Research at Oxford
The Second World War interrupted Gibb’s Oxford work, although he continued bird observations while serving in Malta. Afterwards he returned to the Edward Grey Institute to work with David Lack.
In 1947 Gibb and Lack initiated the Wytham tit study, using nest boxes and individual records. His 1954 feeding study also considered treecreepers and goldcrests alongside tits.
Estimating food intake in the field
In rock-pipit research Gibb combined food identity, feeding rates and time spent on different foods to estimate daily consumption.
He considered calorific values and compared the sizes of invertebrates taken by other shorebirds. These observations connected feeding behaviour, territory size and resource limitation.
References: [1]
Population ecology in New Zealand
Gibb moved to New Zealand in 1957 to study rabbits and subsequently worked in the DSIR Ecology Division, directing it from 1965 to 1981.
He promoted studies of native and forest birds and agricultural bird problems, as well as training younger researchers. Food, predation and population limitation remained connecting questions across different study organisms.
References: [1]
Observations after retirement
After retiring in 1981 he continued work on sparse rabbit populations in the Orongorongo Valley and counted birds in woodland near his Lower Hutt home.
He published the results of twenty-five years of those bird observations in 2001. Like the early tit research, the record used repeated measurements to address ecological questions.
References: [1]