Professor Daniel Franks
Professor
Research
Key Research Interests
Most animals are embedded in complex societies, and individuals differ in their tendency to interact with others and in their position in a social network. Animal social strategies are important to understand because they can impact fitness, health, collective actions, and life-history.
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Figure 1: A social network of interactions among resident killer whales. Sons and daughters stick with their mother their entire lives, forming close-knit family groups. |
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Dan’s research group aims to understand ecological systems from a behavioural and evolutionary perspective, with a focus on social behaviour and life-history evolution. His interdisciplinary team uses a variety of empirical and statistical approaches, along with computational models and social network analysis. Dan has a keen interest in Bayesian statistics and causal inference applied to observational data.
One of my study species is the fish-eating resident killer whale (orca). Resident orcas is an endangered and iconic species, and lives in highly social and closely knit societies. Their life-history is extremely interesting with females living into their 80s and 90s yet ceasing reproduction (as with menopause) half-way through their life. Our research has shown that killer whales are dependent on their mothers and grandmothers for their entire lives, and that old post-reproductive females play a crucial role in leading their family group to food - especially in years of need.
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Figure 2: Older post-reproductive females lead their family group to food – especially in times of need. |
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Contact details
http://danfranks.weebly.com