Christopher Miles Perrins, (born 11 May 1935) is

Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

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 understa ...

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, Emeritus Fellow at

Wolfson College, Oxford Wolfson College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Located in north Oxford along the River Cherwell, Wolfson is an all-graduate college with around sixty governing body fellows, in addition to both research and ...

and Her 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, created in 1993 when the ancient post of Keeper of the Kings Swans (which dated from the 13th century) was divided into two new posts. The sec ...

since 1993.

Education

Perrins was educated at

Charterhouse School (God having given, I gave) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , president ...

and

Queen Mary College Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and previously Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public university, public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of ...

where he was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in

Zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

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

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

where he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1963 for research on

brood size __NOTOC__ A clutch of eggs is the group of eggs produced by birds, amphibians, or reptiles, often at a single time, particularly those laid in a nest. In birds, destruction of a clutch by predators (or removal by humans, for example the Cali ...

in tits supervised by

David Lack David Lambert Lack FRS (16 July 1910 – 12 March 1973) was a British evolutionary biologist who made contributions to ornithology, ecology, and ethology. His 1947 book, ''Darwin's Finches'', on the finches of the Galapagos Islands was a landm ...

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. History Population dynamics has traditionally been the dominant branch of mathematical biology, which has ...

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 Eurosiberia, and (as a rare winter visitor) the far north of Africa. It is an introduced species in North America, home ...

s and

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

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 At ...

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 islands ...

. He investigated

animal lead poisoning Animal lead poisoning (also known as avian plumbism, or avian saturnism for birds) is a veterinary condition and pathology caused by increased levels of the heavy metal lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and ...

of swans from

lead shot Shot is a collective term for small spheres or pellets, often made of lead. These were the original projectiles for shotguns and are still fired primarily from shotguns and less commonly from riot guns and grenade launchers, although shot shells ...

. 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, such as birth and death rates, and by immigration and emigration. The discipline is importa ...

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 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 North Af ...

Wytham Woods Wytham Woods are 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 limes ...

— an area of mixed woodland established in 1947 by evolutionary biologist

– one of the most famous studies in population ecology. He was the first to discover that

avian clutch size Clutch size refers to the number of eggs laid in a single brood by a nesting pair of birds. The numbers laid by a particular species in a given location are usually well defined by evolutionary trade-offs with many factors involved, including resou ...

– 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 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. The concept of h ...

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 ''Th ...

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 Elsevier's abstract and citation database launched in 2004. Scopus covers nearly 36,377 titles (22,794 active titles and 13,583 inactive titles) from approximately 11,678 publishers, of which 34,346 are peer-reviewed journals in top-l ...

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

Ibis The ibises () (collective plural ibis; 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, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

'', ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

'' and the ''

Journal of Animal Ecology The ''Journal of Animal Ecology'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing research in all areas of animal ecology. It began publication in 1932, and as such is the second oldest journal of the British Ecological Society (after '' ...

''.

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 organisation registered in England and Wales and in Scotland. It was founded in 1889. It works to promote conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment throug ...

(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 Swan upping is an annual ceremony in England in which mute swans on the River Thames are rounded up, caught, ringed, and then released. History By prerogative right, the British Crown enjoys ownership of all unmarked mute swans in open water ...

ceremony. This was a new office in the Royal Household of the

Sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin , meaning 'above'. The roles of a sovereign vary from monarch, ruler or ...

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 m ...

: 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 British ornithologists 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