Sam Lewis (MRes 2009)

Sam completed an MRes with us in 2009. This is how he described his project...

Research Interests

I am an MRes student under the supervision of Tom Reader, studying animal behaviour.  My research is mainly based on trying to understand how diversity has been maintained in prey populations.  I am looking into the effect of frequency dependent selection and search images on prey polymorphisms and whether this is a significant contributing factor to the maintenance of this diversity. 

I am carrying out field experiments on Corvid species such as the Carrion Crow (Corvus corone) and the common magpie (Pica pica).  These field experiments involve presenting the predators with different coloured bits of pastry at different frequencies and then analysing what their preferences are.  I am also using a computer game to study the effects of frequency dependent selection on polymorphic prey using humans as the predators and different coloured squares as the prey.