Peter Buston

I am a first-generation college student and an immigrant to the USA from the UK. I earned my BA in Zoology from Oxford University, where I participated in expeditions to New Zealand, Tanzania and Mexico, and spent a lot of time rowing. I then earned my PhD in Behavioral Ecology from Cornell University. During that time, I spent nearly two years living in Papua New Guinea, and dabbled in triathlons. I completed my first postdoc in Evolutionary Ecology at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) in Santa Barbara, California, and a second postdoc in Integrative Ecology at the Estación Biológica de Doñana in Sevilla, Spain, where I experienced the joys and frustrations of living and working in my second language. In 2010, I moved back to the States and joined Boston University as a professor of Evolutionary Ecology and Marine Ecology. Since moving to Boston, I’ve become a half-decent salsa dancer and started to meditate. I’m a firm believer that the diversity of our experiences influences the questions we ask and the way we work: only an Englishman could have uncovered the perfect queue in a social fish. The rhythm of my writing is strongly influenced by the rhythm of rowing. And my formulation of hypotheses is more nuanced thanks to the use of the subjunctive mood in Spanish. Currently, I live in Somerville, Massachusetts, with my talented Transylvanian-Canadian immigrant wife (but no dog — yet).

Lab Publications (Google Scholar Profile; CV)