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Academic

Dr Douglas Yu

Douglas Yu
Job Title Contact Location
Reader  Douglas dot Yu at uea dot ac dot uk
Tel: +44 (0)1603 59 3835  
Biology 01.27 
  • Personal
  • Research
  • Teaching
  • Publications
  • Admin

Career

  • Director of the Ecology, Conservation, and Environment Center (ECEC), a joint venture with the Kunming Institute of Zoology (www.kiz.ac.cn/en)
  • Lecturer - University of East Anglia (2000 -present)
  • Postdoctoral research associate, Imperial College Centre for Population Biology (1999-2000)
  • Ph.D. - Harvard University (1997) NATO Postdoctoral Fellow, Imperial College (1998)
  • B.Sc. - Biology, Princeton University (1987)

Website

Key Research Interests

We study cooperation in two of its manifestations: Mutualisms (cooperation between species) and Conservation (cooperation between humans and nature). We use a combination of field studies, experiments, and theory to understand and identify the mechanisms that allow the persistence of cooperation in the presence of cheating. See also: http://web.me.com/dougwyu/Yu_Group/Research_synopsis.html

Current Research Projects 

Research projects in mutualism include:
  • The application of theory from the economics of information/mechanism design to the evolution of mutualism.
  • Modelling and experimenting with ant-plant and fig-wasp mutualisms.
  • Using experiment and spatial genetic structure to parameterize spatial models of species coexistence.

Research projects in conservation include:
  • Wild meat (bushmeat) hunting and other people-park conflicts, using the relationship between Matsigenka Amerindians and Manu National Park, Peru, as a model system.
  • Ecotourism and deforestation modeling in Amazonian Peru
  • Using DNA taxonomy to develop rapid biodiversity censusing methods.

Life in our research group 

The four major tools in population biology are observation, experiment, models, and molecules. My students, postdocs, and I concentrate on the first two, collaborate to produce models, and are starting to add molecular markers to our toolkit (e.g. Debout, G. D. et al. (in press) Unexplained split sex ratios in the Neotropical symbiotic plant-ant, Allomerus octoarticulatus.... Evolution doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2009.00824.x.) Fieldwork has tended to be concentrated in south-western, Amazonian Peru, where my students have worked on a variety of topics, from ecotourism to bushmeat hunting to ant-plant symbioses. Our ideal project is one in which we find a new source of data (or a clever way to get otherwise-difficult data) to answer longstanding questions. As of 2009, because of my position in China, my research group here is concentrating on developing rapid protocols for measuring biodiversity. Without mechanisms to monitor the state of nature in ways that are cheap, repeatable, and verifiable, there is no way to set up incentives to preserve biodiversity.

PhD Positions 

Please email me to discuss PhD opportunities and projects within the School of Biological Sciences.

Postdocs & Fellows 

I very much welcome postdoctoral associates who wish to conduct fieldwork in southwestern China, under the aegis of the ECEC (see above). I can provide laboratory facilities, logistical help, and introductions to appropriate Chinese collaborators. I am also happy to sponsor fellowship applications to funders outside China that involve the same.

Teaching Activities

  • 1A04
  • 1A06
  • M517
  • 3C21
  • M511
  • 2B18
Number of items: 66.

Article

Scheuring, I, Yu, D and van Baalen, M (2012) How to assemble a beneficial microbiome in three easy steps. Ecology Letters, 15 (11). pp. 1300-1307. ISSN 1461023X

Shepard, G, Levi, T, Neves, EG, Peres, CA and Yu, DW (2012) Hunting in ancient and modern amazonia: Rethinking sustainability. American Anthropologist, 114.

Wang, H, Ridley, J, Dunn, DW, Wang, RW, Cook, JM and Yu, DW (2012) Biased oviposition and biased survival together help resolve a fig-wasp conflict. Oikos. (In Press)

Ye, C, Ma, Z, Cannon, CH, Pop, M and Yu, D (2012) Exploiting sparseness in de novo genome assembly. BMC Bioinformatics, 13 (Suppl 6). S1. ISSN 1471-2105

Yu, D, Ji, Y, Emerson, BC, Wang, X, Ye, C, Yang, C and Ding, Z (2012) Biodiversity soup: metabarcoding of arthropods for rapid biodiversity assessment and biomonitoring. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 3 (4). pp. 613-623. ISSN 2041210X

Yu, DW, Ji, YQ, Emerson, B.C, Ding, ZL, Wang, XY, Yang, CY and Ye, CX (2012) Biodiversity Soup: Metabarcoding of arthropods for rapid biodiversity assessment and biomonitoring. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. (In Press)

Dunn, DW, Jansen-González, S, Cook, JM, Yu, DW and Pereira, RAS (2011) Measuring the discrepancy between fecundity and lifetime reproductive success in a pollinating fig wasp. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 140 (3). pp. 218-225. ISSN 00138703

Archetti, M, Úbeda, F, Fudenberg, D, Green, J, Pierce, NE and Yu, DW (2011) Let the Right One In: A Microeconomic Approach to Partner Choice in Mutualisms. The American Naturalist, 177 (1). pp. 75-85. ISSN 0003-0147

Archetti, M, Scheuring, I, Hoffman, M, Frederickson, ME, Pierce, NE and Yu, DW (2011) Economic game theory for mutualism and cooperation. Ecology Letters, 14 (12). pp. 1300-1312. ISSN 1461023X

Barke, J, Seipke, RF, Yu, DW and Hutchings, MI (2011) A mutualistic microbiome: How do fungus-growing ants select their antibiotic-producing bacteria? Communicative and Integrative Biology.

Kirkby, CA, Giudice, R, Day, B, Turner, K, Soares-Filho, BS, Oliveira-Rodrigues, H and Yu, DW (2011) Closing the ecotourism-conservation loop in the Peruvian Amazon. Environmental Conservation, 38 (1). pp. 6-17.

Levi, T, Lu, F, Yu, DW and Mangel, M (2011) The behavior and idet breadth f central-place foragers: an application to human hunters and Neotropical game management. Evolutionary Ecology Research, 13. pp. 171-185. ISSN 1522-0613

Levi, T, Shepard, GH, Ohl-Schacherer, J, Wilmers, C, Peres, CA and Yu, DW (2011) Spatial tools for modeling the sustainability of subsistence hunting in tropical forests. Ecological Applications, 21 (5). pp. 1802-1818. ISSN 0051-0761

Seipke, RF, Barke, J, Brearley, C, Hill, L, Yu, DW, Goss, RJM and Hutchings, MI (2011) A Single Streptomyces Symbiont Makes Multiple Antifungals to Support the Fungus Farming Ant Acromyrmex octospinosus. PLoS ONE, 6 (8). e22028. ISSN 1932-6203

Seipke, RF, Barke, J, Ruiz-Gonzalez, MX, Orivel, J, Yu, DW and Hutchings, MI (2011) Fungus-gorwing Allomerus ants are associated with antibiotic-producing Actinobacteria. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. (In Press)

Wu, R, Zhang, S, Yu, DW, Zhao, P, Li, X, Wang, L, Yu, Q, Ma, J, Chen, A and Long, Y (2011) Effectiveness of China's nature reserves in representing ecological diversity. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. ISSN 1540-9295

Yu, DW, Levi, T and Shepard, GH (2010) Conservation in Low-Governance Environments. Biotropica, 42 (5). pp. 569-571. ISSN 00063606

Weyl, EG, Frederickson, ME, Yu, DW and Pierce, NE (2010) From the Cover: Economic contract theory tests models of mutualism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107 (36). pp. 15712-15716. ISSN 0027-8424

Bawa, KS, Koh, LP, Lee, TM, Liu, J, Ramakrishnan, PS, Yu, DW, Zhang, YP and Raven, PH (2010) China, India, and the Environment. Science, 327 (5972). pp. 1457-1459. ISSN 0036-8075

Barke, J, Seipke, R, Grüschow, S, Heavens, D, Drou, N, Bibb, MJ, Goss, RJM, Yu, D and Hutchings, M (2010) A mixed community of actinomycetes produce multiple antibiotics for the fungus farming ant Acromyrmex octospinosus. BMC biology, 8 (1). p. 109. ISSN 1741-7007

Debout, Gabriel, Frederickson, Megan., Aron, Serge and Yu, Douglas (2010) Unexplained split sex ratios in the neotropical plant-ant, Allomerus octoarticulatus var. demerarae (Myrmicinae): a test of hypotheses. Evolution, 64 (1). pp. 126-141. ISSN 00143820

Endo, W, Peres, C, Salas, E, Mori, S, Sanchez-Vega, J-L, Shepard, G, Pacheco, V and Yu, D (2010) Game Vertebrate Densities in Hunted and Nonhunted Forest Sites in Manu National Park, Peru. Biotropica, 42 (2). pp. 251-261. ISSN 00063606

Kirkby, CA, Giudice-Granados, R, Day, B, Turner, K, Velarde-Andrade, LM, Duenas-Duenas, A, Lara-Rivas, JC and Yu, DW (2010) The market triumph of ecotourism: An economic investigation of the private and social benefits of competing land uses in the Peruvian Amazon. PLoS ONE, 5 (9). e13015.

Shepard, GH, Rummenhoeller, K, Ohl-Schacherer, J and Yu, DW (2010) Trouble in Paradise: Indigenous Populations, Anthropological Policies, and Biodiversity Conservation in Manu National Park, Peru. Journal of Sustainable Forestry, 29 (2). pp. 252-301. ISSN 1054-9811

Weyl, G, Frederickson, ME, Yu, DW and Pierce, NE (2010) Using the economic theory of contracts to test two models of mutualism, host sanctions and partner fidelity feedback. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) ISSN 1091-6490.

Edwards, D.P., Frederickson, M.E., Shepard, G.H. and Yu, D.W. (2009) 'A plant needs ants like a dog needs fleas:' Myrmelachista schumanni ants gall many tree species to create housing. American Naturalist, 174. pp. 734-740.

Levi, T, Shepard Jr., GH, Ohl-Schacherer, J, Peres, CA and Yu, DW (2009) Modelling the long-term sustainability of indigenous hunting in Manu National Park, Peru: Landscape-scale management implications for Amazonia. Journal of Applied Ecology, 46(4). pp. 804-814.

Szilagyi, A., Scheuring, I., Orivel, J., Edwards, D.P. and Yu, D.W. (2009) The evolution of intermediate castration virulence and ant coexistence in a spatially structured environment. Ecology Letters, 12. pp. 1306-1316.

Wang, R.W., Ridley, J., Shi, L., Dunn, D.W., Cook, J.M., Zhang, Y-P. and Yu, D.W. (2009) Interference competition and high temperature reduce the 'virulence' of fig wasps and stabilize a fig-wasp mutualism. PLoS One , 4. p. 7802.

Abraao, M, Baniwa, JC, Nelson, BW, Andrello, G, Yu, DW and Shepard, G (2008) Ethnobotanical ground-truthing of Baniwa landscape knowledge in the White-Sand Campinarana Forests of the Upper Rio Negro, Brazil. Journal of Biogeography, 35 (12). pp. 2237-2248.

Dunn, D, Ridley, J, Cook, JM and Yu, DW (2008) Longevity, size and early emergence in a pollinating fig wasp - implications for the stability of the fig-pollinator mutualism. Journal of Animal Ecology, 77 (5). pp. 927-935.

Bush, AA, Yu, DW and Herberstein, ME (2008) Function of bright colouration in the Wasp Spider Argiope bruennichi (Araneae: Araneidae). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 275 (1640). pp. 1337-1342.

Dunn, DW, Segar, ST, Ridley, J, Chan, R, Crozier, RH, Yu, DW and Cook, JM (2008) A role for parasites in stabilising the fig-pollinator mutualism. Plos Biology, 6. p. 59.

Edwards, DP and Yu, DW (2008) Tolerating castration by hiding flowers in plain sight. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 63 (1). pp. 95-102.

Fisher, B, Turner, K, Zylstra, M, Brouwer, R, de Groot, R, Farber, S, Ferraro, P, Green, R, Hadley, D, Harlow, J, Jerreriss, P, Kirkby, C, Morling, P, Mowatt, S, Naidoo, R, Paavola, J, Strassburg, B, Yu, DW and Balmford, A (2008) Integrating Ecosystem Services and Economic Theory: what can we do, what should we do, and what has been done? Ecological Applications, 18 (8). pp. 2050-2067.

Ohl-Schacherer, J., Mannigel, Elke, Kirkby, C., Shepard Jr, Glenn H. and Yu, D.W. (2008) Indigenous ecotourism in the Amazon: A case study of "Casa Matsiguenka" in Manu National Park, Peru. Environmental Conservation, 35. pp. 14-25.

Debout, Gabriel, Ventelon-Debout, M, Emerson, Brent and Yu, Douglas (2007) PCR primers for polymorphic microsatellite loci in the plant-ant Azteca ulei cordiae (Formicidae: Dolichoderinae). Molecular Ecology Notes, 7 (4). pp. 607-609. ISSN 14718278

Edwards, D.P., Arauco, R., Hassall, M., Sutherland, W.J., Chamberlain, K., Wadhams, L.J. and Yu, D.W. (2007) Protection in an ant - plant mutualism: an adaptation or a sensory trap? Animal Behaviour, 74. pp. 377-385.

Edwards, D.P. and Yu, D.W. (2007) The roles of sensory traps in the origin, maintenance, and breakdown of mutualism. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 61. pp. 1321-1327.

Ohl, J., Wezel, A., Shepard Jr., G.H. and Yu, D.W. (2007) Swidden agriculture in a human-inhabited protected area: The Matsigenka native communities of Manu National Park, Peru. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 10. pp. 827-843.

Ohl-Schacherer, J., Shepard Jr, G.H., Kaplan, H., Peres, C.A., Levi, T. and Yu, D.W. (2007) The sustainability of subsistence hunting by Matsigenka native communities in Manu National Park. Conservation Biology, 21. pp. 1174-1185.

Debout, G.D.G., Pereyra, R., Emerson, B.C. and Yu, D.W. (2006) Characterisation of polymorphic microsatellites in the castration parasite plant-ant Allomerus octoarticulatus cf. demerae (Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Molecular Ecology Notes, 6. pp. 182-184.

Edwards, D.P., Hassall, M., Sutherland, W.J. and Yu, D.W. (2006) Assembling a mutualism: ant symbionts locate their host plants by detecting volatile chemicals. Insectes Sociaux, 53. pp. 172-176.

Edwards, DP, Hassall, M, Sutherland, WJ and Yu, DW (2006) Selection for protection in an ant-plant mutualism: Host sanctions, host modularity, and the principal-agent game. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 273 (1586). pp. 595-602.

Ridley, J., Yu, D. and Sutherland, W.J. (2005) Why long-lived species are more likely to be social: the role of local dominance. Behavioral Ecology, 16. pp. 358-363.

da Silva, M.N., Shepard Jr., G.H. and Yu, D.W. (2005) Conservation implications of primate hunting practices among the Matsigenka of Manu National Park. Neotropical Primates, 13. pp. 31-36.

Yu, D., Ridley, J., Cook, J. M., Weiblen, G. D., Jousselin, E., Herre, E. A., Compton, S. G. and Moore, J. C. (2004) Oviposition strategies, host coercion and the stable exploitation of figs by wasps. Proceedings of The Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 271 (1544). pp. 1185-1195. ISSN 0962-8452

Yu, D.W., Wilson, H.B., Frederickson, M.E., Palomino, W., De La Colina, R., Balareso, A.A. and Edwards, D.P. (2004) Experimental demonstration of species coexistence enabled by dispersal limitation. Journal of Animal Ecology, 73 (6). pp. 1102-1114. ISSN 0021-8790

Peres, C A., Baider, PA, Wadt, KA, Zuidema, LHO, Kainer, KA, Gomes-Silva, DAP, Salomao, RP, Simoes, LL, Franciosi, ERN, Valverde, FC, Gribel, R, Shepard, GH, Kanashiro, M, Coventry, P, Yu, DW, Watkinson, AR and Freckleton, RP (2003) Demographic threats to the sustainability of brazil nut exploitation. Science, 302 (5653). pp. 2112-2114. ISSN 0036-8075

Yu, D.W. and Ridley, J. (2003) Geopolitics in a buttercup. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 18. pp. 163-165.

