Monday, September 6, 2010

Research by Dr. Hauber, Department of Psychology, Hunter College, CUNY
I am an associate professor and a behavioral ecologist focusing on the evolution of recognition systems. Shifting gears between behavioral, developmental, and molecular tools, we have been studying the social and genetic consequences of species recognition in avian brood parasites, such as cuckoos and cowbirds. Brood parasitic birds provide an exciting model system for the evolution of social behaviors because, unlike 98% of bird species, they lay their eggs into nests of other species and are reared by foster parents. Questions about how species-specific phenotypes are inherited and develop in parasites are in the core of my research program.



Using hypothesis-driven comparative methods and meta-analyses, theoretical modeling and simulations, and direct observations and experimental treatments in the field and the lab, I test predictions of co-evolutionary arms-race hypotheses between parasites and their hosts. Research in my lab has been recently funded by the Human Frontier Science Programme, the New Zealand Marsden Fund, the National Geographic Society, the University of Auckland, the Royal Society of New Zealand, the Leverhulme Trust Fund, NIH, and NSF.
I also have a strong interest in the neural basis of the perception of functionally significant social displays, such as courtship songs, alarm signals, and territorial calls. In addition, I have studied alternative foraging tactics and strategies of stationary predators such as spiders and antlions. Accordingly, my further interests in behavioral, conservation, and evolutionary ecology include studying counterintuitive communication systems, psychological mechanisms, and interspecific interactions. 


Much of all this research relies on collaborations with other scientists, and I have co-authored many articles with graduate and undergraduate students who participated in my studies (see * publications below). In particular, recent research by my graduate and summer students have included investigations of experimental tests of the antipredator responses of endangered shorebirds, habitat use and population dynamics of top predators following pulsed and ongoing predator removals, the social behaviors and vocalisations of nocturnal colonial petrels, the dispersal strategies of native passerines from mainland islands into non-managed land, sexual dimorphism and behavioral ecology of the cuckoo-hosts, the breeding and foraging ecology of gannets and penguins, and the mechanistic bases of species recognition in zebra finches.
I received a B.S. in Biology and Organismal Biology summa cum laude at Yale University and a Ph.D. in Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University. For my postdoctoral training I worked as a Miller Research Fellow in Integrative Biology and Psychology at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley. Prospective doctoral, master's and honors students who are interested in participating in some of these studies or would like to pursue an independent project in behavioral and recognition systems under my supervision are encouraged to get in touch via e-mail with a short statement of their backgrounds and interests.










Some of my recent publications (for more, please click on the Publications tab): 


Cassey P, Duval C, Maurer G, Ewen JG, Hauber ME (in press). Differential impacts of time since collection on eggshell colour components relevant to perceptual modeling in museum collections of song thrush (Turdus philomelos) eggs. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

Hauber ME, Campbell DLM, Woolley SMN (in press) Functional role and female perception of male song in zebra finches. Emu - Austral Ornithology (Special Issue Honouring Richard Zann).*

Igic B, Hauber ME, Galbraith JA, Grim T, Dearborn DC, Brennan PLR, Moskat C, Choudary PK, Cassey P (in press) Assessment of agreement between micrometer- and scanning electron microscope-based repeated measurements of avian eggshell thickness. Journal of Field Ornithology.*

Landers TJ, Rayner ME, Phillips RA, Hauber ME (in press) Dynamics of seasonal movements by a trans-pacific migrant seabird, the Westland petrel Procellaria westlandica. Condor.*

Nakagawa S, Hauber ME (in press) Great challenges with few subjects: statistical strategies for neurosciences. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews.

Rayner MJ, Hauber ME, Phillips RA (in press) Testing predictions of dual foraging theory in a unimodal species: foraging trip characteristics, diet, and provisioning behavior in the Cook's petrel Pterodroma cookii. Marine Biology.*

Anderson MG, Brunton DH, Hauber ME (2010) Reliable information content and ontogenetic shift in begging calls of Grey Warbler nestlings. Ethology, 116(4):357-365. DOI 10.1111/j.1439-0310.2010.01750.x.*

Anderson MG, Brunton DH, Hauber ME (2010) Species-specificity of grey warbler begging solicitation and alarm calls revealed by nestling responses to playbacks. Animal Behaviour 79: 401-409.*

Campbell DLM, Hauber ME (2010) Behavioural correlates of female zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) responses to multimodal species recognition cues. Ethology Ecology & Evolution 22(2) 167-181 DOI 10.1080/03949371003707885.*

Campbell DLM, Hauber ME (2010) Conspecific-only experience during development reduces the strength of heterospecific song discrimination in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata): a behavioural test of the optimal acceptance threshold hypothesis. Journal of Ornithology 151:379-389 (Online First 2010).*

Cassey P, Portugal SJ, Maurer G, Ewen JG, Boulton RL, Hauber ME, Blackburn TM (2010) Variability in avian eggshell colour: A comparative study of museum eggshells. PLoS ONE 5(8): e12054. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0012054.

