Dr Matthew Tinsley

Senior Lecturer

Biological and Environmental Sciences University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA

Contact details

Email matthew.tinsley@stir.ac.uk
Telephone+44 (0)1786 467773

ORCID 0000-0002-7715-1259

About me

Senior Lecturer in Evolutionary Ecology studing the evolutionary ecology of host-parasite systems.

Biography:

PhD - University of Cambridge (2003)

BA - University of Cambridge (1999)

Research

My research focuses predominantly on host-parasite evolutionary ecology, it spans controlled laboratory systems, through to natural field ecology. Most of my work studies insects, but I also investigate amphibians, as well as other invertebrates.

Key topics:

Immune system evolution, Drosophila, entomopathogenic fungi, genetic variation in pathogen defence, host-parasite coevolution, senescence, bumblebee ecology, insect sex ratios, ladybirds, invasive species, ecological impacts of ionizing radiation, sustainable crop pest control with biopesticides.

Lab members:

Jess Burrows is a PhD student studying the effects of ionizing radiation on immune defence in bumblebees.

Kat Raines is a PhD student studying the impact of radiological contamination on bumblebees, her work is centred on the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. Kat is soon to continue her radioactivty work as a NERC Knowledge Exchange Fellow based at Stirling.

Rosie Mangan is a Post-doc funded by BBSRC investingating novel methods of pest control using entomopathogenic fungi to combat insecticide resistance evolution.

Alumni

Katie Murray finished her PhD in 2018. She studied the ecology of parasitism in the invasive harlequin ladybird. She is now a Scottish Government statistician.

Craig Anderson was a post-doc investigating the impact of chronic radiation exposure in the Chernobyl exclusion zone on the evolution of Drosophila melanogaster. He is now a research fellow at the MRC Human Gentics Unit, University of Edinburgh.

Marco Kubiak finished his MPhil thesis in 2017 studying immune senescence in Drosophila.

Jess Scriven finsihed her PhD in 2016 investigating the comparative ecology of closely related cryptic bumblebee species, she is now a statistician for the Scottish Government.

Sumayia Bashir finished her PhD in 2014. She used Drosophila to study interactions between immune defence, metabolism and mitochondrial function.

Danielle Mackenzie finished her Phd in 2014 investigating the mechanisms of immune senescence in Drosophila.

Penelope Whitehorn finished her PhD in 2011, which focussed on the impact of inbreeding on bumblebees and which I co-supervised. Penelope spent some time as a post doc fellow at Stirling investigating the negative effects of insecticides on non-target insects and is now carrying on this work at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany.

Andy Dobson is a post-doc who was worked alongside my group for a number of years as an independent. Amongst other topics, he researches the ecology of tick populations as vectors for Lyme disease and other infections of humans and wildlife; he is now based at Edinburgh University.

Outputs

Showing 20 of 35 — See all 35 outputs

Article

Sex-specific routes to immune senescence in Drosophila melanogaster

Kubiak M & Tinsley MC (2017)
Scientific Reports, 7, Art. No.: 10417.

Article

Sex as a strategy against rapidly evolving parasites

Auld SKJR, Tinkler S & Tinsley MC (2016) Sex as a strategy against rapidly evolving parasites

Article

Tracing ancient evolutionary divergence in parasites

Tinsley RC & Tinsley MC (2016)
Parasitology, 143 (14), pp. 1902-1916.

Article

Bergmann’s Body Size Rule Operates in Facultatively Endothermic Insects: Evidence from a Complex of Cryptic Bumblebee Species

Scriven JJ, Whitehorn PR, Goulson D & Tinsley MC (2016)
PLoS ONE, 11 (10), Art. No.: e0163307.

Article

The harlequin ladybird, Harmonia axyridis: global perspectives on invasion history and ecology

Murray KM, Brown PMJ, Adriaens T, Berkvens N, Borges I, Clusella-Trullas S, Comont RF, De Clercq P, Eschen R, Estoup A, Evans EW, Facon B, Gardiner MM, Roy HE & Tinsley MC (2016)
Biological Invasions, 18 (4), pp. 977-1044.

