Professor Tim Blackburn

Curriculum Vitae:

2008–present: Director of the Institute of Zoology, ZSL, London.

2007-2012: Member of the Steering Committee, Centre for Ecology and Evolution.

2007–2008: Head of the Institute of Zoology, ZSL, London.

2005–2007: Professor of Macroecology, University of Birmingham.

2004-2011: International scientific advisor to, and board member of, the Centre of Excellence in Invasion Biology, Stellenbosch, South Africa.

2004 - 2010: Editor of Global Ecology and Biogeography.

2003–2005: Reader in Macroecology, University of Birmingham.

2000–2003: Lecturer in Population Biology, University of Birmingham.

1998–2000: Leverhulme Special Research Fellow, NERC Centre for Population Biology.

1991–1998: PDRA, NERC Centre for Population Biology.

1990: D.Phil., University of Oxford.

1987: B.Sc.Hons, University of Manchester.
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Research Interests:

Macroecology: large-scale patterns in the abundance and geographic distribution of animals.
The biology of introduced and invasive species.
Patterns of rarity and extinction.
Biotic homogenization.
Large-scale patterns in species diversity.
Comparative studies of physiology and life history evolution.
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Professional Recognition:

2008 on: Member of the Council of the British Ecological Society.

2008 on: Member, Expert Working Group on the Development of Biological Indicators for Invasive Alien Species.

2007 on: Visiting Professor in Zoology, University of Oxford.

2007 on: Honorary Professor, School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham.

2007 on: Member of the Steering Committee, Centre for Ecology and Evolution.

2006 on: Editorial Advisory Board of Animal Conservation.

2004 on: International scientific advisor to, and board member of, the Centre of Excellence in Invasion Biology, Stellenbosch, South Africa.

2004 on: Editor of Global Ecology and Biogeography.

2002-2007: Editorial Advisory Board of Evolutionary Ecology Research.

2002: Local organizer and introductory speaker for the British Ecological Society Symposium in Macroecology held in Birmingham in April 2002.
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Selected Publications:

Books:

Blackburn, T.M., Lockwood, J.L. & Cassey, P. (2009). Avian Invasions. The ecology and evolution of exotic birds. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Link

Blackburn, T.M. & Gaston, K.J. (eds) (2003). Macroecology: concepts and consequences. Blackwell Science, Oxford.

Gaston, K.J. & Blackburn, T.M. (2000). Pattern and process in macroecology. Blackwell Science, Oxford.

Refereed Scientific Papers:

Blackburn, T.M. & Duncan, R.P. (2001). Determinants of establishment success in introduced birds. Nature 414: 195-197.

Blackburn, T.M. & Duncan, R.P. (2001). Establishment patterns of exotic birds are constrained by non-random patterns in introduction. Journal of Biogeography 28: 927-939.

Duncan, R.P., Blackburn, T.M. & Worthy, T.H. (2002). Prehistoric bird extinctions and human hunting. Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, B 269: 517 - 521.

Duncan, R.P., Blackburn, T.M. & Sol. D. (2003). The ecology of bird introductions. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 34: 71-98.

Blackburn, T.M., Cassey, P., Duncan, R.P., Evans, K.L. & Gaston, K.J. (2004). Avian extinction risk and mammalian introductions on oceanic islands. Science 305: 1955-1958.

Cassey, P., Blackburn, T.M., Russell, G., Jones, K.E. & Lockwood, J.L. (2004). Influences on the transport and establishment of exotic bird species: an analysis of the parrots (Psittaciformes) of the world. Global Change Biology 10: 417-426.

Blackburn, T.M., Petchey, O.L., Cassey, P. & Gaston, K.J. (2005). Functional diversity of mammalian predators and extinction in island birds. Ecology 86: 2916-2923.

Cassey, P., Blackburn, T.M.. Duncan, R.P. & Gaston, K.J. (2005). Causes of exotic bird establishment across oceanic islands. Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, B. 272: 2059-2063.

Evans, K.L., Duncan, R.P., Blackburn, T.M. & Crick, H.Q.P. (2005). Geographical variation in avian clutch size: testing Ashmole´s hypothesis using introductions as a natural experiment. Functional Ecology 19: 616-624.

Lockwood, J.L., Cassey, P. & Blackburn, T.M. (2005). The role of propagule pressure in explaining species invasion. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 20: 223-228.

Orme, C.D.L., Davies, R.G., Burgess, M., Eigenbrod, F., Pickup, N., Olson, V., Webster, A.J., Ding, T.-S., Rasmussen, P.C., Ridgely, R.S., Stattersfield, A.J., Bennett, P.M., Blackburn, T.M., Gaston, K.J. & Owens, I.P.F. (2005). Global biodiversity hotspots of species richness, threat and endemism are not congruent. Nature 436: 1016-1019.

