Casper J. Breuker

Senior Lecturer

Invertebrate Ecology and Biogeography Research GroupSinclair Building, School of Life Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Headington, Oxford, OX3 0BP, UK

Office: GIP-S3.08d
tel: +44(0)1865483244

email 1: casper_j_breuker(at)yahoo.co.uk

email 2: cbreuker(at)brookes.ac.uk

 

2007 Senior Lecturer: Oxford Brookes University (School of Life Sciences), UK.

2006 Postdoctoral Researcher: University of Exeter in Cornwall (Centre for Ecology and Conservation), UK.

2006 Postdoctoral Researcher: The University of Antwerp, Belgium (Dept of Biology, Group of Evolutionary Biology).

2004-2006 Marie Curie Fellowship: The University of Manchester, UK (Faculty of Life Sciences).

2002-2004 Postdoctoral Researcher: Leiden University (Section of Evol. Biol. and Plant Ecol., The Netherlands),

 

1997-2002 PhD: Leiden University, The Netherlands (Section of Evolutionary Biology). Title: The genetical and developmental aspects of fluctuating asymmetry and its relationship to stress and fitness. An analysis of fluctuating asymmetry patterns of wing pattern elements of two butterfly species, Bicyclus anynana and Melitaea cinxia. Advisor: Paul M. Brakefield. Additional research during PhD: (a) field work on Aland in Finland (advisor I. Hanski, University of Helsinki, Finland), and (b) Heat-shock protein analyses (advisor V. Loeschcke, Aarhus University, Denmark).

1997 Graduated “Cum laude” from Leiden University

1996-1997 MSc in Forensic Entomology (Kent State University, Ohio, USA): (research advisors: B. Foote and J. keiper). A comparison between a coniferous and a deciduous area in Kent (Ohio, USA) on Arthropods attracted by dead mice.

1995-1996 MSc in Evolutionary Biology (Leiden University, The Netherlands): 1) The influence of genes for melanism on the activity of the flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella. (published as Verhoog M.D., Breuker C.J. and Brakefield, P.M. 1998. Animal Behaviour 56: 683-688), 2) The genetical basis of fluctuating asymmetry for developmentally integrated traits in a butterfly eyespot pattern. (published as Brakefield P.M. and Breuker C.J. 1996. Proceedings Of The Royal Society Of London, Series B Biological Sciences 263: 1557-1563).

1993-1995 MSc in Behavioural Ecology and Conservation (Leiden and Utrecht University, The Netherlands): 1) Costs and benefits of group living in Colobines in relation to the environment (literature review), 2) Allomaternal care in Thomas langurs, Presbytis thomasi (literature review), 3) On the conservation of gibbons. Rehabilitated white-handed gibbons (Hylobates lar) on Ko Boi Yai, Thailand (research report, available on request)

For more information on the Phuket Gibbon Rehabilitation Project, using my research report, click the picture below

 

 

 

Publications:

Click on the PDF symbol to open the PDF file of the paper mentioned.

 

• Gibbs, M ., Breuker, C.J., Smiseth, P.T., and Moore, A.J. 2007. Does sibling competition have a sex-specific effect on offspring growth and development in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides? Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata. IN PRESS

• Breuker C.J., Gibbs M., Van Dyck H., Brakefield P.M., Klingenberg C.P., and Van Dongen S. 2007. Integration of wings and their eyespots in the speckled wood butterfly Pararge aegeria. Journal of Experimental Zoology (Mol. Dev. Evol.) 308B: 454-463.

• Breuker C.J., P.M. Brakefield, and Gibbs M. 2007. The association between wing morphology and dispersal is sex-specific in the glanville fritillary butterfly Melitaea cinxia. European Journal of Entomology 104: 445-452.

• Breuker C.J ., De Jong P.W., Victoir K., Vrieling K., and Brakefield P.M. 2007. Pleiotropic effects associated with an allele enabling the flea beetle Phyllotreta nemorum to use Barbarea vulgaris as a host plant. Evolutionary Ecology 21: 13-26.

• Breuker C.J ., Patterson J.S., and Klingenberg C.P. 2006. A single basis for developmental buffering of Drosophila wing shape. PLOS-one 1(1):e7

• Breuker C.J ., Debat V., and Klingenberg C.P. 2006. Functional evo-devo. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 21: 488-492.

• Gibbs M. and Breuker C.J. 2006. Effect of larval rearing density on adult life history traits and developmental stability of the dorsal eyespot pattern in speckled wood butterfly, Pararge aegeria. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 118: 41-47.

• Breuker C.J ., Victoir K., De Jong P.W., Van der Meijden, E., Brakefield P.M., and Vrieling K. 2005. AFLP markers for the R-gene in the flea beetle, Phyllotreta nemorum, conferring resistance to defences in Barbarea vulgaris. Journal of Insect Science, 5, 38, available online: insectscience.org/5.38.

