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Contact Details Department of Biology (Area 18) University of York PO Box 373 York YO10 5YW Tel: +44 (0)1904 328640 E-mail: gso1@york.ac.uk Office: B/J201

Career Outline

1968	BSc	University of Wales (Bangor)
1971	PhD	University of Liverpool
1971 - 1972	Research Demonstrator	University of Wales (Swansea)
1972 - 2001	Lecturer	University of York
2001-	Senior Lecturer	University of York

Research Interests

My research interests focus on aspects of evolutionary genetics, particularly, but not exclusively, of spiders. Topics of current interest include: (1) genetics, evolution and adaptive significance of parallel colour polymorphisms in spiders; (2) using natural and laboratory-induced hybridizing between two British species of large house spiders (Tegenaria saeva and T. gigantea) to investigate the possibility of reinforcement (increasing reproductive isolation) during speciation (3) ecology, genetics and conservation of the endangered tansy beetle, Chrysolina graminis, a species now apparently confined in the UK to riparian habitats around York; (4) the structure and significance of guanine deposits in spiders.

Discoveries:
We have identified convergent evolution for colour across several unrelated spiders. This work suggests that shared colour morphs are not themselves specifically adaptive but result from developmental constraints. Studies of large house spiders have revealed that interspecific barriers that are strong in the south of England break down in the north, where hybridization is leading the fusion of two species. Work on the declining fortunes of the tansy beetle has shown that habitat per se may not be limiting but that a more scattered distribution of habitat patches may preclude a viable meta-population structure developing. This has consequences for the conservation of this species.

Current Research Projects
Phylogeny and convergence of colour-morph patterns in spiders
Determinants of species distributions and their evolutionary consequences in Tegenaria species
Structure and function of guanine deposits in spiders

Some Recent Publications

Croucher PJP, Jones RM, Searle JB and Oxford GS (2007) Contrasting patterns of hybridization in large house spiders (Tegenaria atrica group, Agelenidae) Evolution 61: 1622-1640

Chapman DS, Dytham C and Oxford GS (2007) Landscape and fine-scale movements of a leaf beetle: the importance of boundary behaviour Oecologia 154: 55-64