Yu, D.W., Sutherland, W.J. and Clark, C.W. (2002) Trade versus environment. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 17. pp. 341-344.

Shepard Jr, G.H. and Yu, D.W. (2001) Verificacion etnobotanica de imagenes de satelite: La interseccion de conocimientos tradicionales y cientificos. Debate Agrario, 33. pp. 19-24.

Shepard Jr., G, Yu, DW, Lizarralde, M and Italiano, M (2001) Rain forest habitat classification among the Matsigenka of the Peruvian Amazon. Journal of Ethnobiology, 21. pp. 1-38.

Weiblen, G.D., Yu, D.W. and West, S.A. (2001) Pollination and parasitism in functionally dioecious figs. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 268. pp. 651-659.

Yu, D.W. (2001) Parasites of mutualisms. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 72. pp. 529-546.

Yu, D.W. and Wilson, H.B. (2001) The competition-colonization trade-off is dead: Long live the competition-colonization trade-off. American Naturalist, 158 (1). pp. 49-63. ISSN 0003-0147

Yu, D.W., Wilson, H.B. and Pierce, N.E. (2001) An empirical model of species coexistence in a spatially structured environment. Ecology, 82 (6). pp. 1761-1771. ISSN 0012-9658

Plotkin, J.B., Potts, M.D., Yu, D.W., Bunyavejchewin, S., Condit, R., Foster, R., Hubbell, S., LaFrankie, J., Manokaran, N., Seng, L.H., Sukumar, R., Nowak, M.A. and Ashton, P.S. (2000) Predicting species diversity in tropical forests. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 97. pp. 10850-10854.

Book Section

Abraao, MB, Shepard Jr, GH, Nelson, BW, Baniwa, JC, Andrello, G and Yu, DW (2010) Baniwa habitat classification in the white-sand campinarana habitat of the Northwest Amazon. In: Landscape ethnoecology: concepts of biotic and physical space. Berghahn Books, New York, pp. 83-115.

Kirkby, C., Giudice, R., Day, B., Turner, R.K., Soares-Filho, B.F., Oliveira-Rodrigues, H. and Yu, D.W. (2009) Closing the ecotourism-conservation loop in Amazonian Peru. In: The Theory and Practice or Ecosystem Service Valuation. Cambridge University Press.

Kirkby, C. and Yu, D.W. (2009) Ecotourism case study. In: Introduction to Tropical Rain Forest Ecology. Oxford University Press.

Yu, DW (2009) Managing the exploitation of wildlife in tropical forests. In: Conservation Biology for All. Oxford University Press, pp. 121-123.

Yu, D.W., Proulx, S.M. and Shepard, G.H. (2008) Masculinity, marriage and the paradox of the lek. In: The Body Beautiful. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 88-107.

Shepard, Glenn, Yu, D.W., Nelson, B., Lizarralde, M. and Italiano, M. (2004) Ethnobotanical Ground-Truthing and Forest Diversity in the Western Amazon. In: Ethnobotany and conservation of. New York Botanical Gardens (Advances in Economic Botany), New York.

Other

Yu, D.W. (2005) Seeking evidence of God's work undermines faith. UNSPECIFIED.

Shepard, G. and Yu, D.W. (2002) Vanishing cultures (Comment). UNSPECIFIED.

This list was generated on Fri Apr 5 08:26:50 2013 BST.

Administrative Posts/Responsibilities

  • Director of the BIO North America Programme
  • Module Organiser of Introduction to Ecology (1A8Y), Multivariate Statistics (M517), and Ecology Research Projects (3C4Y).
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