Shultz, S., Bradbury, R.B., Evans, K.L., Gregory, R.D. & Blackburn, T.M. (2005). Brain size and resource specialisation predict long-term population trends in British birds. Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, B. 272: 2305–2311.

Sol, D, Duncan, R.P., Blackburn, T.M., Cassey, P., & Lefebvre, L. (2005). Big brains, enhanced cognition and response of birds to novel environment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. 105: 5460-5465.

Blackburn, T.M., Cassey, P. & Gaston, K.J. (2006). Variations on a theme: sources of heterogeneity in the form of the interspecific relationship between abundance and distribution. Journal of Animal Ecology 75: 1426-1439.

Halsey, L.G., Butler, P.J. & Blackburn, T.M. (2006). A phylogenetic analysis of the allometry of diving. American Naturalist 167: 276-287.

Orme, C.D.L., Davies, R.G., Olson, V., Thomas, G.H., Stattersfield, A.J., Bennett, P.M., Owens, I.P.F., Blackburn, T.M. & Gaston, K.J. (2006). Global patterns of geographic range size in birds. PLoS Biology 4: e208. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0040208.

White, C.R., Blackburn, T.M., Terblanche, J.S., Marais, E., Gibernau, M. & Chown, S.L. (2007). Environmental modulation of discontinuous gas exchange in insects. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA. 104: 8357-8361.

White, C.R., Cassey, P. & Blackburn, T.M. (2007). Allometric exponents do not support a Universal Metabolic Allometry. Ecology 88: 315-323.

Davies, R.G., Orme, C.D.L., Webster, A.J., Jones, K.E., Blackburn, T.M. and Gaston, K.J. (2007) Environmental predictors of global parrot (Aves: Psittaciformes) species richness and phylogenetic diversity. Global Ecology and Biogeography 16: 220-233.

Gaston, K.J., Davies, R.G., Orme, C.D.L., Olson, V.A., Thomas, G.H., Ding, T.S., Rasmussen, P.C., Lennon, J.J., Bennett, P.M., Owens, I.P.F. and Blackburn, T.M. (2007) Spatial turnover in the global avifauna. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B 274: 1567-1574. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2007.0236

Cassey, P., Ewen, J.G., Boulton, R.L., Karadas, F., Moller, A.P. and Blackburn, T.M. (2007) A nondestructive method for extracting maternally derived egg yolk carotenoids. Journal of Field Ornithology 78(3): 314-321. DOI: 10.1111/j.1557-9263.2007.00111.x

Blackburn, T.M., Cassey, P. and Lockwood, J.L. (2008) The island biogeography of exotic bird species. Global Ecology and Biogeography 17: 246-251. DOI: 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2007.00361.x

Clusella-Trullas, S., Terblanche, J.S., Blackburn, T.M. and Chown, S.L. (2008) Testing the thermal melanism hypothesis: a macrophysiological approach. Functional Ecology 22: 232-238. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2007.01377.x

Phillimore, A.B., Orme, C.D.L., Thomas, G.H., Blackburn, T.M., Bennett, P.M., Gaston, K.J. and Owens, I.P.F. (2008) Sympatric speciation in birds is rare: insights from range data and simulations. American Naturalist 171(5). DOI: 10.1086/587074

Thomas, G.H., Orme, C.D.L., Davies, R.G., Olson, V.A., Bennett, P.M., Gaston, K.J., Owens, I.P.F. and Blackburn, T.M. (2008) Regional variation in the historical components of global avian species richness. Global Ecology and Biogeography. DOI: 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2008.00384.x

Blackburn, T.M. (2008) Using aliens to explore how our planet works. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105(1): 9-10. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0711228105

Blackburn, T.M., Cassey, P., Duncan, R.P., Evans, K.L. and Gaston, K.J. (2008) Threats to avifauna on oceanic islands revisited. Conservation Biology 22(2): 492-494. DOI: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2008.00891.x

Cassey, P., Lockwood, J.L., Olden, J.D. and Blackburn, T.M. (2008) The varying role of population abundance in structuring indices of biotic homogenization. Journal of Biogeography 35: 884-892. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2007.01827.x

Cassey, P., Blackburn, T.M., Duncan, R.P. and Lockwood, J.L. (2008) Lessons from introductions of exotic species as a possible information source for managing translocations of birds. Wildlife Research 35: 193-201. DOI: 10.1071/WR07109

Cassey, P., Ewen, J.G., Blackburn, T.M., Hauber, M.E., Vorobyev, M. and Marshall, N.J. (2008) Eggshell colour does not predict measures of maternal investment in eggs of Turdus thrushes. Naturwissenschaften 95: 713-721. DOI: 10.1007/s00114-008-0376-x

Olson, V.A., Davies, R.G., Orme, C.D.L., Thomas, G.H., Meiri, S., Blackburn, T.M., Gaston, K.J., Owens, I.P.F. and Bennett, P.M. (2009) Global biogeography and ecology of body size in birds. Ecology Letters 12(3): 249-259. DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01281.x