Jennifer McKeown
BSc(Hons) Biology and Mathematics
University of Stirling 2006-2010Research Project
Modelling Sexual Selection and Sexually Antagonistic Co-evolution
My project is to first develop the existing sexual selection models so that empirical data can be easily entered into them to test their robustness and gain new insights into sexual conflict, natural selection and their interaction. Then to develop a new model that explicitly studies evolution due to both sexual selection and natural selection (as opposed to existing models which only include natural selection as a ‘simple’ term). This will allow us to study the interaction between natural selection and sexual selection by identifying the effects that one has on the other; for example, development of exaggerated traits can often lead to changes in mortality and predation rates.
Finally we aim to explain how sexual selection, and possibly its interaction with natural selection, can lead to speciation in some species.
I am supervised by Dr. Andy Hoyle, Institute of Computing Science and Mathematics and Dr. Andre Gilburn, Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences.
I am funded by a Horizon Studentship from the University of Stirling.
Conferences and Presentations
Attended The Scottish Conference on Animal Behaviour (2011) St. Andrews University.
Rider, R. McPherson, N., Denholm, S., McKeown, J. (2011) Introduction to Mathematical Biology. Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling.
