Citation | Tim Birkhead is distinguished for his important contributions to the field of behavioural ecology and avian sperm competition in particular. His major contribution has been the integration of evolutionary and mechanistic questions. He identified, using comparative methods, the main paternity guards in birds, demonstrated the widespread nature of extra-pair paternity in monogamous birds, especially passerines, and showed that extra-pair paternity is more frequent in sexually dimorphic birds, this demonstrating the importance of sperm competition in sexual selection. The study of a single species, the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata demonstrated extra pair paternity and last male sperm precedence and by measuring aspects of both male and female reproductive physiology for the first time, Birkhead was able to integrate this information with behavioural results to elucidate the mechanism of sperm competition in birds. |