Monil Khera: PhD Student 2020 - present
Currently a PhD student at Swansea University, co-supervised by Dr Hazel Nichols and Dr Kevin Arbuckle
I cam currently working on the impact of climate change and environmental variation on the population dynamics and behaviour of an equatorial social mammal; the banded mongoose.
Previously an MRes Student at Swansea University, co-supervised by Dr Hazel Nichols and Dr Kevin Arbuckle
My MRes project focused on inbreeding avoidance mechanisms in banded mongooses (Mungos mungo). Banded mongooses (M. mungo) live and breed in tight-knit family groups and previous studies have found that relatives sometimes breed together, but not as often as would be expected if they mated with other group-members at random. In order to test potential mechanisms by which they avoid inbreeding I ran randomisations pairing males to females based on a variety of different potential inbreeding avoidance mechanisms (such as avoiding breeding with individuals familiar from infancy, choosing a mate based on their age, and choosing based directly on relatedness). I found that no behavioural-based mate choice rule explained the degree of inbreeding avoidance found in banded mongooses, suggesting that they either employ a cue based directly on relatedness (e.g. scent), or that post-copulatory mate choice occurs.
I cam currently working on the impact of climate change and environmental variation on the population dynamics and behaviour of an equatorial social mammal; the banded mongoose.
Previously an MRes Student at Swansea University, co-supervised by Dr Hazel Nichols and Dr Kevin Arbuckle
My MRes project focused on inbreeding avoidance mechanisms in banded mongooses (Mungos mungo). Banded mongooses (M. mungo) live and breed in tight-knit family groups and previous studies have found that relatives sometimes breed together, but not as often as would be expected if they mated with other group-members at random. In order to test potential mechanisms by which they avoid inbreeding I ran randomisations pairing males to females based on a variety of different potential inbreeding avoidance mechanisms (such as avoiding breeding with individuals familiar from infancy, choosing a mate based on their age, and choosing based directly on relatedness). I found that no behavioural-based mate choice rule explained the degree of inbreeding avoidance found in banded mongooses, suggesting that they either employ a cue based directly on relatedness (e.g. scent), or that post-copulatory mate choice occurs.