1996 BA hons (Natural sciences), Cambridge University 1998 MSc (Aquatic Resource Management), King’s College London 2002 PhD (Zoology), University of Guelph

I am an evolutionary ecologist and research in my group seeks to understand how genetic and environmental processes interact with each other to shape phenotypic evolution. To do this we use ecological and quantitative genetic methods to test evolutionary theory in a wide range of empirical systems both in the lab and in the field. Current projects range from estimating the genetic basis of life history variation in the wild Soay sheep of St Kilda, through to experimental studies of aggression and social dominance in lab populations of fishes.

The common themes running through all my research are those of trying to predict how traits should respond to natural selection, and trying to understand why sometimes they don’t seem to respond at all.

Regan CE, Pilkington JG, Berenos C, Pemberton JM, Smiseth PT, Wilson AJ (In Press). Accounting for female space sharing in St. Kilda Soay sheep (Ovis aries) results in little change in heritability estimates. Journal of Evolutionary Biology Full text. Boulton K, Sinderman B, Pearce MR, Earley RL, Wilson AJ (In Press). He who dares only sometimes wins: physiological stress and contest behaviour in Xiphophorus helleri. Behaviour, 149, 977-1002. Santostefano F, Wilson A, Araya-Ajoy YG, Dingemanse NJ (In Press). Interacting with the enemy: indirect effects of personality on conspecific aggression in crickets. Behavioral Ecology Abstract. Full text. White SJ, Kells TJ, Wilson AJ (In Press). Metabolism, personality and pace of life in the Trinidadian guppy, Poecilia reticulata. Behaviour Full text. Sharman P, Wilson A (In Press). Racehorses are getting faster. Biology Letters Abstract. Full text. Wilson A, Boulton K, Grimmer AJ, Walling CA, Rosenthal GG (In Press). Sex-specific plasticity and genotype x sex interactions for age and size of maturity in the sheepshead swordtail, Xiphophorus birchmanni. Full text. Morrissey MB, Parker DJ, Korsten P, Pemberton JM, Kruuk LEB, Wilson AJ (In Press). The prediction of adaptive evolution: empirical application of the secondary theorem of selection and comparison to the breeder's equation. Evolution, 66, 2399-2410. Sharma MD, Wilson AJ, Hosken DJ (2016). Fisher's sons' effect in sexual selection: absent, intermittent or just low experimental power?. J Evol Biol Abstract. Author URL. Full text. Article has an altmetric score of 1 Pascoal S, Mendrok M, Mitchell C, Wilson AJ, Hunt J, Bailey NW (2016). Sexual selection and population divergence I: the influence of socially flexible cuticular hydrocarbon expression in male field crickets (Teleogryllus oceanicus). Evolution, 70(1), 82-97. Abstract. Author URL. Full text. Article has an altmetric score of 2 Mills JA, Teplitsky C, Arroyo B, Charmantier A, Becker PH, Birkhead TR, Bize P, Blumstein DT, Bonenfant C, Boutin S, et al (2016). Solutions for Archiving Data in Long-Term Studies: a Reply to Whitlock et al. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 31(2), 85-87. Full text. Article has an altmetric score of 19 Mills JA, Teplitsky C, Arroyo B, Charmantier A, Becker PH, Birkhead TR, Bize P, Blumstein DT, Bonenfant C, Boutin S, et al (2015). Archiving Primary Data: Solutions for Long-Term Studies. Trends Ecol Evol, 30(10), 581-589. Abstract. Author URL. Full text. Article has an altmetric score of 107 Boulton K, Couto E, Grimmer AJ, Earley RL, Canario AVM, Wilson AJ, Walling CA (2015). How integrated are behavioral and endocrine stress response traits? a repeated measures approach to testing the stress-coping style model. Ecology and Evolution, 5(3), 618-633. Abstract. Article has an altmetric score of 5 Thornton A, Wilson AJ (2015). In search of the Darwinian Holy Trinity in cognitive evolution: a comment on Croston et al. Behavioral Ecology, 26(6), 1460-1461. Full text. Article has an altmetric score of 3 Taylor ML, Skeats A, Wilson AJ, Price TAR, Wedell N (2015). Opposite environmental and genetic influences on body size in North American Drosophila pseudoobscura Evolutionary ecology and behaviour. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 15(1). Abstract. Full text. Article has an altmetric score of 3 Wilson AJ (2014). Competition as a source of constraint on life history evolution in natural populations. Heredity (Edinb), 112(1), 70-78. Abstract. Author URL. Article has an altmetric score of 3 Sakaluk SK, Wilson AJ, Bowers EK, Johnson LS, Masters BS, Johnson BGP, Vogel LA, Forsman AM, Thompson CF (2014). Genetic and environmental variation in condition, cutaneous immunity, and haematocrit in house wrens. BMC EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, 14 Author URL. Article has an altmetric score of 2 Boulton K, Grimmer AJ, Rosenthal GG, Walling CA, Wilson AJ (2014). How stable are personalities? a multivariate view of behavioural variation over long and short timescales in the sheepshead swordtail, Xiphophorus birchmanni. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 1-13. Hayward AD, Nussey DH, Wilson AJ, Berenos C, Pilkington JG, Watt KA, Pemberton JM, Graham AL (2014). Natural Selection on Individual Variation in Tolerance of Gastrointestinal Nematode Infection. PLoS Biology, 12(7), 1-13. Abstract. Article has an altmetric score of 108 Edward DA, Poissant J, Wilson AJ, Chapman T (2014). Sexual conflict and interacting phenotypes: a quantitative genetic analysis of fecundity and copula duration in drosophila melanogaster. Evolution, 68(6), 1651-1660. Abstract. Article has an altmetric score of 4 Royle NJ, Russell AF, Wilson AJ (2014). The evolution of flexible parenting. Science, 345(6198), 776-781. Abstract. Author URL. Full text. Article has an altmetric score of 19 Wilson AJ, Grimmer A, Rosenthal GG (2013). Causes and consequences of contest outcome: Aggressiveness, dominance and growth in the sheepshead swordtail, Xiphophorus birchmanni. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 67(7), 1151-1161. Abstract. Article has an altmetric score of 8 Schuett W, Dall SRX, Wilson AJ, Royle NJ (2013). Environmental transmission of a personality trait: Foster parent exploration behaviour predicts offspring exploration behaviour in zebra finches. Biology Letters, 9(4). Abstract.