Nicholas Barry Davies

Nicholas Barry Davies FRS^[1] (born 1952) is a British field naturalist and zoologist, and Emeritus Professor of Behavioural Ecology at the University of Cambridge,^[2] where he is also a Emeritus Fellow of Pembroke College.

Nicholas Barry Davies FRS
Born	1952 (age 72–73)
Citizenship	British
Alma mater	University of Oxford University of Cambridge
Awards	ASAB Medal Frink Medal Croonian Medal
Scientific career
Fields	Zoology

Research

His books with John Krebs helped to define the field of behavioural ecology, the study of how behaviour evolves in response to selection pressures from ecology and the social environment.^[3]

His study of a small brown bird, the dunnock, linked detailed behavioural observations of individuals to their reproductive success, using DNA profiles to measure paternity and maternity, and revealed how sexual conflicts gave rise to variable mating systems including: monogamy, polygyny, polyandry and polygynandry.

His studies of cuckoos and their hosts have revealed an evolutionary arms race of brood parasite adaptations and host counter-adaptations.

Other studies include: territory economics in pied wagtails; contest behaviour and mate searching in butterflies and toads; parent-offspring conflict and the transition to independence in young birds.

Awards and distinctions

• Scientific Medal of the Zoological Society of London, 1987
• Fellow of the Royal Society, 1994
• University of Cambridge Teaching Prize, 1995
• William Bate Hardy Prize of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 1995^[4]
• Medal of the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour, 1996
• President of the International Society for Behavioural Ecology, 2000-2002
• British Trust for Ornithology / British Birds "Best Book of the Year Award" in 2000 (for Cuckoos, Cowbirds and Other Cheats) and in 2015 (for Cuckoo - Cheating by Nature).
• Frink Medal of the Zoological Society of London, 2001
• Elliott Coues Medal of the American Ornithologists' Union, 2005^[5]
• Hamilton Prize Lecture of the International Society for Behavioural Ecology, 2010
• Croonian Medal and Lecture of the Royal Society, 2015^[6]
• Godman Salvin Medal of the British Ornithologists' Union, 2022^[7]

Key Publications

• Krebs, J.R; Davies, N.B., eds. (1997). Behavioural Ecology - An Evolutionary Approach (4th ed.). Blackwell Science.
• Krebs, J.R; Davies, N.B. (1981). An Introduction to Behavioural Ecology (1st ed.). Blackwell Science.
• Davies, N.B. (1992). Dunnock Behaviour and Social Evolution. Oxford University Press.
• Davies, N.B. (2000). Cuckoos, Cowbirds and Other Cheats. T. & A.D. Poyser. p. 310.
• Davies, N.B.; Krebs, J.R.; West, S.A. (2012). An Introduction to Behavioural Ecology (4th ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.
• Davies, Nick (2015). Cuckoo - Cheating by Nature. Bloomsbury.^[8]

Media

In 2009, his research was featured as a BBC Natural World program "Cuckoo", produced by Mike Birkhead and narrated by David Attenborough.

In 2011 he presented a BBC Radio 4 documentary entitled 'The Cuckoo'.^[9]

In 2016 he was the subject of a BBC Radio documentary in the series The Life Scientific.^[10]

In 2017 he was the guest of Michael Berkeley on BBC Radio 3 Private Passions.^[11]

In 2017 he appeared in an episode of the BBC Radio 4 Natural Histories series entitled "Cuckoo".^[12]