You are here:

Dr Thomas Ezard

Research Fellow

Email:
Phone: Work: 01483 68 3387
Room no: 15 AA 04

Further information

Biography

I read Mathematics with German at the University of St Andrews, before taking a M.Res. Environmental Biology Conversion course to apply mathematics in the natural world. My PhD (``Interactions between Structure and Stochasticity in Demographic Models'' under the supervision of Tim Coulson at Imperial College London) developed my interest in Mathematical Biology further. On completion, I worked as a PostDoc refining theory developed in contemporary populations to macro-evolutionary questions in collaboration with Andy Purvis and Paul Pearson. 

I moved to the Maths department at the University of Surrey in September 2010, to work with Rebecca Hoyle on the evolution of trans-generational effects. The first paper from this project (when & why maternal effects maximise fitness by slowing adaptation) is now online.

As Early Career Representative on the British Ecological Society Council and member of the working group for the International Network of Next-Generation Ecologists, I represent the interests of ecologists early in their careers. If you have suggestions for how we can "advance ecology and make it count", then please get in touch via email. I'm @tomezard on twitter and on Mendeley.

Research Interests

I use theoretical and empirical models to assess how ecological change affects population and evolutionary dynamics. I aim to increase understanding of how structure and stochasticity interact to regulate biological dynamics.

At the University of Surrey, I am working with Rebecca Hoyle on the evolution of trans-generational effects. Our hypothesis is that trans-generational effects are an adaptive consequence of evolved life-history strategies, and that we can therefore predict the ecological conditions under which they will arise. Any 'decision' in the parent generation has implications for the phenotype of the offspring, and hence what 'decision' should be made in this generation. The delayed impacts pose intriguing challenges for mathematical modelling, because there are time lags between when information 'enters' the phenotype (e.g., being a first-born), and when natural selection operates (e.g., on the offspring of that first-born individual).

Publications

Please email me (t [dot] ezard [at] surrey.ac.uk) for pdfs or source code:

Teaching

MATM026 Applied Biological Dynamics - not running in 2011/2012

Macroevolution in planktonic foraminifera

Understanding how biodiversity has arisen is a fundamental challenge for evolutionary biology and ecology. Addressing it requires understanding of how speciation, extinction and character change interrelate. The work is in collaboration with Andy Purvis, Paul Pearson and Tracy Aze; published highlights:

Stochastic demography

My PhD was completed in 2007 under the supervision of Tim Coulson at Imperial College London. It addressed questions into how structure and stochasticity interact in demographic models. The thesis is (mostly) available via links on the publications tab. Some highlights include:

Landscape Genetics

My Masters thesis under the supervision of Justin Travis investigated fixation times of neutral alleles on irregular-shaped landscapes, either through linear features (e.g. rivers) or habitat fragmentation. For more information, see: