Prof Nigel Bennett’s Research focus is ecology, animal physiology and behaviour using the African mole-rat as his model animal.
He and his co-workers have Investigated the ecological and physiological factors that affect the control of reproduction and the evolution of sociality. Unlike other researchers investigating cooperative breeding in mammals, Prof Bennett has done so from a variety of perspectives.
The strength of this multi-faceted approach is that it has led to an integrated understanding of reproductive suppression in mole-rats of a type that has not been achieved for any other taxa. Prof Bennett's Research has set the benchmark for our understanding of phylogenetic and ecological constraints regulating reproductive success and social evolution in mammalian species.
