Personal Chair
- About
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- Email Address
- justin.travis@abdn.ac.uk
- Telephone Number
- +44 (0)1224 274483
- Office Address
Room 407 Zoology Building
- School/Department
- School of Biological Sciences
Biography
2006 – Lecturer (from 2008, Senior lecturer, and from, 2013 Professor) in Ecological and Evolutionary Modellinf, University of Aberdeen.
2004 – 2006 Senior Scientific Officer, NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Banchory, UK
2001- 2004 University of St Andrews, UK. Research Fellow in the Centre for Conservation Science.
1999 -2001 University of Lund, Sweden, Research fellow within the Climate Impacts Group
Degrees: PhD 1999 Imperial College London. MSc 1996 University of York. BSc(hons)1994 University of York
Memberships and Affiliations
- Internal Memberships
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Advisor of Studies ( 2009 - ).
- External Memberships
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Full member of NERC Peer Review College ( 2011 - ).
Subject Editor for Oikos ( 2010 - ).
Associate Editor for BMC Ecology ( 2011 - ).
- Research
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Research Overview
Much of my research uses models to study the population and evolutionary dynamics of spatially structured populations. Key interests include (1) the evolutionary ecology and population genetics of range expansions, (2) incorporating greater realism into the dispersal process within spatial population models, (3) evolvability (including the causes and consequences of mutation rate) and (4) the evolutionary ecology of longevity. While most of my group's work focusses on using stochastic individual-based models, I am increasingly interested in how these can be combined both with modern statistical methods (including Bayesian approaches) and analytical approximations to gain greater insights and predictive capabilities.
Funding and Grants
Substantial Grants Awarded Since 2012:
2018-2022 NERC Research Grant, "Forecasting biodiversity losses in Wallacea from ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes". PI of international team. (£850,000)
2018-2022 BBSRC Studentship Grant, "Using artificial intelligence to improve the forecast for biodiversity under environmental change" (£99,000)
2017-2021 NERC Research Grant, “Linking demographic theory and data to forecast the dynamics of spatially-structured seasonally-mobile populations” (£650,000). Co-I responsible for developing mechanistic migration models.
2017-2019 Marie Curie International Fellowship (Є215,000) Scientist in charge for Dr Aurore Ponchon.
2015-2016 STFC Newton AgriTech (£350,000) Local PI responsible for systems modelling of fire risk in China.
2015-2017 Marie Curie International Fellowship (Є220,000). Scientist in Charge for Dr Job Aben.
2012-2014 Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship (Є190,000). Scientist in Charge for Dr Kamil Barton.
2012-2015 NERC Responsive, PI “Managing Landscapes for Biodiversity Under Climate Change” (£355,000)
- Teaching
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Teaching Responsibilities
Most of my teaching is at Masters level. In particular, I co-ordinate two modules, one on Population Ecology and one on Advanced Ecological Modelling. At undergraduate level, I contribute to several courses at both 3rd and 4th year, most substantially to 3rd year Population Ecology where I introduce ecological modelling.
Teaching Philosophy: I enjoy the challenge of making quantitative topics and programming accessible to as many students as possible, and this is the focus of most of my teaching. I believe that almost all students are capable of learning to program, and that many obtain considerable satisfaction from the realisation that they can master it. I am interested in employing active learning methods within quantitative courses that have traditionally relied heavily on often dry lectures. In my Masters teaching I have been using 'learning through teaching' methods where individuals are each guided in putting together material to teach their peers about a particular aspect of modeling. This is proving a very successful way of improving understanding and creates considerable enthusiasm.
