Dr Ella Cole

The focus of my research is exploring the causes and consequences of small-scale spatial variation in spring phenology of trees, insects and birds to better understand the scale at which natural selection acts on plasticity. I am particularly interested in understanding what factors may constrain the ability of organisms to response to changing climates. I use a combination of field observations and experiments to explore these questions. Key field data include long-term breeding data from the great and blue tit populations at Wytham Woods, time series of multispectral drone imagery, and fine-scale data on tree and invertebrate phenology.

I manage the Sheldon Group and Wytham Tits Project and currently co-supervise five DPhil students.

behaviour, ecology, evolution, ornithology