Professor Mike H Hansell

Emeritus Professor of Animal Architecture

Contact details:
Room 323, Graham Kerr Building
Division of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Faculty of Biomedical & Life Sciences
University of Glasgow
Glasgow
G12 8QQ

Tel.: 0141 330 4779
Fax: 0141 330 5971
E-mail: M.Hansell@bio.gla.ac.uk

Research Interests

Any creature that builds anything, and I want to know the nature of the built structure and how the animal builds it. I have conducted research on the building behaviour of animals of various kinds: - in particular on the nest building of birds and wasps and on the case building of caddis fly larvae. However, my interest now is not so much on individual species as on making sense of the biology of animal building. This viewpoint embraces the whole range of animal builders to obtain a better understanding of the evolution of animal building behaviour, its ecological consequences and the complexity or simplicity of the behaviour itself.

Academic history

Current Emeritus Professor, Animal Architecture, University of Glasgow
2005- Professor of Animal Architecture, University of Glasgow
1985-2005 Senior Lecturer, University of Glasgow
1971-85 Lecturer, University of Glasgow
1968-71 Assistant Lecturer, University of Glasgow
1966-68 Lecturer in Zoology, University of Khartoum

Selected Publications

Books

Hansell, M. 2007. Built by Animals. Oxford University Press, Oxford pp256.
(ISBN - 978-0-19-920556-11)

Hansell, M.H. 2005. Animal Architecture. Oxford University Press, Oxford pp 321.
(ISBN 0-19-850752-6)

Hansell, M. 2000. Bird Nests and Construction Behaviour. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge pp. 280. (ISBN 0-521-460387)

Hansell, M. 2000. Animal Behaviour Student Monograph (Advanced Higher) Learning and Teaching Scotland pp 67. (ISBN 1-85955-877-1)

Hansell, M.H., Reilly,, M. & Perry, S. 1999. The Animal Construction Company. Glasgow University, Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery pp 112. (ISBN 0-904254-69-0).

Research Papers

Hansell M and Ruxton G D (2008). Setting tool use within the context of animal construction behaviour. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 887, (Article in press).

Hilton, G.M., Hansell, M.H., Ruxton, G.D., Reid, J.M. & Monaghan, P. (2004). Using artificial nests to test importance of nesting material and nest shelter for incubation energetics. Auk 121, 77-587.

Hansell, M.H. & Ruxton, G.D. 2002. An experimental study of the availability of feathers for avian nest building. Journal of Avian Biology, Vol 33, No. 3 pp 319-321.

Cole, M.R., Hansell, M.H. & Seath, C.J. 2001. A quantitative study of the physical properties of nest paper in three species of Vespine wasps (Hymenoptera, Vespidae). Insects Sociaux Vol 48, No. 1 pp 33-39.

Ruxton, G.D., Lee, J. & Hansell, M.H. 2001. Wasps enter and leave their nest at regular intervals. Insectes Sociaux Vol. 48 No. 4 pp 363-365.

Heath, M. & Hansell, M.H. 2000. Weaving techniques in two species of Icterid Yellow Oriole Icterus nigrogularis and the Crested Oropendola Psarocolius decumanus. In Studies of Trinidad and Tobago Ornithology, Honouring Richard Ffrench, Ed F. Hayes 145-154.

Stevens, D., Hansell, M.H. & Monaghan, P. 2000. Development trade-offs and life histories: strategic allocation of resources in caddis flies. Proc. R. Soc. Lond B 267: 1511-1515.

Current grants

2008-2011 Cognitive basis of nest building in birds.
Principal investigators:
Dr Sue Healy, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh
Prof Mike Hansell, Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow
Funded by the Leverhulme Trust

Other information

The National Nest Reference Collection

In 1998 I began this collection of the nests of British breeding birds. It is now incorporated into the University of Glasgow, Hunterian Museum Zoological Collection curated by Maggie Reilly. She and I continue to enlarge the collection, which now has around 1000 specimens. It is unique in Europe in aiming to represent within-species variation in nest construction as well as between-species differences. Additional specimens are always welcome.

Animal Architecture