- Publications
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Page 6 of 7 Results 126 to 150 of 165
Using distribution models to test alternative hypotheses about a species' environmental limits and recovery prospects
Biological Conservation, vol. 142, no. 3, pp. 488-499Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2008.10.036
The evolution of an 'intelligent' dispersal strategy: biased, correlated random walks in patchy landscapes
Oikos, vol. 118, no. 2, pp. 309-319Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2008.16936.x
The dynamics of climate-induced range shifting: perspectives from simulation modelling
Oikos, vol. 118, no. 1, pp. 131-137Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2008.17025.x
Thermal conditions during juvenile development affect adult dispersal in a spider
PNAS, vol. 105, no. 44, pp. 17000-17005Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0806830105
Landscape structure and boundary effects determine the fate of mutations occurring during range expansions
Heredity, vol. 101, no. 4, pp. 329-340Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.2008.56
Evaluating the influence of epidemiological parameters and host ecology on the spread of Phocine Distemper virus through populations of harbour seals
PloS ONE, vol. 3, no. 7, e2710Contributions to Journals: ArticlesReid's paradox revisited: The evolution of dispersal kernels during range expansion
The American Naturalist, vol. 172, no. S1, pp. S34-S48Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/588255
The frequency of fitness peak shifts is increased at expanding range margins due to mutation surfing
Genetics, vol. 179, no. 2, pp. 941-950Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.108.087890
Facilitation in plant communities: the past, the present, and the future
Journal of Ecology, vol. 96, no. 1, pp. 18-34Contributions to Journals: Literature Reviews- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2745.2007.01295.x
Scaling issues in long-term socio-ecological biodiversity research: a review of European cases
Working Papers: Working PapersWhich species will succesfully track climate change? The influence of intraspecific competition and density dependent dispersal on range shifting dynamics
Oikos, vol. 116, no. 9, pp. 1531-1539Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0030-1299.2007.16047.x
Testing mechanistic models of seed dispersal for the invasive Rhododendron ponticum (L.)
Perspectives in plant ecology, evolution and systematics, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 15-28Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2007.07.004
Deleterious mutations can surf to high densities on the wave front of an expanding population
Molecular Biology and Evolution, vol. 24, no. 10, pp. 2334-2343Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msm167
Microcosm experiments can inform global ecological problems
Trends in Ecology & Evolution, vol. 22, no. 10, pp. 516-521Contributions to Journals: Literature Reviews- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2007.08.003
Modelling species' range shifts in a changing climate: The impacts of biotic interactions, dispersal distance and the rate of climate change
Journal of Theoretical Biology, vol. 245, no. 1, pp. 59-65Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2006.09.033
Range shifting on a fragmented landscape
Ecological Informatics, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 1-8Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2006.12.001
The distribution of positive and negative species interactions across environmental gradients on a dual-lattice model
Journal of Theoretical Biology, vol. 241, no. 4, pp. 896-902Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2006.01.025
Incorporating evolutionary processes into a spatially-explicit model: exploring the consequences of mink-farm closures in Denmark
Ecography, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 465-476Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2006.0906-7590.04492.x
The impact of habitat loss and fragmentation on genetic drift and fixation time
Oikos, vol. 114, no. 2, pp. 367-375Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2006.0030-1299.14778.x
Evolving dispersal and age at death
Oikos, vol. 113, no. 3, pp. 530-538Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2006.0030-1299.14395.x
Habitat geometry, population viscosity and the rate of genetic drift
Ecological Informatics, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 153-161Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2006.03.003
Modelling establishment probabilities of an exotic plant, Rhododendron ponticum, invading a heterogeneous, woodland landscape using logistic regression with spatial autocorrelation
Ecological Modelling, vol. 193, no. 3-4, pp. 747-758Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2005.09.007
Spatial processes can determine the relationship between prey encounter rate and prey density
Biology Letters, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 136-138Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2004.0293
The interplay of positive and negative species interactions across an environmental gradient: insights from an individual-based simulation model
Biology Letters, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 5-8Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2004.0236
Adaptation and propagule pressure determine invasion dynamics: insights from a spatially explicit model for sexually reproducing species
Evolutionary Ecology Research, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 37-51Contributions to Journals: Articles