David Sims is an MBA Senior Research Fellow and Leader of the Behavioural Ecology Group at the Marine Biological Association. As Deputy Director for Research he co-ordinates the Ecosystems and Environmental Change research theme. David holds a joint academic appointment with the University of Southampton where he is Professor of Marine Ecology in the Ocean and Earth Science school at the National Oceanography Centre and in the Centre for Biological Sciences.

In recognition of his research David was awarded a Royal Institution 'Scientist for the New Century' Lecture (2001), Life Membership of the Royal Institution, the Medal of the Fisheries Society of the British Isles (2007), and the Stanley Gray Silver Medal from the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (2008). He has served as series editor forAdvances in Marine Biology and associate editor of the Journal of Animal Ecology.

click here to view Stanley Gray medal

click here to view FSBI medal

After graduating with a First Class degree in Biological Sciences in 1991 David was awarded a personal Ph.D studentship from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) leading to a Ph.D in the behavioural ecology of fish, based in part at the Marine Biological Association (MBA) Laboratory in Plymouth. In 2000, after being Lecturer in zoology at Aberdeen University, David returned to the MBA Laboratory as a NERC-funded Research Fellow. He built up the Behavioural Ecology group with research centred on the movement ecology of predators, a particular focus being to understand how environmental heterogeneity influences fish movement and behaviour patterns.

CONTACT DETAILS

email: dws@mba.ac.uk
telephone: +44 (0) 1752 633227
address: The Marine Biological Association of the U.K., The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, PL1 2PB, U.K.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Humphries, N.E., Queiroz, N., Dyer, J.M., Pade, N.G., Musyl, M.K., Schaefer, K.M., Fuller, D.W., Brunnschweiler, J.M., Doyle, T.K., Houghton, J.D.R., Hays, G.C., Jones, C.S., Noble, L.R., Wearmouth, V.J., Southall, E.J., Sims, D.W. (2010) Environmental context explains Lévy and Brownian movement patterns of marine predators. Nature, 465, 1066-1069.

Sims, D.W., Southall, E.J., Humphries, N.E., Hays, G.C., Bradshaw, C.J.A., Pitchford, J.W., James, A., Ahmed, M.Z., Brierley, A.S., Hindell, M.A., Morritt, D., Musyl, M.K., Righton, D., Shepard, E.L.C., Wearmouth, V.J., Wilson, R.P., Witt, M.J., & Metcalfe, J.D. (2008) Scaling laws of marine predator search behaviour. Nature, 451, 1098-1102.

Sims, D.W., Witt, M.J., Richardson, A.J., Southall, E.J., & Metcalfe, J.D. (2006) Encounter success of free-ranging marine predator movements across a dynamic prey landscape. Proceedings of the Royal Society B - Biological
Science, 273, 1195-1201.

Sims, D.W., Andrews, P.L.R., & Young, J.Z. (2000) Fish behaviour: Stomach rinsing in rays. Nature, 404, 566.

Sims, D.W. & Quayle, V.A. (1998) Selective foraging behaviour of basking sharks on zooplankton in a small-scale front. Nature, 393, 460-464.