UofA University of Alberta

Ian Robertson, PhD

Email: ian@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca

Dept. of Biological Sciences
CW 405 Biological Sciences Bldg.
University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E9
Canada

ph: (403) 492-0463
fax: (403) 469-3769

I am currently working as a Post Doc at the University of Alberta.

While working on my PhD at SFU, my research focused on the reproductive behaviour of subsocial insects. Recently I have been studying paternal care in the pine engraver, Ips pini (Coleoptera: Scolytidae), as well as working on a mathematical model for the evolution of communal behaviour between unrelated females (e.g., as occurs in burying beetles, Nicrophorus spp.). My postdoctoral research focuses on the evolution of mass attack in bark beetles and the reproductive ecology of the northern spruce engraver, Ips perturbatus.

Recent Publications

Roitberg, B.D., I.C. Robertson, & J.G.A. Tyerman. 1999. Vive la variance: a functional oviposition theory for insect herbivores. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 91: 187-194.

Robertson, I.C. & B.D. Roitberg. 1998. Duration of paternal care in pine engraver beetles: why do larger males care less? Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol., 43: 379-386.

Robertson, I.C. 1998. Paternal care enhances male reproductive success in pine engraver beetles. Animal Behavior, 56: 595-602.

Robertson, I.C., Robertson, W.G. & B.D. Roitberg. 1998. A model of mutual tolerance and the origin of communal associations between unrelated females. Journal of Insect Behavior 11: 265-286.

Robertson, I.C. 1998. Flight muscle chamges in male pine engraver beetles: the effects of body size, mating status and breeding failure. Physiological Entomology 23: 75-80.

Robertson, I.C., Roitberg, B.D., Williamson, I., & S.E. Senger. 1995. Contextual chemical ecology: An evolutionary approach to the chemical ecology of insects. American Entomologist 41: 237-239.

Robertson, I.C. 1993. Nest intrusions, infanticide, and parental care in the burying beetle, Nicrophorus orbicollis (Coleoptera: Silphidae). Journal of Zoology, (London) 231: 583-593.


Last updated August 3, 1998