He was the first to discover that avian clutch size – the number of eggs laid in a single nesting – in great tits has a remarkably high heritability and that the likelihood of the survival of young birds can be traced back to nutrition in the nest.[4] Perrins also demonstrated that females lay a clutch of an appropriate size for their ability to feed.[4][14] He supervised several successful DPhil students at Oxford including Matt Ridley.[2]
British Tits: - Collins New Naturalist Series, (1979) ISBN978-0002195379
Encyclopedia of Birds: Christopher M. Perrins and A.L.A. Middleton, Facts on File Inc. (1985) ISBN978-0816011506
The Mute Swan: Helm Field Guides, Birkhead M. Perrins C. ISBN978-0709932598(1986)
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Birds: The Definitive Guide to Birds of the World: Christopher M. Perrins Hardline (1990) ISBN978-0747202776
Bird Population Studies: Relevance to Conservation and Management: (Oxford Ornithology Series) by Christopher M. Perrins, G. J. Hirons and J. D. Lebreton (1996) ISBN978-0198540823
The Birds of the Western Palearctic, Volume 1: Non-passerines David Snow, Christopher M. Perrins and Robert Gillmor (1998) Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0198501879
The Birds of the Western Palearctic, Volume 2: by David Snow, Christopher M. Perrins and Robert Gillmor (1998) Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0198501886
The New Encyclopedia of Birds: Editor, (2003) Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0198525066
The Complete Encyclopedia of Birds and Bird Migration: Jonathan Elphick: Christopher M. Perrins (2004) ISBN978-0785816676
Awards and honours
Perrins has received a number of awards for his research, including the Godman-Salvin Medal of the British Ornithologists' Union in 1988, and the RSPB Medal in 1992. In 1993, he was appointed as the first Warden of the Swans in the Royal Household, playing an important role in the annual Swan Upping ceremony. This was a new office in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, created in 1993. Other awards and honours include:[6]
^ abcdeAnon (1997). "Professor Christopher Perrins LVO FRS". London: royalsociety.org. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where:
^ abCharmantier, A.; McCleery, R. H.; Cole, L. R.; Perrins, C.; Kruuk, L. E. B.; Sheldon, B. C. (2008). "Adaptive Phenotypic Plasticity in Response to Climate Change in a Wild Bird Population". Science. 320 (5877): 800–803. doi:10.1126/science.1157174. PMID18467590.
^Mccleery, R. H.; Perrins, C. M.; Wheeler, D.; Groves, S. (2006). "The effect of breeding status on the timing of moult in Mute Swans Cygnus olor". Ibis. 149 (1): 86–90. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.2006.00596.x.
^Pettifor, R. A.; Perrins, C. M.; McCleery, R. H. (1988). "Individual optimization of clutch size in great tits". Nature. 336 (6195): 160–162. doi:10.1038/336160a0.
^Noordwijk, A.J. Van; McCleery, R.H.; Perrins, C.M. (1995). "Selection for the Timing of Great Tit Breeding in Relation to Caterpillar Growth and Temperature". The Journal of Animal Ecology. 64 (4): 451. doi:10.2307/5648.