Technische Universität München

Tim Sparks was born in Cambridge, UK. His Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences was awarded by Sheffield Hallam University following earlier masters degrees in Applied Statistics and in Operational Research. Until 1991 he worked in agricultural research switching to ecological research at the Monks Wood Research Station until 2009. In 1998 he founded the UK Phenology Network and has represented the UK in collaborative research programs in phenology. Tim is a visiting professor at the Poznań University of Life Sciences and at the University of Liverpool and was a contributing author to the last IPCC report. He is an editor of the journal Climate Research, and on the editorial boards of five other journals. Immediately prior to starting his fellowship he was working on biodiversity indicators at the University of Cambridge.

2007 British Ecological Society award for Ecological Engagement

2008 Geoff Pyman Memorial Lecturer

2002 Royal Meteorological Society Margary Lecturer

Honorary Fellow – British Naturalists’ Association

More publications are available here.

Thackeray, S.J., Sparks, T.H., et al. (in press). Trophic level asynchrony in rates of phenological change for marine, freshwater and terrestrial environments. Global Change Biology.

Sparks, T.H., Aasa, A., Huber, K. & Wadsworth, R. (2009) Changes and patterns in biologically relevant temperatures in Europe 1941-2000. Climate Research, 39, 191-207.

Carroll, E.A., Sparks, T.H, Collinson, N. & Beebee, T.J.C (2009). The influence of temperature on the spatial distribution of first spawning dates of the common frog (Rana temporaria) in the UK. Global Change Biology, 15, 467-473.

Sparks, T.H. (2007). Lateral thinking on data to identify climate impacts. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 22, 169-171.

Gange, A.C., Gange, E.G., Sparks, T.H. & Boddy, L. (2007). Rapid and recent changes in fungal fruiting patterns. Science, 316, 71.

Menzel, A., Sparks, T.H., et al.(2006). European phenological response to climate change matches the warming pattern. Global Change Biology, 12, 1969-1976.

Lehikoinen, E., Sparks, T.H. & Zalakevicius, M. (2004). Arrival and departure dates. Advances in Ecological Research, 35, 1-31.

Sparks, T.H. & Menzel, A. (2002). Observed changes in seasons: an overview. International Journal of Climatology, 22, 1715-1725.

Crick, H.Q.P, & Sparks, T.H. (1999). Climate change related to egg-laying trends. Nature, 399, 423-424.

Sparks, T.H. & 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.

Tim is fascinated by using long term data to detect climate change impacts. These data cover a wide range of topics and a wide geographic area. He has collaborated widely, particularly with researchers in Central and Eastern Europe. His main topic of research is phenology and increasingly the consequences for natural and managed systems of phenological change.