Senior Lecturer in Zoology

Location: OPT 028
Telephone: +44 (0)845 196 2270 or +44 (0)1223 692270
Email: william.hoppitt@anglia.ac.uk

Qualifications

PhD in Zoology, Cambridge University
MSc in Integrative Biosciences, Distinction, Oxford University

Teaching experience:

• Animal Behaviour in Context
• Special Topics in Animal Behaviour
• Behavioural Ecology
• Concepts in Animal Behaviour
• Mammalogy
• Foundation Mathematics for Science
• Preparation for Research
• Core Biology

Research interests

The development of statistical methods to detect social transmission of behavioural traits in groups of animals, and the application of these methods to data from groups of wild and captive animals.

Publications

Allen, J., M. Weinrich, W. Hoppitt & L. Rendell (2013) Network-based diffusion analysis reveals cultural transmission of lobtail feeding in humpback whales. Science, 340, 485-488, doi: 10.1126/science.1231976

Webster, M.M., N. Atton, W. Hoppitt & K.N. Laland (2013) Environmental complexity influences association network structure and network-based diffusion of foraging information in fish shoals. American Naturalist, 181(2): 235-244, doi: 10.1086/668825

Laland, K.N., J. Odling-Smee, W. Hoppitt & T. Uller (2012) More on how and why: cause and effect in biology revisited. Biology & Philosophy doi: 10.1007/s10539-012-9335-1

Atton, N., W. Hoppitt, M.M. Webster, B.G. Galef, Jr. & K.N. Laland (2012) Information flow through threespine stickleback networks without social transmission. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 279(1745): 4272-4278, doi: 10.1098/rspb.2012.1462

Hoppitt, W., J. Samson, K.N. Laland & A. Thornton (2012) Identification of learning mechanisms in a wild meerkat population. PLoS One 7(8): e42044 doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0042044 (3 citations)

Casar, C., R.W. Byrne, W. Hoppitt, R.J. Young & K. Zuberbuhler (2012) Evidence for semantic communication in titi monkey alarm calls. Animal Behaviour 84: 405-411. (2 citations)

Morgan, T.J.H., L.E. Rendell, M. Ehn, W. Hoppitt & K.N. Laland (2012) The evolutionary basis of human social learning. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 279: 653-662. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2011.1172 (5 citations)

Laland, K.N., K. Sterelny, J. Odling-Smee, W. Hoppitt & T. Uller (2011) Cause and effect in biology: is Mayr's proximate-ultimate dichotomy still useful? Science, 334: 1512-1516, doi: 10.1126/science.1210879 (26 citations)

Dean, L.G., W. Hoppitt, K.N, Laland, R.L. Kendal (2011) Sex Ratio Affects Sex-Specific Innovation and Learning in Captive Ruffed Lemurs (Varecia variegata and Varecia rubra). American Journal of Primatology. 73: 1210-1221 doi: 10.1002/ajp.20991(1 citation)

Hoppitt,W. & K.N. Laland (2011) Detecting social learning using networks: a users guide. American Journal of Primatology. 73: 834-844. doi:10.1002/ajp.20920 (6 citations)

Rendell, LE , L. Fogarty, W.J.E. Hoppitt, T.J.H. Morgan, M.M. Webster & K.N. Laland (2011) Cognitive culture: Theoretical and empirical insights into social learning strategies. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 15: 68-76. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2010.12.002 (29 citations)

Hoppitt, W. Kandler, A., Kendal, J.R. & Laland, K.N. (2010) The effect of task structure on diffusion dynamics: Implications for diffusion curve and network-based analyses. Learning & Behavior 38: 243-251. doi:10.3758/LB.38.3.243 (12 citations)

Hoppitt W., N.J. Boogert & K.N. Laland. (2010) Detecting social transmission in networks. Journal of Theoretical Biology. 263: 544-555. doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2010.01.004 (23 citations)

Kendal R.L., J.R. Kendal, W. Hoppitt & K.N. Laland. (2009) Identifying social learning in the animal populations: a new 'option-bias' method. PLoS ONE 4: e6541 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0006541 (29 citations)

Hoppitt W.J.E. et al. (2008) Lessons from animal teaching Trends in Ecology and Evolution 23: 486-493 doi:10.1016/j.tree.2008.05.008 (30 citations)

Boogert N.J., S.M. Reader, W. Hoppitt & K.N. Laland. (2008) The origin and spread of innovations in starlings. Animal Behaviour 75: 1509-1518 doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2007.09.033 (33 citations)

Hoppitt W. & K.N. Laland. (2008) Social processes influencing learning in animals. Advances in the Study of Behavior 38: 105-165 doi: 10.1016/S0065-3454(08)00003-X (51 citations)

Hoppitt W., L. Blackburn & K.N. Laland. (2007) Response facilitation in the domestic fowl. Animal Behaviour 73: 229-238 doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2006.05.013 (14 citations)

Bunce M., T.H. Worthy, T. Ford, W. Hoppitt, E. Willerslev, A. Drummond & A. Cooper. (2003) Extreme reversed sexual size dimorphism in the extinct New Zealand moa Dinornis. Nature 425: 172-175 doi:10.1038/nature01871 (88 citations)

Laland K.N. & W. Hoppitt. (2003) Do animals have culture? Evolutionary Anthropology 12: 150-159 10.1002/evan.10111 (108 citations)