Professor Chris D Thomas FRS

Research

Chris is Director of the transdisciplinary Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity. He and his research group are interested in understanding how humans have transformed the biological world, and how humans might protect the world’s remaining biodiversity. His research and fall into three main areas: scientific publications 

Chris is currently focussed on the ecological and evolutionary impacts of human activities on biological systems as a means to tackle both theoretical questions in ecology and issues relevant to the management of biodiversity.  Chris is particularly interested in projects that identify the ecological and evolutionary characteristics of species that are successful in the Anthropocene, and identifying the processes underlying biodiversity gain during a period of rapid environmental change.

Teaching and scholarship

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I teach in the areas of ecology, evolution and environmental change. I like to help students assess information critically, generate their own ideas, and to think about the consequences of biological knowledge outside academia (contemplating how biological knowledge might affect conservation decisions).

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My formal teaching concentrates on how humans have altered the biological world (the Anthropocene), covering subjects that include climate change, habitat change, the extinction of large animals, biological invasions and the conservation of biodiversity. I consider losses of biological diversity and also gains in diversity associated with evolutionary adaptation to new environments and the arrival of species in regions where they were not previously found.

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My tutorials are in the area of ecology and conservation, but students are welcome to suggest any topic to discuss. The approach is very flexible, including short presentations, debates, and discussion of the philosophy as well as practice of conservation. 

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Undergraduate and Masters-level projects are available in any area of ecology or conservation biology. Students usually develop analyses of data that have either been collected in the lab, or they use information from the literature and databases to tackle fundamental scientific questions. Students learn new analytical methods during their projects, as well as gaining increased knowledge of the subject. The intention is for each project to generate new knowledge that was not available beforehand.