Ilana Pizer Mason

Curriculum Vitae:

• 2008-present: PhD research student, Tel Aviv University, Israel and Institute of Zoology, London.
• 2006-2007: MSc Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, Imperial College London.
• 2001-2004: BSc Biology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham.
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Research Interests:

My PhD looks at the evolution of activity patterns in mammals. Evolutionary constraints and selective forces, both abiotic and biotic, affect the time at which a species can be active during the 24-hour diel cycle. In turn, the part of this period during which a species is active plays a significant role in their ecological interactions and requirements for survival, often resulting in partitioning of time as an ecological resource.

I aim to gain further insight into various aspects of the evolution of mammalian activity patterns, and hope to make some key findings, including the level of phylogenetic imprinting on activity patterns, and the ecological variables and life history strategies associated with a shift in activity pattern from the ancestral state. I am also interested in the different findings of lab versus field studies, and the change in activity time of species once the masking effects of the field have been removed.
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Supervisors:

My PhD is supervised by Professor Tamar Dayan (Tel Aviv University) and Dr Kate Jones (Institute of Zoology).