Chris Perrins

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Chris Perrins

LVO FRS
Born (1935-05-11) 11 May 1935 (age 88) [1]
Education Charterhouse School
Alma mater
Spouse
Mary Ceresole Carslake
​
​
(m. 1963)​
[1]
Awards Godman-Salvin Medal, 2018 RSPB Medal, 1992
Scientific career
Fields Ornithology
Institutions
Thesis Some factors influencing brood-size and populations in tits  (1963)
Doctoral advisor David Lack [2]
Doctoral students
Website zoo.ox.ac.uk/egi/members/professor-chris-perrins-lvo-frs/

Christopher Miles Perrins, LVO FRS [5] (born 11 May 1935) [1] [6] is Emeritus Fellow of the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology at the University of Oxford, Emeritus Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford [7] and His Majesty's Warden of the Swans since 1993. [1] [7] [8]

Contents

Education

Perrins was educated at Charterhouse School and Queen Mary College [1] where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology in 1957. [1] He completed his postgraduate study and research at the University of Oxford where he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1963 for research on brood size in tits supervised by David Lack. [2]

Research and career

Perrins research interests are in the population dynamics and breeding biology of birds, particularly tits (Paridae), [2] [9] mute swans [10] [11] and seabirds on Skomer and Skokholm. [7] [12] [13] He investigated animal lead poisoning of swans from lead shot. [12] He is renowned for his work on avian population ecology and, in particular, reproductive rates. He has made a number of important contributions to the long-term study of the great tit at Wytham Woods [14] — an area of mixed woodland established in 1947 by evolutionary biologist David Lack – one of the most famous studies in population ecology. [5]

He was the first to discover that avian clutch size – the number of eggs laid in a single nesting – in great tits has a remarkably high heritability and that the likelihood of the survival of young birds can be traced back to nutrition in the nest. [5] Perrins also demonstrated that females lay a clutch of an appropriate size for their ability to feed. [5] [15] He supervised several successful DPhil students at Oxford including Matt Ridley [4] and Tim Birkhead. [3]

According to Scopus, [16] As of 2016 his most cited journal articles have been published in Ibis , [17] [18] Nature , [19] Science [9] and the Journal of Animal Ecology . [20]

Publications

  • British Tits [21]
  • Encyclopedia of Birds [22]
  • The Mute Swan [23]
  • The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Birds: The Definitive Guide to Birds of the World: Christopher M. Perrins Hardline (1990) ISBN   978-0747202776
  • Bird Population Studies: Relevance to Conservation and Management: (Oxford Ornithology Series) by Christopher M. Perrins, G. J. Hirons and J. D. Lebreton (1996) ISBN   978-0198540823
  • The Birds of the Western Palearctic, Volume 1: Non-passerines David Snow, Christopher M. Perrins and Robert Gillmor (1998) Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0198501879
  • The Birds of the Western Palearctic, Volume 2: by David Snow, Christopher M. Perrins and Robert Gillmor (1998) Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0198501886
  • The New Encyclopedia of Birds: Editor, (2003) Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0198525066
  • The Complete Encyclopedia of Birds and Bird Migration: Jonathan Elphick: Christopher M. Perrins (2004) ISBN   978-0785816676

Awards and honours

Perrins has received a number of awards for his research, including the Godman-Salvin Medal of the British Ornithologists' Union in 1988, and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) Medal in 1992.[ citation needed ] In 1993, he was appointed as the first Warden of the Swans in the Royal Household, playing an important role in the annual Swan Upping ceremony. This was a new office in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, created in 1993. Other awards and honours include: [7]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tit (bird)</span> Family of small passerine birds

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eurasian blue tit</span> Species of bird

The Eurasian blue tit is a small passerine bird in the tit family, Paridae. It is easily recognisable by its blue and yellow plumage and small size.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great tit</span> Passerine bird in the tit family Paridae

The great tit is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is a widespread and common species throughout Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and east across the Palearctic to the Amur River, south to parts of North Africa where it is generally resident in any sort of woodland; most great tits do not migrate except in extremely harsh winters. Until 2005 this species was lumped with numerous other subspecies. DNA studies have shown these other subspecies to be distinct from the great tit and these have now been separated as two distinct species, the cinereous tit of southern Asia, and the Japanese tit of East Asia. The great tit remains the most widespread species in the genus Parus.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long-tailed tit</span> Species of bird in Europe and Asia

The long-tailed tit, also named long-tailed bushtit, is a common bird found throughout Europe and the Palearctic. The genus name Aegithalos was a term used by Aristotle for some European tits, including the long-tailed tit.

