Post:	Research Fellow
Location:	JMS Building 5B25
Email:	L.Conradt@sussex.ac.uk
Telephone numbers
Internal:	3502
UK:	(01273) 873502
International:	+44 1273 873502

Research

My major research interests are in the area of metapopulation ecology. I test important assumptions and predictions of existing metapopulation models, and develop new models, by closely integrating experimental and modelling work at the individual and the population level. The aim is to make realistic predictions about metapopulation dynamics that are applicable to conservation problems.

I study the causes of inter-sexual social and habitat segregation in ungulates. At the moment, I am particularly interested in activity synchronisation (i.e., the need of animals within a group to synchronise their activities in order to remain together) and its influence on social segregation.

·Social animals often have to make communal decisions as a group, for example about which activity to perform and when to perform it ('activity synchronisation'). I investigate how groups of animals achieve such communal decisions and their fitness consequences.

Publications

Conradt, L., Krause, J., Couzin I. D. & Roper, T. J. 2009. Leading according to need in animal groups. American Naturalist 173, 304-312

Lusseau, D. & Conradt, L., 2009. The emergence of unshared consensus decisions in bottlenose dolphins. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology (special issue), 63: 1067-1077.

Conradt, L. & List, C., 2009. Introduction: Group decisions in humans and animal: a survey. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, 364: 719-742.

Conradt, L. & Roper, T. J., 2009. Conflicts of interest and the evolution of decision sharing.                 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B, 364: 807-819.

Conradt, L., 2008. Group Decisions: How (Not) to Choose a Restaurant with Friends.                          Current Biology, 18: R1139-R1140.

Conradt, L. & Roper, T. J., 2007. Democracy in animals: the evolution of shared group decisions. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 274: 2317-2326.

Heinz, S., Wissel, C., Conradt, L. & Frank, K., 2007. Integrating individual movement behaviour into dispersal functions. Journal of Theoretical Biology 245: 601-609.

Conradt, L. & Roper, T. J., 2006. Non-random migration behaviour at habitat boundaries in two British butterfly species: implications for dispersal. Ecology, 87:125-132.

Conradt, L. & Roper, T. J., 2005. Consensus decision making in animals. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 20: 449-456.

Heinz, S., Conradt, L., Wissel, C. & Frank, K.,2005. Dispersal behaviour in fragmented landscapes: Deriving a practical formula for patch accessibility. Landscape Ecology, 20: 83-99.

Conradt, L. & Roper, T. J., 2003. Group decision-making in animals. Nature, 421: 155-158.

Conradt, L., Zollner, P. A., Roper, T. J., Frank, K. & Thomas, C. D., 2003. Foray Search: An effective dispersal strategy in fragmented landscapes. American Naturalist, 161: 905-915.

Roper, T. J., Ostler, J. R. & Conradt, L., 2003. The process of dispersal in badgers Meles meles. Mammal Review 33: 314-318.

Conradt, L., Corbet, S. A., Roper, T. J. & Bodsworth, E. J., 2002. Parasitism by the mite Trombidium breei on four UK butterfly species. Ecological Entomology, 27: 651-659.

Jackson, T. P., Roper, T. J., Conradt, L., Jackson, M. J. & Bennett, N. C., 2002. Alternative refuge strategies and their relation to thermophysiology in two sympatric rodents, Parotomys brantsii and Otomys unisulcatus. Journal of Arid Environments, 51: 21-34.

Roper, T. J., Jackson, T. P., Conradt, L. & Bennett, N. C., 2002. Burrow use and the influence of ectoparasites in Brants' whistling rat Parotomys brantsii. Ethology, 108: 557-564.

Conradt, L., Roper, T. J. & Thomas, C. D., 2001. Dispersal behaviour of individuals in metapopulations of two British butterflies. Oikos, 95: 416-424.

Conradt, L., Gordon, I. J., Clutton-Brock, T. H., Thomson, D. & Guinness, F. E., 2001. Could the indirect competition hypothesis explain inter-sexual site segregation in red deer? Journal of Zoology, 254: 185-193.

Roper, T. J., Bennett, N. C., Conradt, L. & Molteno, A. J., 2001. Environmental conditions in burrows of two species of African mole-rat, Georhychus capensis and Cryptomys damarensis. Journal of Zoology, 254: 101-107.

Thomas, C. D., Bodsworth, E. J., Wilson, R. J., Simmons, A. D., Davies, Z. G., Musche, M. & Conradt, L., 2001. Ecological and evolutionary processes at expanding range margins. Nature, 411: 577-581.

Conradt, L. & Roper, T. J., 2000. Activity synchrony and social cohesion: a fission-fusion model. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 267: 2213-2218.

Conradt, L., Bodsworth, E. J., Roper, T. J. & Thomas, C. D., 2000. Non-random dispersal in Maniola jurtina: implications for metapopulation models. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 267: 1505-1510.

Conradt, L., Clutton-Brock, T. H. & Guinness, F. E., 2000. Sex differences in weather sensitivity can cause habitat segregation: red deer as an example. Animal Behaviour, 59: 1049-1060.

Conradt, L., 2000. Use of a seaweed habitat by red deer (Cervus elaphus L.). Journal of Zoology, 250: 541-549.

Conradt, L., Clutton-Brock, T. H. & Guinness, F. E., 1999. The relationship between habitat choice and lifetime reproductive success in female red deer. Oecologia, 120: 218-224.

Conradt, L., Clutton-Brock, T. H. & Thomson, D., 1999. Habitat segregation in ungulates: are males forced into suboptimal foraging habitats through indirect competition by females? Oecologia, 119: 367-377.

Conradt, L., 1999. Social segregation is not a consequence of habitat segregation in red deer and soay sheep. Animal Behaviour, 57: 1151-1157.

Conradt, L., 1998. Could asynchrony in activity between the sexes cause intersexual social segregation in ruminants? Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 265: 1359-1363.

Conradt, L., 1998. Measuring the degree of sexual segregation in group-living animals. Journal of Animal Ecology, 67: 217-226.

Roper, T. J., Conradt, L., Butler, J., Christian, S. E., Ostler, J. & Schmid, T. K., 1993.                         Territorial marking with feces in badgers (Meles meles) – acomparison of boundary                 and hinterland latrine use. Behaviour, 127: 289-307.