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Staff Profile

Dr Shoko Sugasawa

Newcastle University Academic Track Fellow

Background

Qualifications

PhD in Biology, University of St Andrews

MSc in Ecosystem Studies, University of Tokyo

BSc in Ecoregion Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture & Technology


Previous Positions

Lecturer in Animal Behaviour & Cognition (fixed-term, part-time), University of St Andrews

Temporary Research Assistant, Newcastle University

BBSRC Discovery Fellow, University of St Andrews

JSPS Overseas Research Fellow, University of St Andrews

Biology lecturer and tutor, University of St Andrews

Research

I have a broad interest in the ecology and evolution of animal behaviour, with particular focus on object manipulation by animals without hands.

Many animals manipulate diverse objects including food and nest materials to survive and breed successfully. I am interested in why animals like birds and insects are so good at manipulation, even though they lack hands like ours and only have simple manipulators like bills and mandibles (Sugasawa et al. 2021 Proc Roy Soc B). With NUAcT Fellowship, I am currently working to expand my study system to insects such as bumblebees and praying mantises, to investigate how insects use their body parts to handle food items like flowers and prey. Further, to better understand the bill dexterity in birds and its ecological significance, I have been studying nest building (Sheard et al. 2023 Philos Trans R Soc B) and tool use (Sugasawa et al. 2017 Curr Biol) for the past decade.


Additionally, I have a keen interest in migration, in particular long-distance migration in Asian raptors. Every year, billions of animals travel between their breeding and wintering sites over thousands of kilometres. I am interested in studying which factors influence long-distance migration, and how migratory behaviour evolved, using wonderful data from Asian Flyways. ​In collaboration with Prof. Hiroyoshi Higuchi (Tokyo), we found that migration of Oriental honey buzzards (Pernis ptilorhynchus) is highly repeatable but only in spring when they forage during extended stopovers, potentially due to their specialist diet (Sugasawa & Higuchi 2019 Biol Lett).

Teaching

Previous lectures: Animal Behaviour, Animal Cognition, Animal Culture

MSc, MRes, UG & intern student supervision

Publications