Professor Tim Sparks

I received a Graduate Diploma in Statistics in 1986, an M.Sc (with distinction) in Applied Statistics in 1988, an M.Sc (with distinction) in Operational Research in 1993 and a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences in 2001. After working in agricultural research I moved to ecological research at the Monks Wood Research Station in 1991 and stayed there until it was closed in 2009. I am currently a visiting professor at the Poznań University of Life Sciences and at the University of Liverpool, a visiting researcher in the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, and a Hans Fischer Senior Fellow, Technische Universität München. I have a wide range of interests associated with conservation, environmental change and the interpretation of data. I remain an advisor for the UK Phenology Network which I founded in 1998. I have co-authored more than 300 publications, particularly in phenology and climate impacts.

Menzel, A., Sparks, T.H., Estrella, N., Koch, E., Aasa, A., Ahas, R., Alm-Kubler, K., Bissolli, P., Braslavska, O., Briede, A., Chmielewski, F.M., Crepinsek, Z., Curnel, Y., Dahl, A., Defila, C., Donnelly, A., Filella I., Jatczak, K., Mage, F., Mestre, A., Nordli, O., Penuelas, J., Pirinen, P., Remisova, V., Scheifinger, H., Striz, M., Susnik, A., Wielgolaski., F-E, van Vliet, A., Zach, S., and Zust, A. (2006) 'European phenological response to climate change matches the warming pattern'. Global Change Biology 12, 1969-1976.
Sparks, T.H., and Carey, P.D. (1995) 'The responses of species to climate over two centuries: An analysis of the Marsham phenological record, 1736-1947'. Journal of Ecology 83, 321-329.
Thackeray, S.J., Sparks, T.H., Frederiksen, M., Burthe, S., Bacon, P.J., Bell, J.R., Botham, M.S., Brereton, T.M., Bright, W., Carvalho, L., Clutton-Brock, T., Dawson, A., Edwards, M., Elliott, J.M., Harrington, R., Johns, D., Jones, I.D., Jones, J.T., Leech, D.I., Roy, D.B., Scott, W.A., Smith, M., Smithers, R.J., Winfield, I.J., and Wanless, S. (2010) 'Trophic level asynchrony in rates of phenological change for marine, freshwater and terrestrial environments'. Global Change Biology 16 (12), 3304-3313.
Crick, H.Q.P., and Sparks, T.H. (1999) 'Climate change related to egg-laying trends'. Nature399, 423-424.
Gange, A.C., Gange, E.G., Sparks, T.H., and Boddy, L. (2007) 'Rapid and recent changes in fungal fruiting patterns'. Science 316, 71.
Sparks, T.H., Jeffree, E.P., and Jeffree, C.E. (2000) 'An examination of the relationship between flowering times and temperature at the national scale using long-term phenological records from the UK'. International Journal of Biometeorology 44, 82-87.
Roy, D.B., and Sparks, T.H. (2000) 'Phenology of British butterflies and climate change'.Global Change Biology 6, 407-416.
Lehikoinen, E., Sparks, T.H., and Zalakevicius, M. (2004) 'Arrival and departure dates'. In Birds and Climate Change. Advances in Ecological Research, 35. Ed. by Moller, A.P., Fiedler, W., and Berthold, P.1-31.
Sparks, T.H., Bairlein, F., Bojarinova, J.G., Huppop, O., Lehikoinen, E.A., Rainio, K., Sokolov, L.V., and Walker, D. (2005) 'Examining the total arrival distribution of migratory birds'. Global Change Biology 11, 22-30.
Sparks, T.H., Roy, D.B., and Dennis, R.L.H. (2005) 'The influence of temperature on migration of Lepidoptera into Britain'. Global Change Biology 11, 507-514.