Article

Niche partitioning in a sympatric cryptic species complex

Scriven JJ, Whitehorn PR, Goulson D & Tinsley MC (2016)
Ecology and Evolution, 6 (5), pp. 1328-1339.

Article

Extinction of an introduced warm-climate alien species, Xenopus laevis, by extreme weather events

Tinsley RC, Stott LC, Viney M, Mabel B & Tinsley MC (2015)
Biological Invasions, 17 (11), pp. 3183-3195.

Commentary

Insufficient evidence of infection-induced phototactic behaviour in Spodoptera exigua: a comment on van Houte et al. (2014)

Dobson A, Auld S & Tinsley MC (2015) Insufficient evidence of infection-induced phototactic behaviour in Spodoptera exigua: a comment on van Houte et al. (2014).

Article

Sex differences in the effects of juvenile and adult diet on age-dependent reproductive effort

Houslay T, Hunt J, Tinsley MC & Bussiere L (2015)
Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 28 (5), pp. 1067-1079.

Article

Chytrid fungus infections in laboratory and introduced Xenopus laevis populations: assessing the risks for U.K. native amphibians

Tinsley RC, Coxhead PG, Stott LC, Tinsley MC, Piccinni MZ & Guille MJ (2015)
Biological Conservation, 184, pp. 380-388.

Article

Revealing the hidden niches of cryptic bumblebees in Great Britain: implications for conservation

Scriven JJ, Woodall L, Tinsley MC, Knight ME, Williams PH, Carolan J, Brown MJF & Goulson D (2015)
Biological Conservation, 182, pp. 126-133.

Article

The evolutionary ecology of complex lifecycle parasites: linking phenomena with mechanisms

Auld S & Tinsley MC (2015)
Heredity, 114 (2), pp. 125-132.

Article

Vector competence of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes for filarial nematodes is affected by age and nutrient limitation

Ariani C, Juneja P, Smith S, Tinsley MC & Jiggins FM (2015)
Experimental Gerontology, 61, pp. 47-53.

Article

Immune response costs are associated with changes in resource acquisition and not resource reallocation

Bashir-Tanoli S & Tinsley MC (2014)
Functional Ecology, 28 (4), pp. 1011-1019.

Article

Genetic diversity and parasite prevalence in two species of bumblebee

Whitehorn PR, Tinsley MC, Brown MJF, Darvill B & Goulson D (2014)
Journal of Insect Conservation, 18 (4), pp. 667-673.

Article

Investigating the impact of deploying commercial Bombus terrestris for crop pollination on pathogen dynamics in wild bumble bees

Whitehorn PR, Tinsley MC, Brown MJF & Goulson D (2013)
Journal of Apicultural Research, 52 (3), pp. 149-157.

Article

Social learning drives handedness in nectar-robbing bumblebees

Goulson D, Park K, Tinsley MC, Bussiere L & Vallejo-Marin M (2013)
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 67 (7), pp. 1141-1150.

Commentary

Female preferences for facial masculinity are probably not adaptations for securing good immunocompetence genes

Bussiere L, Tinsley MC & Laugen A (2013) Female preferences for facial masculinity are probably not adaptations for securing good immunocompetence genes.

Article

Acquired immunity protects against helminth infection in a natural host population: Long-term field and laboratory evidence

Tinsley RC, Stott LC, York JE, Everard ALE, Chapple SJ, Jackson J, Viney M & Tinsley MC (2012)
International Journal for Parasitology, 42 (10), pp. 931-938.

Article

Senescence of the cellular immune response in Drosophila melanogaster

Mackenzie DK, Bussiere L & Tinsley MC (2011)
Experimental Gerontology, 46 (11), pp. 853-859.

See all 35 outputs

University of Stirling

Dr Matthew Tinsley

About me

Research

Outputs

Showing 20 of 35 — See all 35 outputs

Research programmes

Research centres/groups

Research themes