• Breuker C.J and Brakefield P.M. 2003. Lack of response to selection for lower fluctuating asymmetry of mutant eyespots in the butterfly Bicyclus anynana. Heredity 91: 17-27.

• Breuker C.J and Brakefield P.M. 2003. Heat stress in the developmentally sensitive period of butterfly eyespots fails to increase fluctuating asymmetry. Evolution and Development 5: 231-239.

• Breuker C.J and Brakefield P.M. 2002. Female choice depends on size but not symmetry of dorsal eyespots in the butterfly Bicyclus anynana. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, series B Biological Sciences 269: 1233-1239.

• Hanski I., Breuker C.J., Schöps K., Setchfield R. and Nieminen M. 2002. Population history and life history influence the migration rate of female Glanville fritillary butterflies. Oikos 98: 87-97.

• Brakefield P.M., El Filali E., van der Laan R., Breuker C.J., Saccheri I.J., and Zwaan B. 2001. Effective population size, reproductive success and sperm precedence in the butterfly, Bicyclus anynana, in captivity. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 14: 148-156.

• Verhoog M.D., Breuker C.J. and Brakefield, P.M. 1998. The influence of genes for melanism on the activity of the flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella. Animal Behaviour 56: 683-688.

• Brakefield P.M. and Breuker C.J. 1996. The genetical basis of fluctuating asymmetry for developmentally integrated traits in a butterfly eyespot pattern. Proceedings Of The Royal Society Of London, Series B Biological Sciences 263: 1557-1563.

 

Reviewer for the following journals:

Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Evolution, Genetics, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B, Belgian Journal of Zoology, Animal Behaviour, Mechanisms of Ageing and Development, Experimental Gerontology, Oikos, Heredity, Journal of Evolutionary Biology, Journal of Experimental Biology, Journal of Negative Results in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Talks:

1) FRAGLAND ( Cordoba, Spain.,19-21 Feb.1999). Title: Heat shock response in the butterfly species Bicyclus anynana.

2) EVOLUTION ( Bloomington, 23-27 June 2000). Title: Is there a relationship between wing shape and migration patterns in the butterfly species Melitaea cinxia?

3) FRAGLAND ( Montpellier, 30 March – 1 April 2000). Title: Wing shape, FA, and migration in Melitaea cinxia.

4) EVOLUTION ( Knoxville, 26 June - 1 July 2001). Title: Genetic basis of fluctuating asymmetry.

5) 8th ESEB Conference ( Aarhus 20-25 August 2001). Title: Selecting for lower levels of fluctuating asymmetry of novel mutant eyespots in Bicyclus anynana.

6) ICSEB VI (Patras, 9-16 September 2002). Title: Fluctuating asymmetry of wing shape and wing pattern elements and its relationship to migration in the Glanville fritillary butterfly. INVITED.

7) SESP 2003 ( Leiden, 19-24 June 2003). Title: Sexy butterfly eyespots.

8) ICE2004 (XXII International Congress of Entomology), 15-21 August 2004 Brisbane. Two talks: (1) The effect of a resistance gene on developmental stability and fitness in a flea beetle, Phyllotreta nemorum. (2) Developmental integration in butterfly wings.

9) EVOLUTION (Fairbanks, 10-14 June 2005). Title : From parasitoids to novel host plant use : the effects on developmental stability in the flea beetle Phyllotreta nemorum.

10) Furthermore gave various talks at small scale meetings including the NWO verweijdagen (1999-2001), the EEW Symposium Leiden (14 February 2002), and the annual stress resistance meeting in Aarhus, Denmark (November 2002).

11) Presented posters at various meetings, including the 7th ESEB meeting (Barcelona, 23-28 August 1999), and the 4th International Butterfly Conference (Leiden, February 2002).

12) Seminars: (1) University of York (Dr Jane K. Hill, Department of Biology). Title : The effect of larval crowding on developmental stability and fitness in Pararge aegeria butterflies (November 2004). (2) University of Stockholm (Dr S. Nylin, Department of Zoology). Wing shape of Pararge aegeria butterflies (January 2005)

13) Evolution 2005 meeting (Fairbanks, Alaska, 2005)

14) ESEB X meeting (Krakow, Poland. August 2005). Organized a full-day symposium on "Functional evo-devo" together with Dr V. Debat. Presented a talk entitled: Functional evo-devo: an overview.

15) The First and Founding Meeting of the European Society for Evolutionary Developmental Biology (EED) (Prague, Czech Republic, August 16-19 2006). Talk presented: A single basis for developmental buffering of Drosophila wing shape.

16) Fifth Symposium on Ecological Genetics, Louvain, Belgium (5-7 February 2007). Talk presented: Integration of wings and their eyespots in the speckled wood butterfly Pararge aegeria - phenotypic plasticity of integration. INVITED