Christopher Miles Perrins, (born 11 May 1935) is

Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology The Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology (EGI), at Oxford University in England, is an academic body that conducts research in ornithology and the general field of evolutionary ecology and conservation biology, with an emphasis on under ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, Emeritus Fellow at

Wolfson College, Oxford Wolfson College () is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Wolfson is an all-graduate college, it prides itself on being one of the most international colleges at Oxford, with part ...

and His Majesty's

Warden of the Swans The Warden of the Swans is an office in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwes ...

since 1993.

Education

Perrins was educated at

Charterhouse School Charterhouse is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Godalming, Surrey, England. Founded by Thomas Sutton in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian monastery in Charter ...

and Queen Mary College where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in

Zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

in 1957. He completed his postgraduate study and research at the

where he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1963 for research on brood size in tits supervised by David Lack.

Research and career

Perrins research interests are in the

population dynamics Population dynamics is the type of mathematics used to model and study the size and age composition of populations as dynamical systems. Population dynamics is a branch of mathematical biology, and uses mathematical techniques such as differenti ...

and breeding biology of birds, particularly tits (''Paridae''),

mute swan The mute swan (''Cygnus olor'') is a species of swan and a member of the waterfowl family Anatidae. It is native to much of Eurasia, and (as a rare winter visitor) the far north of Africa. It is an introduced species in North America, home to ...

s and

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ...

s on

Skomer Skomer () or Skomer Island is an island off the coast of Pembrokeshire, in the community of Marloes and St Brides in west Wales. It is well known for its wildlife: around half the world's population of Manx shearwaters nest on the island, the A ...

and

Skokholm Skokholm () or Skokholm Island is an island off the coast of Pembrokeshire, Wales, south of the neighbouring island of Skomer. The surrounding waters are a marine reserve and all are part of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Both island ...

. He investigated animal lead poisoning of swans from

lead shot Shot is a collective term for small spheres or pellets, often made of lead. These have been projected from slings since ancient times and were the original projectiles for shotguns and are still fired primarily from shotguns and grenade launch ...

. He is renowned for his work on avian

population ecology Population ecology is a sub-field of ecology that deals with the dynamics of species populations and how these populations interact with the environment (biophysical), environment, such as birth rate, birth and death rates, and by immigration an ...

and, in particular, reproductive rates. He has made a number of important contributions to the long-term study of the

great tit The great tit (''Parus major'') is a small passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is a widespread and common species throughout Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and east across the Palearctic to the Amur River, south to parts of No ...

Wytham Woods Wytham Woods is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north-west of Oxford in Oxfordshire. It is a Nature Conservation Review site. Habitats in this site, which formerly belonged to Abingdon Abbey, include ancient woodland and limest ...

— an area of mixed woodland established in 1947 by evolutionary biologist David Lack – one of the most famous studies in population ecology. He was the first to discover that avian clutch size – the number of eggs laid in a single nesting – in great tits has a remarkably high

heritability Heritability is a statistic used in the fields of Animal husbandry, breeding and genetics that estimates the degree of ''variation'' in a phenotypic trait in a population that is due to genetic variation between individuals in that population. T ...

and that the likelihood of the survival of young birds can be traced back to nutrition in the nest. Perrins also demonstrated that females lay a clutch of an appropriate size for their ability to feed. He supervised several successful DPhil students at Oxford including

Matt Ridley Matthew White Ridley, 5th Viscount Ridley (born 7 February 1958), is a British science writer, journalist and businessman. He is known for his writings on science, the environment, and economics, and has been a regular contributor to ''The Tim ...

and

Tim Birkhead Timothy Robert Birkhead One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: (born 1950) is a British ornithologist. He has been Professor of Behaviour and Evolution at the University of Sheffield ...

. According to

Scopus Scopus is a scientific abstract and citation database, launched by the academic publisher Elsevier as a competitor to older Web of Science in 2004. The ensuing competition between the two databases has been characterized as "intense" and is c ...

, his most cited journal articles have been published in ''

Ibis The ibis () (collective plural ibises; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word f ...

'', ''

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

'', ''

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

'' and the '' Journal of Animal Ecology''.

Publications

* ''British Tits''British Tits (1979) Collins New Naturalist Series * ''Encyclopedia of Birds'' * ''The Mute Swan''The Mute Swan (1986) Helm Field Guides, Birkhead M. Perrins C. * ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Birds: The Definitive Guide to Birds of the World:'' Christopher M. Perrins Hardline (1990) * ''Bird Population Studies: Relevance to Conservation and Management:'' (Oxford Ornithology Series) by Christopher M. Perrins, G. J. Hirons and J. D. Lebreton (1996) * ''The Birds of the Western Palearctic, Volume 1: Non-passerines'' David Snow, Christopher M. Perrins and Robert Gillmor (1998) Oxford University Press. * ''The Birds of the Western Palearctic, Volume 2:'' by David Snow, Christopher M. Perrins and Robert Gillmor (1998) Oxford University Press. * ''The New Encyclopedia of Birds:'' Editor, (2003) Oxford University Press. * ''The Complete Encyclopedia of Birds and Bird Migration:'' Jonathan Elphick: Christopher M. Perrins (2004)

Awards and honours

Perrins has received a number of awards for his research, including the

Godman-Salvin Medal The Godman-Salvin Medal is a medal of the British Ornithologists' Union awarded "to an individual as a signal honour for distinguished ornithological work." It was instituted in 1919 in the memory of Frederick DuCane Godman and Osbert Salvin. M ...

of the British Ornithologists' Union in 1988, and the

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a Charitable_organization#United_Kingdom, charitable organisation registered in Charity Commission for England and Wales, England and Wales and in Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, ...

(RSPB) Medal in 1992. In 1993, he was appointed as the first Warden of the Swans in the Royal Household, playing an important role in the annual Swan Upping ceremony. This was a new office in the Royal Household of the

Sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title that can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to ...

of the United Kingdom, created in 1993. Other awards and honours include: *

American Ornithologists' Union The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its ...

: Corresponding Member, 1976, Fellow, 1983. * Deutschen Ornithologen-Gesellschaft: Corresponding Fellow, 1991, Life Fellow, 2001. *Nederlandse Ornithologische Unie: Life Fellow, 1992. * Elected an Honorary Fellow, Queen Mary; Westfield College in 1996 * Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1997 One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: * Union Medal of the British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) in 2016, awarded for outstanding contribution to the BOU and ornithology. having served as President of the BOU from 2003 to 2007

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perrins, Christopher Miles 1935 births Living people 20th-century British biologists Presidents of the British Ornithologists' Union Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of Wolfson College, Oxford Lieutenants of the Royal Victorian Order New Naturalist writers People educated at Charterhouse School Edward Grey Institute people