biology

Mark Elgar

Mark Elgar is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mark Elgar rather than just read about it. In short: Mark Adrian Elgar (25 July 1957 – 9 August 2025) was an Australian behavioural and evolutionary ecologist, based at the University of Melbourne since 1991. He established his reputation with research on bird foraging strategies and sexual cannibalism in spiders, but later explored a variety of evolutionary questions around sexual selection, social behaviour and chemical communication.

Key takeaways

Mark Elgar belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mark Elgar to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mark Elgar from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mark Adrian Elgar (25 July 1957 – 9 August 2025) was an Australian behavioural and evolutionary ecologist, based at the University of Melbourne since 1991. He established his reputation with research on bird foraging strategies and sexual cannibalism in spiders, but later explored a variety of evolutionary questions around sexual selection, social behaviour and chemical communication.

Research career In January 1980, Elgar completed his Bachelor of Science with Honours at Griffith University. From 1982 to 1985, he undertook his PhD research at Cambridge University under Nick Davies, studying the flocking and foraging strategies of house sparrows. According to Elgar, Davies taught him "the value of asking questions that can be resolved by simple experiments, and of treating colleagues respectfully." Elgar was also influenced by evolutionary biologist John Maynard Smith, who attended one of Elgar's seminars at Sussex University and was enthusiastic about his research. Following the completion of his PhD, Elgar served as a Science and Engineering Research Fellow at University of Oxford (1985–1987). He then returned to Australia, working as a University Research Fellow (1987–1989) and Queen Elizabeth II Research Fellow (1989–1990) at University of New South Wales. He joined the University of Melbourne in 1991, where he became a professor in 2005. There he served in several roles including Elected Member, University Council (2004–2007); Associate Dean (Graduate Programs), Faculty of Science (2006–2009); and Domain Leader (Ecology & Evolution), School of BioSciences (2018–2019). From 2013 to 2016 he was Member, College of Experts, Australian Research Council. Elgar served as President of the Australasian Evolution Society and Councillor for the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. He was editor-in-chief of the journals Behavioral Ecology (2006–2011) and Australian Journal of Zoology (2007–2011), associate editor for Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology (1994–2016), and Field Chief Editor for Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (2016–2024). In 2021, Elgar opined that an increase in wasp numbers in residential areas may be due to bushfires destroying their nests in natural environments.

Personal life In the final years of his life, Elgar was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. He died on 9 August 2025, and was survived by his two daughters.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mark Elgar

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mark Elgar claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mark Elgar before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mark Elgar ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mark Elgar

In research: Mark Elgar appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mark Elgar in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mark Elgar is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1957 births, 20th-century Australian scientists, 21st-century Australian people, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mark Elgar outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mark Elgar in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mark Elgar means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mark Elgar out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mark Elgar in simple terms?

Why does Mark Elgar matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mark Elgar?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mark Elgar.