William E. Feeney

My research examines how interactions between organisms shape behaviour, evolution and biological complexity. I am particularly interested in how cooperation and conflict generate new adaptations and alter evolutionary trajectories. My primary study systems include long-term field programs I lead on fairy-wrens and the cuckoos that parasitize them, as well as on cleaner wrasses and farming damselfishes on coral reefs. I combine classic behavioural and evolutionary ecology with comparative, experimental and long-term field approaches to understand how interactions among individuals and species give rise to sociality, communication, mutualism and ecological innovation. Some of this work also explores the evolutionary origins of behaviours with strong parallels in humans, including language-like communication, agriculture and domestication, and medicinal behaviour. 

The results of my research are transferred to society through the application of behavioural and evolutionary ecology to conservation, the development of citizen-science initiatives, and public engagement with science. I have led projects designed to connect citizen scientists with professional researchers and to develop digital infrastructure for biodiversity research, particularly in ornithology, and have contributed to applied marine projects addressing coral-reef conservation and restoration. My research also reaches broad public audiences through popular-science writing, media engagement and educational activities, helping translate fundamental research on animal behaviour, species interactions and environmental change into accessible knowledge and practical conservation outcomes.

GoogleScholar: https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=GBfzvfwAAAAJ&hl=en

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7475-4724