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Ben C. Sheldon is the Luc Hoffmann Chair in Field Ornithology and Director of the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology of the University of Oxford's Department of Zoology. He was Head of the Department of Zoology between 2016 and 2021.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Anon (1992). "Perrins, Prof. Christopher Miles" . Who's Who (online Oxford University Press  ed.). Oxford: A & C Black. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.30593.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. 1 2 3 Perrins, Christopher Miles (1963). Some factors influencing brood-size and populations in tits (DPhil thesis). University of Oxford. OCLC   44835614. EThOS   uk.bl.ethos.671392.
  3. 1 2 Birkhead, Timothy Robert (1976). Breeding biology and survival of guillemots (Uria aalge). ora.ox.ac.uk (DPhil thesis). University of Oxford. OCLC   44837387. EThOS   uk.bl.ethos.449886 Lock-green.svg .
  4. 1 2 Ridley, Matthew White (1983). Mating system of the pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) (DPhil thesis). University of Oxford. OCLC   52225811. EThOS   uk.bl.ethos.348151. Archived from the original on 16 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Anon (1997). "Professor Christopher Perrins LVO FRS". London: royalsociety.org. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where:
    "All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License." -- "Royal Society Terms, conditions and policies". Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. ↑ "Weekend birthdays", The Guardian , p. 52, 10 May 2014
  7. 1 2 3 4 Perrins, Chris (2015). "Professor Chris Perrins LVO FRS". Oxford: University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 28 March 2015.
  8. ↑ Christopher Perrins, Professor of Zoology at Oxford University talks about Swan Upping on YouTube
  9. 1 2 Charmantier, A.; McCleery, R. H.; Cole, L. R.; Perrins, C.; Kruuk, L. E. B.; Sheldon, B. C. (2008). "Adaptive Phenotypic Plasticity in Response to Climate Change in a Wild Bird Population". Science . 320 (5877): 800–803. Bibcode:2008Sci...320..800C. doi:10.1126/science.1157174. PMID   18467590. S2CID   206512427.
  10. ↑ Charmantier, A.; Perrins, C.; McCleery, R. H.; Sheldon, B. C. (2006). "Quantitative genetics of age at reproduction in wild swans: Support for antagonistic pleiotropy models of senescence". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 103 (17): 6587–6592. Bibcode:2006PNAS..103.6587C. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0511123103 . PMC   1458927 . PMID   16618935. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  11. ↑ Mccleery, R. H.; Perrins, C. M.; Wheeler, D.; Groves, S. (2006). "The effect of breeding status on the timing of moult in Mute Swans Cygnus olor". Ibis. 149 (1): 86–90. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.2006.00596.x.
  12. 1 2 Perrins, Chris (2016). "Oxford Alumni: Professor Chris Perrins". Oxford: University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 21 July 2016.
  13. ↑ Ropert-Coudert, Yan; Guilford, Tim; Freeman, Robin; Boyle, Dave; Dean, Ben; Kirk, Holly; Phillips, Richard; Perrins, Chris (2011). "A Dispersive Migration in the Atlantic Puffin and Its Implications for Migratory Navigation". PLOS ONE . 6 (7): e21336. Bibcode:2011PLoSO...621336G. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0021336 . PMC   3140476 . PMID   21799734. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  14. ↑ Savill, Peter; Perrins, Christopher; Kirby, Keith; Fisher, Nigel (2011). Wytham Woods: Oxford's Ecological Laboratory. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 282. doi:10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199605187.001.0001. ISBN   9780199605187. Archived from the original on 23 August 2016.
  15. ↑ Dean, B.; Freeman, R.; Kirk, H.; Leonard, K.; Phillips, R. A.; Perrins, C. M.; Guilford, T. (2012). "Behavioural mapping of a pelagic seabird: combining multiple sensors and a hidden Markov model reveals the distribution of at-sea behaviour". Journal of the Royal Society Interface . 10 (78): 20120570. doi:10.1098/rsif.2012.0570. PMC   3565783 . PMID   23034356. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  16. ↑ Chris Perrins's publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
  17. ↑ Perrins, C. M. (2008). "Tits and their caterpillar food supply". Ibis. 133: 49–54. doi: 10.1111/j.1474-919X.1991.tb07668.x . S2CID   84885659.
  18. ↑ Perrins, C. M. (2008). "Eggs, egg formation and the timing of breeding". Ibis. 138 (1): 2–15. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1996.tb04308.x.
  19. ↑ Pettifor, R. A.; Perrins, C. M.; McCleery, R. H. (1988). "Individual optimization of clutch size in great tits". Nature. 336 (6195): 160–162. Bibcode:1988Natur.336..160P. doi:10.1038/336160a0. S2CID   4349069.
  20. ↑ Noordwijk, A.J. Van; McCleery, R.H.; Perrins, C.M. (1995). "Selection for the Timing of Great Tit Breeding in Relation to Caterpillar Growth and Temperature". The Journal of Animal Ecology. 64 (4): 451. doi:10.2307/5648. JSTOR   5648.
  21. ↑ British Tits (1979) Collins New Naturalist Series ISBN   978-0002195379
  22. ↑ Encyclopedia of Birds (1985) Christopher M. Perrins and A.L.A. Middleton, Facts on File Inc ISBN   978-0816011506
  23. ↑ The Mute Swan (1986) Helm Field Guides, Birkhead M. Perrins C. ISBN   978-0709932598
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