multiple mating partners during a breeding season. In sexually reproducing diploid animals, different mating strategies are employed by males and females, because the cost of gam ...

. His studies of cuckoos and their hosts have revealed an evolutionary arms race of

brood parasite Brood may refer to: Nature * Brood, a collective term for offspring * Brooding, the incubation of bird eggs by their parents * Bee brood, the young of a beehive * Individual broods of North American periodical cicadas: ** Brood X, the largest ...

adaptations and host counter-adaptations. Other studies include: territory economics in

pied wagtail The white wagtail (''Motacilla alba'') is a small passerine bird in the family Motacillidae, which also includes pipits and longclaws. The species breeds in the Palearctic zone in most of Europe and Asia and parts of North Africa; it also has ...

s; contest behaviour and mate searching in butterflies and toads; parent-offspring conflict and the transition to independence in young birds.

Awards and distinctions

*Scientific Medal of the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity and organization devoted to the worldwide animal conservation, conservation of animals and their habitat conservation, habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained London Zo ...

, 1987 *Fellow of the Royal Society, 1994 *University of Cambridge Teaching Prize, 1995 *William Bate Hardy Prize of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 1995 *Medal of the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour, 1996 *President of the International Society for Behavioural Ecology, 2000-2002 *British Trust for Ornithology / British Birds "Best Book of the Year Award" in 2000 (for ''Cuckoos, Cowbirds and Other'' ''Cheats'') and in 2015 (for ''Cuckoo - Cheating by Nature''). * *

Frink Medal The Frink Medal for British Zoologists is awarded by the Zoological Society of London "for significant and original contributions by a professional zoologist to the development of zoology." It consists of a bronze plaque (76 by 83 millimetres), dep ...

of the Zoological Society of London, 2001 * Elliott Coues Medal of the American Ornithologists' Union, 2005 * Hamilton Prize Lecture of the International Society for Behavioural Ecology, 2010 * Croonian Medal and Lecture of the Royal Society, 2015 *Godman Salvin Medal of the British Ornithologists' Union, 2022

Key Publications

* * * * * *

Media

In 2009, his research was featured as a BBC Natural World program "Cuckoo", produced by Mike Birkhead and narrated by David Attenborough. In 2011 he presented a BBC Radio 4 documentary entitled 'The Cuckoo'. In 2016 he was the subject of a BBC Radio documentary in the series The Life Scientific. In 2017 he was the guest of Michael Berkeley on BBC Radio 3 Private Passions. In 2017 he appeared in an episode of the BBC Radio 4 Natural Histories series entitled "Cuckoo".Natural Histories
BBC Radio 4 (broadcast August 8th, 2017)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Nicholas Barry 1952 births British zoologists Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of Pembroke College, Cambridge Living people British ornithologists British naturalists