Research Interests:

Population biology, evolutionary demography, behavioural ecology, evolutionary ecology

Current project:

More and more studies report that ecological and evolutionary responses occur on the same time scale. This means that the consequences of environmental change can only be fully understood by using an approach that integrates contributions of evolutionary and ecological factors to phenotypic change and population fluctuations. Recently a framework has been developed to quantify and predict eco-evolutionary responses of populations to environmental change. Together with Tim Coulson and Jacques Deere, I use this framework in conjunction with laboratory experiments using the bulb mite (Rhizoglyphus robini) (i) to empirically investigate if there are general mechanisms underlying eco-evolutionary responses of single populations to environmental change, and (ii) to quantify and empirically test the eco-evolutionary response of populations that are subjected to different manipulations in stochastic environments. This project is a focused attempt to understand and predict the eco-evolutionary consequences of (human induced) environmental change of which we remain largely ignorant, yet which have broad and important implications for conservation, ecology, and evolutionary biology.

Students that are interested in doing an MSc project on mite population dynamics, their behavioural ecology or demography  - please contact me at i.smallegange [at] imperial.ac.uk

Education:

2000-2007: PhD, ‘Interference competition and patch choice in foraging shore crabs’, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

1998-2000: MSc Population Biology, Wageningen University, The Netherlands

1995-1998: BSc Biology, Wageningen University, The Netherlands

Professional history:

2010 - present Postdoctoral Research Associate at Imperial College London, UK - funded by ERC

2008 – 2010 Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Imperial College London, UK – funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) (Rubicon Fellowship)

2007 – 2008 Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation held at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Germany

2005 Marie Curie Research Trainee Fellowship held at University of Leeds, UK

Publications in peer-reviewed journals:

2012             

Johansson J, Smallegange IM, Jonzén N. 2012. An eco-evolutionary model for demographic and phenological responses in migratory birds. Biology 1: 639-657. DOI:10.3390/biology1030639

Smallegange IM, Coulson T. online. Towards a general, population-level understanding of eco-evolutionary change. Trends in Ecology and Evolution (2012), DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2012.07.021

Smallegange IM, Charalambous M, Thorne N. 2012. Fitness trade-offs and the maintenance of alternative male morphs in the bulb mite (Rhizoglyphus robini). Journal of Evolutionary Biology 25:972-980.

2011

Godsall B, Smallegange IM. Assessment games in the mangrove tree-dwelling crab, Selatium brockii (De Man, 1887). Crustaceana 84:1697-1718.

Smallegange IM, van der Meer J, Fiedler W. 2011. Population dynamics of three songbird species in a nestbox population in Central Europe show effects of density, climate and competitive interactions. Ibis 153: 806-817.

Smallegange IM. 2011. Complex environmental effects on the expression of alternative reproductive phenotypes in the bulb mite. Evolutionary Ecology 25:857-873.

Smallegange IM, Coulson T. 2011. The stochastic demography of two coexisting male morphs. Ecology 92: 755-764.

Smallegange IM. 2011. Effects of paternal phenotype and environmental variability on age and size at maturity in a male dimorphic mite. Naturwissenschaften 98:339-346.

2010

Smallegange IM, van der Meer J, Sabelis MW. 2010. ‘Take-away’ foraging spatially uncouples predator and prey-attack distributions. Journal of Animal Ecology 79:769-776

Smallegange IM, van der Meer J. 2010. Testing a stochastic version of the Beddington-DeAngelis functional response in foraging shore crabs. Marine Biology 157:1027-1040

Smallegange IM, Fiedler W, Köppen U, Geiter O, Barlein F. 2010. Tits on the move: exploring the impact of environmental change on blue tit and great tit migration distance. Journal of Animal Ecology 79:350-357

2009

Smallegange IM, Coulson T. 2009. Unifying ecological and evolutionary dynamics through experimental stochastic demography. Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution 55:199-205.

Smallegange IM, van Noordwijk CGE, van der Meer J, van der Veer HW. 2009. Spatial distribution of shore crab Carcinus maenas in an intertidal environment in relation to their morphology, prey availability and competition. Marine Ecology Progress Series 392:143-155        

Smallegange IM, van der Meer J. 2009. The distribution of unequal predators across food patches is not necessarily (semi)truncated. Behavioral Ecology 20:525-534

van der Meer J, Smallegange IM. 2009. A stochastic version of the Beddington-DeAngelis functional response: modelling interference for a finite number of predators. Journal of Animal Ecology78:134-142

2008

Smallegange IM, Hidding B, Eppenga JMA, van der Meer J. 2008. Optimal foraging and risk of claw damage: how flexible are shore crabs in their prey size selectivity? Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 367:157-163

Smallegange IM, Tregenza T. 2008. Local competition between foraging relatives: growth and survival of bruchid beetle larvae. Journal of Insect Behavior 21:375-386

2007

Smallegange IM, van der Meer J. 2007. Interference from a game theoretical perspective: shore crabs suffer most from equal competitors. Behavioral Ecology 18:215-221

Smallegange IM, Sabelis MW, van der Meer J. 2007. Assessment games in shore crab fights. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 351:255-266

2006    

Smallegange IM, van der Meer J, Kurvers RHJM. 2006. Disentangling interference competition from exploitative competition in a crab-bivalve system using a novel experimental approach. Oikos 113:157-167

2003      

Smallegange IM, van der Meer J. 2003. Why do shore crabs not prefer the most profitable mussels? Journal of Animal Ecology 72:599-607

Riebel K, Smallegange IM. 2003. Does zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) preference for the (familiar) father’s song generalize to the songs of unfamiliar brothers? Journal of Comparative Psychology 117:61-66

2002      

Smallegange IM, Brunsting AMH. 2002. Food supply and demand, a simulation model of the functional response of grazing ruminants. Ecological Modelling 149:179-192

Riebel K, Smallegange IM, Terpstra NJ, Bolhuis JJ. 2002. Sexual equality in zebra finch song preference: evidence for a dissociation between song recognition and production learning. Proceedings of the Royal Society London B 269:729-733

2000

Agoramoorthy G, Smallegange I, Spruit I, Hsu MJ. 2000. Swimming behaviour among bonnet macaques in Tamil Nadu. Folia Primatologica 71:152-153

Contact details:

Division of Biology
Imperial College London
Silwood Park
Ascot
SL5 7PY
UK

E-mail: isabel.smallegange[at]zoo.ox.ac.uk