Andrew MacColl

Lecturer in Evolutionary Ecology, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences

Personal Details
Research
Publications

Contact

work Room B111 Biology
University Park
Nottingham
NG7 2RD
UK
work 0115 9513410
andrew.maccoll@nottingham.ac.uk
http://ecology.nottingham.ac.uk/

Biography

B.Sc. Ecological Science, University of Edinburgh, 1990. Ph.D. University of Aberdeen, 1998. Research assistant, University of Cambridge 1990 -1994. Postdoctoral research assistant, University of Edinburgh, 1999. Postdoctoral research assistant, University of Sheffield, 2000 - 2003. Royal Society Travelling Fellow, University of British Columbia, Canada, 2004. NERC Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer, University of Nottingham, 2005 - present.

Research Summary

Selected Publications

RUCKSTUHL, K.E., MANICA, A., MACCOLL, A.D.C., PILKINGTON, J.G. and CLUTTON-BROCK, T.H., 2006. (External) The effects of castration, sex ratio and population density on social segregation and habitat use in Soay sheep Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 59(5), 694-703
MACCOLL, A.D.C. and HATCHWELL, B.J., 2004. (External) Determinants of lifetime fitness in a cooperative breeder, the long-tailed tit Aegithalos caudatus Journal of Animal Ecology. 73(6), 1137-1148
HATCHWELL, B.J., RUSSELL, A.F., MACCOLL, A.D.C., ROSS, D.J., FOWLIE, M.K. and MCGOWAN, A., 2004. (External) Helpers increase long-term but not short-term productivity in cooperatively breeding long-tailed tits Behavioral Ecology. 15(1), 1-10
MACCOLL, A.D.C. and HATCHWELL, B.J., 2003. (External) Sharing of caring: nestling provisioning behaviour of long-tailed tit, Aegithalos caudatus, parents and helpers Animal Behaviour. 66(5), 955-964

View all publications

Current Research

The main theme of our research is to understand the role of ecology in driving natural selection and how this can produce the divergent evolution between populations that accumulates into speciation. Our approach is based on the integration of theory, observation and experiment. We are interested in the relative importance of different selective agents in directing evolution. In general little is known about whether evolution is driven mainly by the abiotic environment or by ecological interactions such as competition, predation and parasitism. Classical ecology has focussed on the part played by competition between organisms in determining individual success (and hence evolution). Other ecological interactions have received less attention. Parasitism in particular has been poorly studied as a driver of evolution in host populations. Three-spined sticklebacks ( Gasterosteus aculeatus ) are a good model species because they are common, widely distributed and easy to keep in the lab. A great deal is known about their natural history and genetics (their genome has been sequenced). They are particularly interesting because they exhibit a great deal of phenotypic and genetic diversity between populations. The photographs below show sticklebacks from different populations on the island of North Uist, Outer Hebrides. These are all lab raised fish of a similar age (7 months). The fish in the middle (a male in breeding condition) is from an anadromous (sea-going) population. Others are from different freshwater populations that have been established on North Uist in the last 10 - 20,000 years. Note that some freshwater populations have shown considerable morphological evolution in this time. Many have lost the (eponymous) dorsal spines and/or the pelvis spines that are present in the anadromous (and probable ancestral) population, as well as exhibiting rather different overall body shapes.

five sticklebacks

Morphological variation between five populations of three-spined sticklebacks on North Uist in the Outer Hebrides (photographs by Job de Roij).

We use three-spined sticklebacks to address the following kinds of general questions:

Do parasites vary between host populations in ways that are sufficiently substantial and consistent to contribute to host evolution?
Is the change in selection caused by parasites important when hosts invade novel environments? This is equivalent to asking whether hosts become adapted to the parasites in their own population.
What kind of host traits are affected by parasite imposed selection?
Does the selection that parasites impose on their hosts result in coevolutionary feedback to the parasites, because of changes in host density or mean host phenotypes?
Does coevolutionary dynamism result in arms races between parasites and hosts that can lead in fundamentally unpredictable directions?
Can the interaction between hosts and parasites lead to divergence between host populations that results in reproductive isolation between those populations?

In addition to our research on natural selection and microevolution in natural populations we are interested in research lead approaches to understanding threats to species and habitats. At present this includes an investigation of the role of habitat ageing in the decline of the willow tit ( Parus montanus ).

