Liam Dougherty

Liam Dougherty is a Leverhulme Trust Fellow studying how the environment shapes animal mating behaviour.

Who are you a fellow for?

I am an Early Career Research Fellow funded by the Leverhulme Trust and the Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Science.

When did you start your fellowship?

September 2018.

What were you doing prior to your fellowship?

I obtained my undergraduate degree in Zoology from the University of Liverpool in 2011, and then did a PhD in Evolutionary Biology at the University of St Andrews, studying the evolution of mating behaviour in true bugs. I then worked as a post-doc at the University of Western Australia in Perth, studying sexual conflict and the evolution of female genital anatomy in seed beetles. Prior to the fellowship I had a short post-doctoral position at the IIB, with part of that work being a precursor to my fellowship project.

Why did you choose to undertake your fellowship with the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences?

I chose to undertake my fellowship at the Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Science in order to collaborate with Dr Zen Lewis and Dr Tom Price on the experimental aspects of my work. This work uses experimental moth populations that the Lewis lab has been maintaining for over ten years, which are a rare and powerful resource. The Institute was also very supportive during my application, and provided me with a mentor to help draft my proposal.

How does the Leverhulme Trust fund your work?

The Leverhulme Trust funds my fellowship mainly by providing my salary, plus a small annual research stipend of £6000. This stipend allows me to carry out my research, and also travel to conferences and training courses to aid my professional development.

What do you study/ what is the aim of your research?

I study the evolution of mate choice in animals, and for my fellowship I am testing how the environment shapes animal mating behaviour. For example, is it better to mate quickly and forego choice when the chance of being eaten by a predator is high? What about when potential mates are rare or widely-dispersed? Different environmental conditions can greatly influence the costs and benefits of mating, and animals are predicted to be able to track these changes and change their behaviour accordingly. During my fellowship I am testing these questions using two approaches. First, I use large-scale meta-analysis of published studies to test how short-term changes in the environment drives changes in mate choice and courtship behaviour across the animal kingdom. Second, I am testing whether long-term changes in the social environment lead to the evolutionary divergence in mating behaviour, using the Indian meal moth Plodia interpunctella as my test species.

What inspired you to look at this field?

Understanding these processes is vital for understanding the lives of animals, given how important animal mating decisions are, as exemplified by the great lengths they can go to in order to pick the best possible mate. Importantly, understanding how the environment influences mating behaviour will allow us to better predict animal mating behaviour in the natural environment, which is highly variable in space and time.