Mammal Model Systems

The South African ground squirrel project is a collaborative project with Prof. Jane Waterman at University of Manitoba,  Canada) that has been operating at S.A. Lombard Nature reserve in South Africa for over 20 years.

Past research has been focused on factors influencing the evolution of sociality and mating systems in South African ground squirrels. My current collaborative project focuses on using ground squirrels as a model system to look at morphological and behavioural trait variation in small social mammals, and how this contributes to individual fitness strategies, especially in the face of rapidly changing environments (including the effects of climate change). 

More details:

Warrington, M. H., & Waterman, J. (2022). Temperature-associated morphological changes in an African arid-zone ground squirrel. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyac107

Warrington, M. H., Beaulieu, S., Vos, S., Jellicoe, R., Bennett, N. C., & Waterman, J. M. (2022). Personalities are not associated with different reproductive tactics in male Cape ground squirrels, Xerus inauris. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.08.014

van der Marel, A., Warrington, M. H., & Waterman, J. M. (2023). Size is not everything: Nuanced effects of female multiple mating and annual litter number on testes size in terrestrial mammals. https://doi.org/10.1111/jzo.13132

Warrington, M. H., Beaulieu, S., Jellicoe, R., Vos, S., Bennett, N. C., & Waterman, J. M. (2024). Lovers, not fighters: Docility influences reproductive fitness, but not survival, in male Cape ground squirrels, Xerus inauris. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-023-03421-8