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Professor Lesley Morrell


Interactive lectures: Clickers or personal devices? [version 1; peer review: 2 approved] (2015)
Journal Article
Morrell, L. J., & Joyce, D. A. (2015). Interactive lectures: Clickers or personal devices? [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]. F1000Research, 4, Article 64. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.6207.1

Audience response systems (‘clickers’) are frequently used to promote participation in large lecture classes, and evidence suggests that they convey a number of benefits to students, including improved academic performance and student satisfaction. T... Read More about Interactive lectures: Clickers or personal devices? [version 1; peer review: 2 approved].

Consequences of variation in predator attack for the evolution of the selfish herd (2014)
Journal Article
Morrell, L. J., Greenwood, L., & Ruxton, G. D. (2015). Consequences of variation in predator attack for the evolution of the selfish herd. Evolutionary Ecology, 29(1), 107-121. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-014-9743-6

There is a strong body of evidence that patterns of collective behaviour in grouping animals are governed by interactions between small numbers of individuals within the group. These findings contrast with study of the ‘selfish herd’, where increasin... Read More about Consequences of variation in predator attack for the evolution of the selfish herd.

Prey body size mediates the predation risk associated with being "odd" (2014)
Journal Article
Morrell, L. J., Downing, B., & Rodgers, G. M. (2015). Prey body size mediates the predation risk associated with being "odd". Behavioral ecology, 26(1), 242-246. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/aru185

Despite selection pressures on prey animals to maintain phenotypically homogeneous groups, variation in phenotype within animal groups is commonly observed. Although many prey animals preferentially associate with size-matched individuals, a lack of... Read More about Prey body size mediates the predation risk associated with being "odd".

Use of feed-forward mechanisms in a novel research-led module (2014)
Journal Article
Morrell, L. J. (2014). Use of feed-forward mechanisms in a novel research-led module. Bioscience education e-journal BEE-j, 22(1), 70-81. https://doi.org/10.11120/beej.2013.00020

I describe a novel research-led module that combines reduced academic marking loads with increased feedback to students, and allows students to reflect on and improve attainment prior to summative assessment. The module is based around eight seminar-... Read More about Use of feed-forward mechanisms in a novel research-led module.

Why is eusociality an almost exclusively terrestrial phenomenon? (2014)
Journal Article
Ruxton, G. D., Humphries, S., Morrell, L. J., & Wilkinson, D. M. (2014). Why is eusociality an almost exclusively terrestrial phenomenon?. The journal of animal ecology, 83(6), 1248-1255. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12251

1.Eusociality has evolved multiple times across diverse terrestrial taxa, and eusocial species fundamentally shape many terrestrial ecosystems. However, eusocial species are far less common and have much less ecological impact, in aquatic than terres... Read More about Why is eusociality an almost exclusively terrestrial phenomenon?.

Prey aggregation is an effective olfactory predator avoidance strategy (2014)
Journal Article
Johannesen, A., Dunn, A. M., & Morrell, L. J. (in press). Prey aggregation is an effective olfactory predator avoidance strategy. PeerJ, 2014(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.408

Predator–prey interactions have a major effect on species abundance and diversity, and aggregation is a well-known anti-predator behaviour. For immobile prey, the effectiveness of aggregation depends on two conditions: (a) the inability of the predat... Read More about Prey aggregation is an effective olfactory predator avoidance strategy.

Mixed-phenotype grouping: the interaction between oddity and crypsis (2012)
Journal Article
Rodgers, G. M., Kimbell, H., & Morrell, L. J. (2013). Mixed-phenotype grouping: the interaction between oddity and crypsis. Oecologia, 172(1), 59-68. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-012-2473-y

Aggregations of different-looking animals are frequently seen in nature, despite well-documented selection pressures on individuals to maintain phenotypically homogenous groups. Two well-known theories, the ‘confusion effect’ (reduced ability of a pr... Read More about Mixed-phenotype grouping: the interaction between oddity and crypsis.

Artificial enhancement of an extended phenotype signal increases investment in courtship by three-spined sticklebacks (2012)
Journal Article
Morrell, L. J., Hentley, W. T., Wickens, V. J., Wickens, J. B., & Rodgers, G. M. (2012). Artificial enhancement of an extended phenotype signal increases investment in courtship by three-spined sticklebacks. Animal behaviour, 84(1), 93-101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2012.04.013

Interactions between the components of a multiple-signal sexual display can be complex, and previous work has shown that alteration of one component can lead to changed investment in either the altered or other display components. Extended phenotype... Read More about Artificial enhancement of an extended phenotype signal increases investment in courtship by three-spined sticklebacks.

Predation risk shapes social networks in fission-fusion populations (2011)
Journal Article
Kelley, J. L., Morrell, L. J., Inskip, C., Croft, D. P., & Krause, J. (2011). Predation risk shapes social networks in fission-fusion populations. PLoS ONE, 6(8), e24280. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0024280

Predation risk is often associated with group formation in prey, but recent advances in methods for analysing the social structure of animal societies make it possible to quantify the effects of risk on the complex dynamics of spatial and temporal or... Read More about Predation risk shapes social networks in fission-fusion populations.

Colour change and assortment in the western rainbowfish (2010)
Journal Article
Rodgers, G. M., Kelley, J. L., & Morrell, L. J. (2010). Colour change and assortment in the western rainbowfish. Animal behaviour, 79(5), 1025-1030. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2010.01.017

Grouping behaviour is widespread across the animal kingdom, and is known to reduce an individual's risk of predation, for example through predator confusion. Theory predicts that individuals that are different in appearance to the rest of the group a... Read More about Colour change and assortment in the western rainbowfish.