Research interest
I have a broad interest in the ecology and evolution of animal behaviour, with particular focus on 1. object manipulation and 2. migration.
Other websites: Google Scholar; ResearchGate; Healy Lab website |
1. Object manipulation 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).
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. I am currently working to expand my study system to insects such as bumblebees and praying mantises. |
2. 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 which factors influence long-distance migration, and how migratory behaviour evolved.
In collaboration with Prof. Hiroyoshi Higuchi in Japan, 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). |