Professor Richard Holland

Professor in Animal Behaviour / Director of Research

Contact info

Room: 531 Brambell

Email: r.holland@bangor.ac.uk

Phone: +44 (0)1248 382344

Web: Bangor Animal Navigation Group  Google Scholar Researchgate

Director of research, School of Natural Sciences

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.

Biography:

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:

Animal Physiology, Behaviour and Conservation

  1. Article › Research › Peer-reviewed
  2. Published

    Juvenile Songbirds Compensate for Displacement to Oceanic Islands during Autumn Migration

    Thorup, K., Ortvad, T. E., Rabol, J., Holland, R., Tottrup, A. P. & Wikelski, M., 2011, In: PLoS ONE. 6, 3, e17903.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  3. Large-Range Movements of Neotropical Orchid Bees Observed via Radio Telemetry

    Wikelski, M., Moxley, J., Eaton-Mordas, A., Lopez-Uribe, M. M., Holland, R., Moskowitz, D., Roubik, D. W. & Kays, R., 2010, In: PLoS ONE. 5

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  4. 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. 2647-2651

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  5. 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. 20230181

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  6. Migratory navigation in birds: new opportunities in an era of fast-developing tracking technology

    Guilford, T., Akesson, S., Gagliardo, A., Holland, R. A., Mouritsen, H., Muheim, R., Wiltschko, R., Wiltschko, W. & Bingman, V. P., Nov 2011, In: Journal of Experimental Biology. 214, 22, p. 3705-3712 8 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  7. 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. 1563-1569

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  8. Navigation: Bat orientation using Earth's magnetic field

    Holland, R., Thorup, K., Vonhof, M. J., Cochran, W. W. & Wikelski, M., 7 Dec 2006, In: Nature. 444, 7120, p. 702 1 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  9. 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. 56-65

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  10. Orientation and navigation in bats: known unknowns or unknown unknowns?

    Holland, R., Mar 2007, In: Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 61, 5, p. 653-660 8 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  11. Orientation of vagrant birds on the Faroe Islands in the Atlantic Ocean

    Thorup, K., Ortvad, T., Holland, R., Rabøl, J., Kristensen, M. & Wikelski, M., 1 Oct 2012, In: Journal of Ornithology. 153, 4, p. 1261-1265 5 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  12. 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 journalArticlepeer-review

  13. Place versus response learning in fish: a comparison between species

    McAroe, C. L., Craig, C. M. & Holland, R., Jan 2016, In: Animal Cognition. 19, 1, p. 153-161

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  14. Published

    Plasticity varies with boldness in a weakly-electric fish

    Kareklas, K., Arnott, G., Elwood, R. W. & Holland, R., 6 Jun 2016, In: Frontiers in Zoology. 13, 22

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  15. Polarized skylight does not calibrate the compass system of a migratory bat

    Lindecke, O., Voigt, C. C., Petersons, G. & Holland, R., 16 Sept 2015, In: Biology Letters. 11, 9, p. 1-4

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  16. 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. 127-135

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  17. 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. 159-170

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  18. 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. 220-230

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  19. 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 journalArticlepeer-review

  20. Sensory systems and spatial memory in the fruit bat Rousettus aegyptiacus

    Holland, R., Winter, P. & Waters, D. A., Aug 2005, In: Ethology. 111, 8, p. 715-725 11 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  21. Published

    Shoaling promotes place over response learning but does not facilitate individual learning of that strategy in zebrafish (Danio rerio)

    McAroe, C. L., Craig, C. M. & Holland, R., 2017, In: BMC Zoology. 2, 10

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  22. Short distance phase shifts revisited: tracking clock-shifted homing pigeons (Rock Dove Columba livia) close to the loft

    Holland, R., Bonadonna, F., Dall'antonia, L., Benvenuti, S., De Perera, T. B. & Guilford, T., Jan 2000, In: Ibis. 142, 1, p. 111-118 8 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  23. Studying the migratory behavior of individual bats: Current techniques and future directions

    Holland, R. & Wikelski, M., 15 Dec 2009, In: Journal of Mammalogy. 90, 6, p. 1324-1329 6 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  24. Testing the role of sensory systems in the migratory heading of a songbird

    Holland, R., Thorup, K., Gagliardo, A., Bisson, I. A., Knecht, E., Mizrahi, D. & Wikelski, M., 15 Dec 2009, In: Journal of Experimental Biology. 212, 24, p. 4065-4071 7 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  25. The Secret Life of Oilbirds: New Insights into the Movement Ecology of a Unique Avian Frugivore

    Holland, R., Wikelski, M., Kummeth, F. & Bosque, C., 2009, In: PLoS ONE. 4, 12, e8264.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

  26. The bird GPS - long-range navigation in migrants

    Thorup, K. & Holland, R., 15 Nov 2009, In: Journal of Experimental Biology. 212, 22, p. 3597-3604 8 p.

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review