Professor Richard Holland
Professor in Animal Behaviour / Director of Research
Affiliations
Contact info
Room: 531 Brambell
Email: r.holland@bangor.ac.uk
Phone: +44 (0)1248 382344
Web: Bangor Animal Navigation Group Google Scholar Researchgate
My research and teaching interests fall broadly in the area of animal behaviour and sensory biology. I am the course co-ordinator for the Zoology with Animal Behaviour degree (C3D3) and teach on several animal behaviour focused modules, as well as ornithology. My research questions focus the cognitive processes and sensory mechanisms by which animals navigate and migrate. While my principle focus is at the level of the whole organism I also incorporate aspects of neurobiology, molecular biology, and physics to identify the environmental cues, sensory pathways and mechanisms used by animals to decide how, when and where to move. My work also operates in a comparative framework as I compare and contrast across species, taxa, age class, spatial scale and sensory mechanisms to reveal how natural selection has acted to shape navigation behaviour in different animal groups. New avenues my lab is exploring include the impact of artificial light and electromagnetic noise on navigation and spatial cognition, and the impact of antimicrobial resistant bacteria on bird behaviour.
Biography:
2021-2024, Director of Research, School of Natural Sciences
2020-current, Professor in Animal Behaviour
2017-2020, Senior Lecturer, Bangor University
2016-2017, Lecturer, Bangor University
2011-2016, Lecturer, Queen’s University Belfast
2009-2010, Research scientist, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology
2006-2008, Marie Curie Outgoing International fellow, Princeton University and University of Leeds
2002-2005, Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Leeds
1999-2002, Postdoctoral research fellow, University of Nebraska
1994-1998, DPhil, Oxford University
1990-1993, BSc (Hons), University of Nottingham
Research Area
- 2024
- E-pub ahead of print
Reply to "Animal magnetic sensitivity and magnetic displacement experiments
Schneider, W., Wynn, J., Packmor, F., Lindecke, O. & Holland, R., 27 May 2024, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Communications Biology. 7, 651.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- E-pub ahead of print
A refined magnetic pulse treatment method for magnetic navigation experiments with adequate sham control: a case study on free-flying songbirds
Karwinkel, T., Winklhofer, M., Allenstein, D., Burst, V., Christoph, P., Holland, R., Huppop, O., Steen, J., Bairlein, F. & Schamaljohann, H., 15 May 2024, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Journal of the Royal Society: Interface. 21, 214Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- E-pub ahead of print
A conceptual framework on the role of magnetic cues in songbird migration ecology
Karwinkel, T., Peter, A., Holland, R., Thorup, K., Bairlein, F. & Schmaljohann, H., 17 Apr 2024, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Biological Reviews.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
The effect of observing trained conspecifics on the performance and motivation of goldfish, Carassius auratus, in a spatial task
Blane, J. C. & Holland, R. A., Apr 2024, In: Behavioural Processes. 217, 105021.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- 2023
- E-pub ahead of print
Migratory bats are sensitive to magnetic inclination changes during the compass calibration period
Schneider, W. T., Holland, R. A., Keišs, O. & Lindecke, O., Nov 2023, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Biology letters. 19, 11, p. 20230181Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Over 50 years of behavioural evidence on the magnetic sense in animals: what has been learnt and how?
Schneider, W., Holland, R. & Lindecke, O., Mar 2023, In: The European Physical Journal Special Topics. 232, 2, p. 269-278 10 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
- Published
Sense of doubt: Inaccurate and alternate locations of virtual magnetic displacements may give a distorted view of animal magnetoreception ability
Schneider, W., Holland, R., Packmor, F. & Lindecke, O., 20 Feb 2023, In: Communications Biology. 6, 1, 8 p., 187.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- 2022
- Published
A comparison of machine-learning assisted optical and thermal camera systems for beehive activity counting
Morton Williams, S., Bariselli, S., Palego, C., Holland, R. & Cross, P., 1 Dec 2022, In: Smart Agricultural Technology. 2, 100038.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- 2021
- Published
Nature’s GPS: how animals use the natural world to perform extraordinary feats of navigation
Holland, R., 30 Dec 2021, The Conversation.Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Article
- Published
A magnet attached to the forehead disrupts magnetic compass orientation in a migratory songbird
Packmor, F., Kishkinev, D., Bittermann, F., Kofler, B., Machowetz, C., Zechmeister, T., Zawadzki, L., Guilford, T. & Holland, R., Nov 2021, In: Journal of Experimental Biology. 224, 22, 10 p., 243337.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Repeated training of homing pigeons reveals age dependent idiosyncrasy and visual landmark use.
