The Behavioural & Physiological Ecology group aims to understand behaviour of animals in their natural environment. Studies range from molecular to population level, and are empirical as well as theoretical. We integrate approaches to address questions on both function and mechanism of behaviour. Topics of specific interest are social behaviour, ecological immunology, the avian microbiome and life history evolution including ageing, and for most of these topics we are primarily interested in trying to understand individual variation. With respect to study systems, there is an emphasis on birds and we run long-term studies on larks, Seychelles warblers, blue tits, (captive) zebra finches, jackdaws and starlings.