Hubbard JK, Uy JA, Hauber ME, Hoekstra HE, Safran RJ (2010) Vertebrate pigmentation: from underlying genes to adaptive function. Trends in Genetics 26(5):231-9.

Igic B, Leuschner N, Parker KA, Ismar SMH, Gill BJ, Lovegrove TG, Millar CD, Hauber ME (2010) Size dimorphism and avian-perceived sexual dichromatism in a New Zealand endemic, the whitehead (Mohoua albicilla). Journal of Morphology 271(6) 697-704. DOI 10.1002/jmor.10827.

Ismar SMH, Baird K, Favell E, Hauber ME (2010) Patterns of offspring sex-ratio in a re-establishing black-winged petrel population. Emu - Australian Ornithology 110(1) 104-108 DOI 10.1071/MU09097.*

Ismar SMH, Daniel C, Stephenson B, Hauber ME (2010) Mate replacement entails a fitness cost for a socially monogamous seabird. Naturwissenschaften 97L 109-113.*

Ismar SMH, Hunter C, Lay K, Ward-Smith T, Wilson PR, Hauber ME (2010) A virgin flight across the Tasman Sea? Satellite tracking of post-fledging movements in the Australasian gannet Morus serrator breeding at Cape Kidnappers. Journal of Ornithology. DOI 10.1007/s10336-010-0504-1.*

Moskat C, Ban M, Szekely T, Komdeur J, Lucassen RWG, van Boheemen LA, Hauber ME (2010) Discordancy or template-based recognition? Dissecting the cognitive basis of the rejection of foreign eggs in hosts of avian brood parasites. The Journal of Experimental Biology 213: 1976-1983.

Moskat C, Hauber ME (2010) Chick loss from mixed broods reflects severe nestmate competition between an evictor brood parasite and its host. Behavioural Processes, 83(3):311-4.

Ortiz-Catedral L, Kearvell JC, Hauber ME, and Brunton DH (2010) Breeding biology of the critically endangered Malherbe's Parakeet on Maud Island, New Zealand following the release of captive-bred individuals. Australian Journal of Zoology 57(6): 433-439 DOI 10.1071/ZO09098.*

Ortiz-Catedral L, Kurenbach B, Massaro M, McInnes K, Brunton DH, Hauber ME, Martin DP, Varsani A (2010) A new isolate of beak and feather disease virus from endemic wild red-fronted parakeets (Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae) in New Zealand. Archives of Virology 155:613-620. DOI 10.1007/s00705-010-0607-2.*

Parker KA, Hauber ME, & Brunton DH (2010) Contemporary cultural evolution of a conspecific recognition signal following serial translocations. Evolution. DOI 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2010.01013.x.

Rayner MJ, Carraher CJF, Mick N. Clout MN, & Hauber ME (2010) Mitochondrial DNA analysis reveals genetic structure in two New Zealand Cook's petrel (Pterodroma cookii) populations. Conservation Genetics. DOI 10.1007/s10592-010-0072-1.

Rayner MJ, Hartill BW, Hauber ME, Phillips RA (2010) Central place foraging by breeding Cook's petrel Pterodroma cookii: foraging duration reXects range,diet and chick meal mass. Marine Biology (Published Online). DOI 10.1007/s00227-010-1483-8.

Safran RJ, Vitousek MN, Hauber ME, Ghalambor CK (2010) Sexual selection: a dynamic state of affairs Response to the comments of Cornwallis and Uller in the article: Towards an evolutionary ecology of sexual traits. Trends Ecol Evol.[Epub ahead of print]

Sorenson MD, Hauber ME, & Derrickson SR (2010) Sexual imprinting misguides species recognition in a facultative interspecific brood parasite. Proceedings of the Royal Society B (published online before print) DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2010.0592.

Steeves TE, Holdaway RN, Hale ML, McLay E, McAllan IAW, Christian M, Hauber ME, Bunce M (2010) Merging ancient and modern DNA: extinct seabird taxon rediscovered in the North Tasman Sea. Biology Letters 6: 94-97 (Online First 2009).

Woolley SMN, Hauber ME, Theunissen FE (2010) Developmental experience alters information coding in auditory midbrain and forebrain neurons. Developmental Neurobiology 70: 235-252.

