2009 - present : Reader in Evolutionary Ecology,
Queen Mary, University of London.
2008 - present: Extraordinary Professor, Department of Zoology & Entomology, University of Pretoria.
1998 - 2009 : Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Molecular Ecology
& Evolution,
Queen Mary, University of London.
1990-1998: Post-doctoral Research Scientist then Research
Fellow
at the Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London.
1987-1990: PhD "Social Suppression of Reproduction in The
Naked
Mole-Rat, Heterocephalus glaber". Institute of
Zoology,
Zoological Society of London/University College London.
1984-1987: Research Project Leader, Dalgety UK Ltd.
My research interests broadly fall into mammalian evolution and, in particular, the evolution and maintenance of social and reproductive behaviour. This involves a multidisciplinary approach encompassing the fields of molecular ecology, molecular phylogenetics, reproductive physiology, neurobiology and behaviour. My specific study animals have focused mainly on the African mole-rats of the family Bathyergidae.
The African mole-rats (Family: Bathyergidae) are extraordinary among mammals in the diversity and range of social strategies adopted by the member species. The ecological constraints acting upon these subterranean animals have resulted in a spectrum of social organisation ranging from solitary to eusocial (i.e., as in social insects). As such, the Bathyergidae offer a unique model system with which to address the evolution and maintenance of sociality and cooperative breeding. Furthermore, adaptations to life underground have resulted in many other extraordinary biological features, such as extreme longevity (30+ years in the naked mole-rat), an apparent resistance to cancer and insensitivity to certain kinds of pain. Two current areas of research of particular relevance to neuroscience and behaviour are (i) the role of neurotransmitters such as oxytocin and vasopressin in the expression of social behaviour, and the genetics underlying species specific patterns of receptor expression of these and other neural substrates; (ii) the mechanisms underlying socially-induced reproductive suppression, whereby in naked mole-rats, social cues may cause the gonads of fully grown adults to be held in a potentially permanent, but reversible pre-pubertal state.
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2. Genetics and comparative genomics of social behaviour (In
collaboration with Professor N.C.
Bennett, University of Pretoria & Professor Clive Coen, King's College London).
3. MHC gene evolution, parasites and social behaviour in African mole-rats & (In
collaboration with Professor N.C.
Bennett & Dr Heike Lutermann, University of Pretoria).
4. Neurobiology of social behaviour (In
collaboration with Professor Clive Coen, King's College London).
5. Genetic studies
of wild common marmoset
monkeys (In collaboration with Dr M.F. Arruda and Professor
M.E. Yamamoto, University of
Natal, Brazil; Dr M.A.O. Da Cruz, Rural University of Pernambuco,
Brazil).
School of Biological Sciences, Queen Mary, University of
London,
Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK. Tel. 020-7882 3018; Fax 020-8882
0973; e-mail c.g.faulkes@qmul.ac.uk.
African mole-rats: Ecology and
Eusociality now available in paperback. Link to Amazon
/ Cambridge
University Press