Behavioural Ecology, the study of the adaptive significance of animal behaviour, has empowered zoologists to tackle some of the fundamental issues of evolutionary biology. Insects, although not always easy to study as individuals in the field, have provided excellent model systems for this area of research.
In this talk, I will outline some of the research done by myself and colleagues on the behavioural ecology of insects. I will discuss what a saltmarsh beetle can tell us about the evolution of parental care; what marine water-striders can tell us about selfish group behaviour; what the behaviour of gall-living aphids reveals about the altruism of housework, house-maintenance, and the slaughter of intruders; and how extended parental care by solitary digger wasps shows us the first faltering steps along the route to highly complex social behaviour. Along the way we will visit a saltmarsh in North Norfolk, a mangrove swamp in the Galapagos, the playing fields of Cambridge, a Hill Station in Malaya, and a heathland near Godalming. And we will learn about The Trafalgar Effect, Crozier’s Paradox, and the menopausal aphid glue-bomb.
William Foster was the Curator of Insects in the University Museum of Zoology at the University of Cambridge, and a Senior Lecturer, Deputy Head of Department (Teaching), and Director of Alumni Relations and Fundraising in the Department of Zoology. His research focusses on the behaviour and ecology of insects, in particular on the evolution of parental care, group-living, and sociality in beetles, aphids, and wasps; the invertebrates of the canopy of tropical rain forest; and the development of ecologically more sustainable methods of oil-palm agriculture.
He was awarded the Frank Smart Prize for Zoology in 1970 and a Pilkington Teaching Prize in 2004. He was Assistant Editor of The Journal of Experimental Biology from 1974-1994 and the Editor-in-Chief of Biological Reviews from 1997-2019. He has been a Fellow of Clare College since 1976.
Further Info & BookingPosted on 12/02/2026
