Professor Nicola Mary Marples

After reading Zoology in Somerville College, Oxford I went to the University of Wales, Cardiff to do a PhD on "Insect Colour Patterns and Avian Learning" with Prof Paul Brakefield and Dr. Richard Cowie. On completion of the thesis I went to work in the University of Leiden on a Royal Society Post-Doctoral Fellowship, studying the genetic basis for bird foraging decisions. My second post doctoral position was in the University of Sussex, funded by the AFRC investigating "Factors affecting acquisition and recall of information about food palatability in birds." This work was completed in 1996 whereupon I came to TCD as a temporary lecturer in Zoology and secured a permanent position in 2001. I was made a Fellow if the college in 2006 and a Senior lecturer in 2007.

  Animal Behaviour   Animal Health, Welfare   Aposematism   Avian Predation   Badger   Behaviour   Biodiversity and Conservation   Chicks   Conservation and wildlife biology   Diet   Ecology   Environmental Enrichment   Evolution   Food   Food Novelty   Mimicry   Neophobia   Prey   Reproduction   Selection   Zoo Biology

My research interests are divided into four main themes each with a number of aspects currently under active research: 1)Avian Predatory Behaviour: Understanding of predator-prey systems particularly as they relate to avian predation on insects. ·Responses of birds to novel colour and odour cues in their prey. ·The effects of prey aggregation on learning and memory in birds. ·The stages involved in the recruitment of new prey into a birds' diet. ·Mimicry systems and their effects on predation pressures. ·The evolution of aposematic colour patterns. 2)Zoo Research: Behavioural studies leading to the effective management of captive animals in zoos. Current topics include: ·Effects of environmental enrichment on the behaviour of birds. ·Identification and alleviation of detrimental effects which visitors have on zoo animals 3) Feeding ecology and reproductive biology of badgers in Ireland. 4)I have a great interest and increasing opportunity to study bird populations in relation to biogeography and conservation in the tropical rainforests and islands of Sulawesi.