DE ROIJ, J, HARRIS, P.D & MACCOLL, A.D.C., 2011. (External) Divergent resistance to a monogenean flatworm among three-spined stickleback populations Functional Ecology. 25, 217-226
MACCOLL ADC, 2011. (External) The Ecological Causes Of Evolution. Trends In Ecology & Evolution. 26(10), 514-22
MACCOLL, A.D.C. and CHAPMAN, S.J., 2011. (External) A benthic predatory fish does not cause selection on armour traits in three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus (Gasterosteiformes: Gasterosteidae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 104, 877-885.
MACCOLL, A.D.C. & CHAPMAN, S.M., 2010. Parasites can cause selection against migrants following dispersal between environments Functional Ecology. 24(4), 847-856
WILFRED, P: AND MACCOLL, A, D, C., 2010. Income sources and their relation to wildlife poaching in Ugalla ecosystem, Western Tanzania African Journal of Environmental Science and Technology. Vol. 4(12), pp. 886-896, (In Press.)
MACCOLL, A.D.C., 2009. (External) Parasite burdens differ between sympatric three-spined stickleback species Ecography. 32(1), 153-160
MACCOLL, A.D.C., 2009. (External) Parasites may contribute to 'magic trait' evolution in the adaptive radiation of three-spined sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus (Gasterosteiformes: Gasterosteidae) Biological Journal Of The Linnean Society. 96(2), 425-433
PIERTNEY, STUART B, LAMBIN, XAVIER, MACCOLL, ANDREW D C, LOCK, KERRY, BACON, PHILIP J, DALLAS, JOHN F, LECKIE, FIONA, MOUGEOT, FRANCOIS, RACEY, PAUL A, REDPATH, STEVE and MOSS, ROBERT, 2008. Temporal changes in kin structure through a population cycle in a territorial bird, the red grouse Lagopus lagopus scoticus. Molecular ecology. 17(10), 2544-51
RUCKSTUHL, K.E., MANICA, A., MACCOLL, A.D.C., PILKINGTON, J.G. and CLUTTON-BROCK, T.H., 2006. (External) The effects of castration, sex ratio and population density on social segregation and habitat use in Soay sheep Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 59(5), 694-703
MACCOLL, A.D.C. and HATCHWELL, B.J., 2004. (External) Determinants of lifetime fitness in a cooperative breeder, the long-tailed tit Aegithalos caudatus Journal of Animal Ecology. 73(6), 1137-1148
HATCHWELL, B.J., RUSSELL, A.F., MACCOLL, A.D.C., ROSS, D.J., FOWLIE, M.K. and MCGOWAN, A., 2004. (External) Helpers increase long-term but not short-term productivity in cooperatively breeding long-tailed tits Behavioral Ecology. 15(1), 1-10
CLUTTON-BROCK,T.H., GRENFELL,B.T., COULSON,T., MACCOLL,A.D.C., ILLIUS,A.W., FORCHHAMMER,M.C., WILSON,K., LINDSTRÃ¶M,J., CRAWLEY,M.J. and ALBON,S.D., 2004. Population dynamics in Soay sheep. In: CLUTTON-BROCK,T.H. and PEMBERTON,J.M., eds., Soay sheep: dynamics and selection in an island population Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 52-88
CLUTTON-BROCK, T.H., PEMBERTON, J.M., COULSON,T., STEVENSON, I.R. and MACCOLL, A.D.C., 2004. The sheep of St Kilda. In: CLUTTON-BROCK,T.H. and PEMBERTON,J.M., eds., Soay sheep: dynamics and selection in an island population Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 17-51
MACCOLL, A.D.C. and HATCHWELL, B.J., 2003. (External) Heritability of parental effort in a passerine bird Evolution. 57(9), 2191-2195
MACCOLL, A.D.C. and HATCHWELL, B.J., 2003. (External) Sharing of caring: nestling provisioning behaviour of long-tailed tit, Aegithalos caudatus, parents and helpers Animal Behaviour. 66(5), 955-964
MACCOLL, A.D.C. and STEVENSON, I.R., 2003. (External) Stasis in the morph ratio cline in the bananaquit on Grenada, West Indies Condor. 105(4), 821-824
MACCOLL,A.D., 2003. Parental care, maternal effects and lifetime reproductive success in a coooperative breeder In: Ninth Congress of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology, Leeds, UK.
MACCOLL, A.D.C. and HATCHWELL, B.J., 2002. (External) Temporal variation in fitness payoffs promotes cooperative breeding in long-tailed tits Aegithalos caudatus American Naturalist. 160(2), 186-194
HATCHWELL,B.J. and MACCOLL,A.D., 2002. Seasonal variation in reproductive success and the evolution of cooperative breeding in birds In: Abstracts of the Ninth Biennial Congress of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. 53-54
