My research uses a combination of theoretical and empirical approaches, and falls into three interlinked themes:

The evolution of social behaviour, particularly the evolution of grouping behaviour in response to predation risk, including the behavioural mechanisms underlying aggregation, and the way animals balance conflicting selection pressures in their social decisions.

The effect of the physical and social environment on social, foraging and mating behaviour, including the effects of early experience and environmental change on behaviour.

The role of colour in behaviour, including the effect of colour on social decisions, and the use of ornaments in three-spined stickleback nests.

Johannesen, A, Dunn, A & Morrell, LJ. (in press) Olfactory cue use by three-spined sticklebacks foraging in turbid water: prey detection or prey location? Animal Behaviour

Morrell, LJ, Hentley, WT, Wickens, VJ, Wickens, JB & Rodgers, GM. (in press) Artificial enhancement of an extended phenotype signal increases investment in courtship in three-spine sticklebacks. Animal Behaviour

Burns, AL, Herbert-Read, JE, Morrell, LJ & Ward, AJW. (2012) Consistency of leading and following in moving shoals of mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki). PLoS ONE 7(5): e36567

Foster, EA, Franks, DW, Morrell, LJ, Balcomb, KC, Parsons, KM, van Ginnekin, A & Croft, DP. (2012) Social network correlates of food availability in an endangered population of killer whales (Orcinus orca). Animal Behaviour 83: 731-736

Kelley, JL, Morrell, LJ, Inskip, C, Krause, J & Croft, DP. (2011) Predation risk shapes social networks in fission-fusion populations. PLoS ONE 6(8): e24280

Rodgers, GM, Askwith, B, Ward, J & Morrell, LJ. (2011) Balancing the dilution and oddity effects: decisions depend on body size. PLoS ONE 6(7): e14819

Hirsch, B & Morrell, LJ. (2011) Measuring marginal predation in animal groups. Behavioural Ecology 22: 648-656

Morrell, LJ, Ruxton, GD & James, R. (2011) Spatial positioning in the selfish herd. Behavioral Ecology 22: 16-22

Morrell, LJ, Ruxton, GD & James, R. (2011) The temporal selfish herd. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B 278: 605-612

Morrell, LJ, Ruxton, GD & James, R. (in press) The temporal selfish herd: predation risk while aggregations form. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B 

Morrell, LJ, Ruxton, GD & James, R. (2010) Spatial positioning in the selfish herd. Behavioral Ecology 21: 1367-1373

Rodgers, GM, Kelley, JL & Morrell, LJ (2010) Colour change and assortment in the western rainbowfish. Anim Behav 79: 1025-1030

Chapman, BB, Morrell, LJ, Tosh, C, & Krause, J. (2010) Behavioural consequences of sensory plasticity in guppies. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B 277: 1395-1401

Morrell, LJ, Croft, DP, Dyer, JRG, Chapman, BB, Kelley, JL, Laland, KN & Krause, J (2008) Association patterns and foraging behaviour in natural and artificial guppy shoals. Animal Behaviour 76: 855-864

Lecturer in Evolutionary Biology, University of Hull, 2010 –

NERC Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Leeds, 2006-2010

Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Leeds, 2005-2006

PhD, University of Glasgow, 2001-2004

BSc Ecology, University of East Anglia, 1995-1999

Administrative duties

Departmental prospectus