Rob Fuller

Honorary Research Fellow

Office: Thetford

Team(s): Science Research Fellows

Contact

Rob retired as a member of BTO staff in 2015 following a long career at the BTO. As an Honorary Research Fellow, he undertakes research and writes on forest ecology, habitat selection in birds and conservation management with a focus on provision of information for conservation managers and landowners.

Interests and responsibilities

Environmental factors influencing spatial and temporal variation in temperate woodland and shrubland bird communities. This includes the consequences of increased deer browsing and responses to human and natural disturbances.
Effects of different woodland management systems on vegetation structure and habitat suitability for birds.
Rewilding – its complementarity to interventionist approaches to habitat management for conservation.
Long-term population change and density-dependent habitat selection in the breeding waders of the Uists and Benbecula, Outer Hebrides.
Habitat use by wintering farmland birds, especially Golden Plovers and Lapwings, and long-term changes in populations and distributions.
Former BTO Director of Science (1987-2014) leading a department covering programmes of work on wetland and terrestrial birds
Principal or co-investigator on >30 biodiversity-related projects, contributing to the evidence base for policy and practice
Supervised Bird Atlas 2007-11: The breeding and wintering birds of Britain and Ireland
Edited two books published by Cambridge Univ. Press: Birds and Habitat: Relationships in Changing Landscapes (2012) and Ecology and Conservation of Forest Birds (2018, co-edited)
Editor of the British Wildlife series ‘Wilding for Conservation’ (2021-
2025)
Editorial Board: Ecology, Biodiversity & Conservation series, Cambridge Univ. Press (since 2018)

Qualifications

BSc Zoology (1st Class), Imperial College, London University 1973 PhD University of London (external), ‘Composition and structure of bird communities in Britain’ 1987.
Honorary Professor, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia.
The RSPB Medal fo services to nature conservation, awarded 2014.
Godman-Salvin Medal of the British Ornithologists' Union, awarded 2013.

Recent BTO publications

Kirkland, M., Annorbah, N.N.D., Barber, L., Black, J., Blackburn, J., Colley, M., Clewley, G., Cross, C., Drew, M., Fox, O.J.L., Gilson, V., Hahn, S., Holt, C., Hulme, M.F., Jarjou, J., Jatta, D., Jatta, E., Mensah-Pebi, E., Orsman, C., Sarr, N., Walsh, R., Zwartz, L., Fuller, R.J., Atkinson, P.W. & Hewson, C.M. 2025. Extreme migratory connectivity and mirroring of non-breeding grounds conditions in a severely declining breeding population of an Afro-Palearctic migratory bird. Scientific Reports 14: doi:10.1038/s41598-025-86484-z
Broughton, R.K., Cholewa, M., Czeszczewik, D., Fuller, R.J., Jaroszewicz, B., Kuijper, D.P.J., Maziarz, M., Mikusiński, G. & Neubauer, G. 2025. The Białowieża Forest as an example of the resilience of long-term studies in a changing world. Biological Conservation 304: doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2025.111045
Calladine, J., Fuller, R., Hodkinson, D., Franks, S. & Boyle, J. 2023. Changes in breeding wader populations of the Uist machair and adjacent habitats between 1983 and 2022. Scottish Birds 43: 132-140

Other publications

Fuller, R.J., Henderson, A.C.B. & Holt, C.A. 2025. Four decades of bird community change in two lowland English woods. British Birds 118: 225-247.
Fuller, R.J. 2022. Population density and stability of breeding birds in English oak woodland over a 32-year period in relation to habitat structure and edges. Acta Ornithologica 57: 49-70.
Fuller, R. & Gilroy, J. 2021. Rewilding and intervention: complementary philosophies for nature conservation in Britain.
British Wildlife 32: 258-267.
Fuller, R. 2021. Woodland management and birds. Part 1. Silvicultural systems and tree species. Quarterly Journal of Forestry, 115, 168-174.
Fuller, R. 2021. Woodland management and birds. Part 2. Conservation measures and strategies. Quarterly Journal of Forestry 115: 238-244.