British Ornithologists' Union Godman–Salvin Medal

Abstract

Tim has been keen on birds since he was a schoolboy, a trip to Bardsey Island when aged 11 having generated a lifelong fascination with seabirds. Despite having been told by teachers at his school that he was ‘not considered University material’, he went on to obtain a degree in Zoology in 1972 from the University of Newcastle, followed by a DPhil in 1976 from the University of Oxford. The latter started him off on a long-term study of guillemots on the island of Skomer, which he has continued for more than 40 years. On completion of his PhD, he moved straight to a lectureship at the University of Sheffield, and has held a personal chair there since 1992. Tim's initial research work was very much focused on the behaviour and population ecology of seabirds. As well as working on Skomer, he also studied seabirds in the Canadian Arctic. However, having been introduced to the field of sperm competition while studying for his undergraduate degree at Newcastle, he started looking at this, initially in guillemots and then more generally. He has conducted detailed studies of the mating behaviour of male and female birds, and the morphology of their reproductive systems, with a view to understanding the physiological, morphological and behavioural adaptations that enable females to ensure that their eggs are fertilized by the highest quality mates available to them. This has involved fieldwork on various species and experimental studies in the laboratory, the latter mainly with Zebra Finches. Tim has played a major role in developing our understanding of sperm competition in birds, discovering how the pattern of storage in, and loss of sperm from, the female reproductive tract plays a major role in determining the fertilization success of males. Since 1992, together with other colleagues, he has organized a biennial meeting on the biology of spermatozoa, bringing together scientists from different disciplines to discuss current developments in this research area, thereby stimulating new research questions. From the platform of his studies of seabird populations on Skomer, he has championed the importance of long-term studies in furthering our understanding of both basic population processes and the effects of environmental change on seabirds. Tim has published over 200 scientific papers, and his work is very well cited. In addition, he has written five popular science books based on his research, covering various aspects of the biology of birds, interwoven with history and philosophy of science and personal perspectives. Like his basic research, these more popular works have been very well received – The Wisdom of Birds and Bird Sense both won Best Bird Book of the Year Awards from the British Trust for Ornithology and British Birds in 2009 and 2012 respectively, and Bird Sense was also rated best natural history book of 2012 by the Independent and Guardian newspapers. In recognition of his contribution to science, he has received several research awards, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2004. Tim is deeply committed to his role as a teacher and mentor. He has inspired and supervised around 40 PhD students, and been the recipient of a number of awards for the excellence of his undergraduate teaching at Sheffield, for which he was also given a Teacher of the Year award by the Society for Biology in 2013. He plays an active role in the scientific community and in several learned societies in his discipline, having been President of the International Society for Behavioural Ecology and is currently President of the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. He has also been involved in examining how the science community identifies and deals with scientific misconduct. Tim also takes part in many different kinds of outreach activities, for schools, bird clubs, natural history societies and the general public. Being distinguished in many aspects of ornithology, Tim seems an extremely deserving recipient of the Godman-Salvin medal.