MACCOLL, A.D., 2002. The heritability of parental care in a cooperative breeder: an animal model approach In: Ninth Biennial Congress of the International Society for Behavioural Ecology, Montreal, Canada. 81
MACCOLL, A.D.C. and HATCHWELL, B.J., 2001. Seasonal variation in reproductive success and the evolution of cooperative bredding in long-tailed tits In: Eight Congress of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology, Aarhus, Denmark. 289
MACCOLL, A. D. C., PIERTNEY, S. B., MOSS, R. and LAMBIN, X., 2000. (External) Spatial arrangement of kin affects recruitment success in young male red grouse Oikos. VOL 90(PART 2), 261-270
PIERTNEY, S. B., MACCOLL, A. D.C, BACON, P. J., RACEY, P. A., LAMBIN, X. and DALLAS, J. F., 2000. (External) Matrilineal Genetic Structure and Female-Mediated Gene Flow in Red Grouse (Lagopus lagopus scoticus): An Analysis Using Mitochondrial DNA Evolution. VOL 54(PART 1), 279-289
CLUTTON-BROCK, T. H., GAYNOR, D., MCILRATH, G. M., MACCOLL, A. D. C., KANSKY, R., CHADWICK, P., MANSER, M., SKINNER, J. D. and BROTHERTON, P. N. M., 1999. (External) Predation, group size and mortality in a cooperative mongoose, Suricata suricatta Journal of Animal Ecology. VOL 68(NUMBER 4), 672-683
PIERTNEY, S. B., MACCOLL, A. D. C., LAMBIN, X., MOSS, R. and DALLAS, J. F., 1999. (External) Spatial distribution of genetic relatedness in a moorland population of red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scoticus) Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. VOL 68(NUMBER 1/2), 317-331
CLUTTON-BROCK, T. H., MACCOLL, A., CHADWICK, P., GAYNOR, D., KANSKY, R. and SKINNER, J. D., 1999. (External) Reproduction and survival of suricates (Suricata suricatta) in the southern Kalahari AFRICAN JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY. VOL 37(NUMBER 1), 69-80
COLTMAN, D.W., SMITH, J.A., BANCROFT, D.R., PILKINGTON, J., MACCOLL, A.D.C., CLUTTON-BROCK,T.H. and PEMBERTON, J.M., 1999. (External) Density-Dependent Variation in Lifetime Breeding Success and Natural and Sexual Selection in Soay Rams. American Naturalist. 154(6), 730-746
PIERTNEY, S. B., MACCOLL, A. D. C., BACON, P. J. and DALLAS, J. F., 1998. (External) Local genetic structure in red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scoticus): evidence from microsatellite DNA markers Molecular Ecology. VOL 7(NUMBER 12), 1645-1654
CLUTTON-BROCK,T.H., GAYNOR,D., KANSKEY,R., MACCOLL,A.D.C., MACILRATH,G., CHADWICK,P., BROTHERTON,P.N.M., O'RIAIN,J.M., MANSER,M. and SKINNER,J.D., 1998. (External) Costs of cooperative behaviour in suricates, (Suricata suricatta) Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B Biological Sciences. 265(1392), 185-190
CLUTTON-BROCK, T. H., ILLIUS, A. W., WILSON, K., GRENFELL, B. T., MACCOLL, A. D. C. and ALBON, S. D., 1997. (External) Stability and instability in ungulate populations: an empirical analysis American Naturalist. VOL 149(NUMBER 2), 195-219
CLUTTON-BROCK, T. H., STEVENSON, I. R., MARROW, P., MACCOLL, A. D., HOUSTON, A. I. and MCNAMARA, J. M., 1996. (External) Population fluctuations, reproductive costs and life-history tactics in female Soay sheep Journal of Animal Ecology. VOL 65(NUMBER 6), 675-689
BANCROFT, D. R., PEMBERTON, J. M., ALBON, S. D., ROBERTSON, A., MACCOLL, A.D.C., SMITH, J.A., STEVENSON, I.R. and CLUTTON-BROCK, T.H, 1995. (External) Molecular genetic variation and individual survival during population crashes of an unmanaged ungulate population Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences. VOL 347(ISSUE 1321), 263
CLUTTON-BROCK,T.H., PRICE,O.F. and MACCOLL,A.D.C., 1992. (External) Mate retention, harassment, and the evolution of ungulate leks Behavioral Ecology. 3(3), 234-242
(External) A benthic predatory fish does not cause selection on armour traits in three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus (Gasterosteiformes: Gasterosteidae). Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 104, 877-885

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