The Centre for Biological Diversity addresses the consequences of biodiversity at the interface between ecology and evolution. The ecological consequences of biodiversity are considered in terms of processes such as pollination biology, niche construction, and invasion biology.
Find Out More: Research Groups
Prof. Kevin Laland
Dr. Susan Healy
Prof. Pat Willmer
Associated Degree Programmes
Undergraduate Degree Programmes
Undergraduate Field Courses
Masters Programmes
Key Publications
Recent publications listed in research@st-andrews
Webster, MM & Laland, KN 2017, 'Social information use and social learning in non-grouping fishes' Behavioural Ecology. DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arx121
Whiten, A, Ayala, F, Feldman, MW & Laland, KN 2017, 'The extension of biology through culture' Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol Early Edition. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1707630114
Street, SE, Navarrete, AF, Reader, SM & Laland, KN 2017, 'Coevolution of cultural intelligence, extended life history, sociality, and brain size in primates' Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol 114, no. 30, pp. 7908-7914. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1620734114
Templeton, CN, Philp, K, Guillette, LM, Laland, KN & Benson-Amram, S 2017, 'Sex and pairing status impact how zebra finches use social information in foraging' Behavioural Processes, vol 139, pp. 38-42. DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2016.12.010
Japyassú, HF & Laland, KN 2017, 'Extended spider cognition' Animal Cognition, vol 20, no. 3, pp. 375-395. DOI: 10.1007/s10071-017-1069-7
Laland, KN 2017, 'Schism and Synthesis at the Royal Society' Trends in Ecology and Evolution, vol 32, no. 5, pp. 316-317. DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2017.02.015
Webster, MM, Whalen, ACZ & Laland, KN 2017, 'Fish pool their experience to solve problems collectively' Nature Ecology and Evolution, vol 1, 0135. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-017-0135
van der Post, DJ, Franz, M & Laland, KN 2017, 'The evolution of social learning mechanisms and cultural phenomena in group foragers' BMC Evolutionary Biology, vol 17, 49. DOI: 10.1186/s12862-017-0889-z
Arbilly, M & Laland, KN 2017, 'The magnitude of innovation and its evolution in social animals' Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol 284, no. 1848, 20162385. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2016.2385
Laland, KN 2017, 'The origins of language in teaching' Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, vol 24, no. 1, pp. 225-231. DOI: 10.3758/s13423-016-1077-7