Griffiths, C., Schiffner, I., Price, E., Charnell-Hughes, M., Kishkinev, D. & Holland, R., Jul 2021, In: Animal Behaviour. 177, p. 159-170Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Corneal sensitivity is required for orientation in free-flying migratory bats
Lindecke, O., Holland, R., Petersons, G. & Voigt, C. C., 5 May 2021, In: Communications Biology. 4, 1, 522.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Navigation by extrapolation of geomagnetic cues in a migratory songbird
Kishkinev, D., Packmor, F., Thomas, Z., Hans, W., Mouritsen, H., Chernetsov, N. & Holland, R., 12 Apr 2021, In: Current Biology. 31, 7, p. 1563-1569Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- 2020
- Published
Is There Visual Lateralisation of the Sun Compass in Homing Pigeons?
Griffiths, C., Holland, R. & Gagliardo, A., 5 May 2020, In: Symmetry. 12, 5, 740.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Anosmic migrating songbirds demonstrate a compensatory response following long-distance translocation: a radio-tracking study
Kishkinev, D., Anashina, A., Ishchenko, I. & Holland, R. A., Jan 2020, In: Journal of Ornithology. 161, 1, p. 47-57Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- 2019
- Published
Orientation and flight behaviour identify the Soprano pipistrelle as a migratory bat species at the Baltic Sea coast
Lindecke, O., Elksne, A., Holland, R., Petersons, G. & Voigt, C. C., 1 May 2019, In: Journal of Zoology. 308, 1, p. 56-65Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Experienced migratory bats integrate the sun's position at dusk for navigation at night
Lindecke, O., Elksne, A., Holland, R. A., Petersons, G. & Voigt, C. C., 22 Apr 2019, In: Current Biology. 29, p. 1369-1373Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- 2018
- Published
Relationships between personality and lateralisation of sensory inputs
Kareklas, K., Elwood, R. W., Arnott, G. & Holland, R., Jul 2018, In: Animal Behaviour. 141, p. 127-135Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Grouping promotes risk-taking in unfamiliar settings
Kareklas, K., Elwood, R. W. & Holland, R. A., 1 Mar 2018, In: Behavioural Processes. 148, p. 41-45Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Fish learn collectively, but groups with differing personalities are slower to decide 1 and more likely to split
Kareklas, K., Elwood, R. W. & Holland, R., 2018, In: Biology Open. 2018, 7, bio033613.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- 2017
- Published
Migratory Eurasian reed warblers can use magnetic declination to solve the longitude problem
Chernetsov, N., Pakhomov, A., Kobylkov, D., Kishkinev, D., Holland, R. & Mouritsen, H., 11 Sept 2017, In: Current Biology. 27, 17, p. 2647-2651Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Principles and patterns of bat movements: From aerodynamics to ecology
Voigt, C. C., Frick, W., Holland, R., Holdereid, M., Kerth, G., Mello, M., Plowright, R., Swartz, S. & Yovel, Y., Sept 2017, In: Quarterly Review of Biology. 92, 3, p. 267-287 20 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
- Published
Satellite tracking of red-listed nominate lesser black-backed gulls (Larus f. fuscus): habitat specialisation in foraging movements raises novel conservation needs
Juvaste, R., Arriero, E., Gagliardo, A., Holland, R., Huttunen, M. J., Mueller, I., Thorup, K., Wikelski, M., Penttinen, M-L., Hannila, J. & Wistbacka, R., Apr 2017, In: Global Ecology and Conservation. 10, p. 220-230Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Flexibility of habitat use innovel environments: Insights from a translocation experiment with Lesser Black-backed Gulls
van Toor, M., Arriero, E., Holland, R., J. Huttunen, M., Juvaste, R., Müller, I., Thorup, K., Wikelski, M. & Safi, K., 18 Jan 2017, In: Royal Society Open Science. 4, 160164.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
- Published
Personality effects on spatial learning: comparisons between visual conditions in a weakly-electric fish
Kareklas, K., Elwood, R. W. & Holland, R., 2017, In: Ethology.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review