2009

Anderson MG, Moskat C, Ban M, Grim T, Cassey P, Hauber ME (2009) Egg eviction imposes a recoverable cost of virulence in chicks of a brood parasite. PLoS One 4: e7725.*

Anderson MG, Ross HA, Brunton DH, Hauber ME (2009) Begging call matching between a specialist brood parasite and its host: A comparative approach to detect co-evolution. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 98: 208-216.*

Campbell DLM, Hauber ME (2009) Cross-fostering diminishes song discrimination in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). Animal Cognition 12: 481-490.*

Campbell DLM, Hauber ME (2009) Disassociation of visual and acoustic conspecific cues decreases discrimination by female zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). Journal of Comparative Psychology 123: 310-315.*

Campbell DLM, Hauber ME (2009) Spatial and behavioural measures of social discrimination by captive male zebra finches: implications of sexual and species differences for recognition research. Behavioural Processes 80: 90-98.*

Campbell DLM, Shaw RC, Hauber ME (2009) The strength of species recognition in captive female zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata): a comparison across estrildid heterospecifics. Ethology 115: 23-32.*

Campbell DLM, Weiner SA, Starks PTB, Hauber ME (2009) Context and control: behavioural ecology experiments in the laboratory. Annales Zoologici Fennici 46: 112-123 (Special Issue on Methods in Ecological Research).*

Cassey P, Boulton RL, Ewen JG, Hauber ME (2009) Reduced clutch size is correlated with increased nest predation in exotic Turdus thrushes. Emu - Australian Ornithology 109: 294-299.

Cassey P, Ewen JG, Marshall NJ, Vorobyev M, Blackburn TM, Hauber ME (2009) Are avian eggshell colours effective intraspecific communication signals? A perceptual modeling approach. Ibis - International Journal of Avian Science 151: 689-698.

Grim T, Rutila J, Cassey P, Hauber ME (2009) Experimentally constrained virulence is costly for common cuckoo Cuculus canorus chicks. Ethology 115: 14-22.

Grim T, Rutila J, Cassey P, Hauber ME (2009) The cost of virulence: an experimental study of egg eviction by brood parasitic chicks. Behavioral Ecology 20: 1138-1146.

Grodzinski U, Hauber ME, Lotem A (2009) The role of feeding regularity and nestling digestive efficiency in parent-offspring communication: An experimental test. Functional Ecology 23: 569-577.

Hauber ME (2009) Does the removal of avian brood parasite eggs increase host productivity? A case study with brown-headed cowbirds Molothrus ater and song sparrows Melospiza melodia near Ithaca, New York, USA. Conservation Evidence 6: 83-88.

Igic B, Cassey P, Samas P, Grim T, Hauber ME (2009) Cigarette butts form a perceptually cryptic component of Song Thrush Turdus philomelos nests. Notornis - Ornithology of the South Pacific 56: 158-161.*

Igic B, Gill BJ, Grim T, Brennan PR, Bassett SM, Battley PF, Palmer DJ, Greenwood DR, Hauber ME (2009) Detecting pigments from the colourful eggshells of extinct birds. Chemoecology 20:43-48. DOI 10.1007/s00049-009-0038-2.*

Krull, CR, Parsons S, Hauber ME (2009) The presence of ultrasonic harmonics in the calls of the Rifleman (Acanthisitta chloris). Notornis - Ornithology of the Southern Pacific 56: 158-161.*

Low J, Burns KC, Hauber ME (2009) Wild number sense in brood parasitic brown-headed cowbirds. Ibis - International Journal of Avian Science 151: 775-777.

Moskat C, Hauber ME, Aviles JM, Ban M, Hargitai R, Honza M (2009) Increased host tolerance of multiple cuckoo eggs leads to higher fledging success of the brood parasite. Animal Behaviour 77: 1281-1290.

Ortiz-Catedral L, Ismar SMH, Baird K, Brunton DH, Hauber ME (2009) Recolonization of Raoul Island by Kermadec red-crowned parakeets Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae cyanurus after eradication of invasive predators, Kermadec Islands archipelago, New Zealand. Conservation Evidence 6: 26-30.*

Ortiz-Catedral L, Ismar SMH, Baird K, Ewen JG, Hauber ME, Brunton DH (2009) No evidence of Cambylobacter, Salmonella and Yersinia in free-ranging populations of the red-crowned parakeet (Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae). New Zealand Journal of Zoology 36: 376-383.*

Ortiz-Catedral L, McInnes K, Hauber ME, Brunton DH (2009) First report of Beak and Feather Disease Virus (BFDV) in wild Red-crowned Parakeets (Cyanoramphus novaezealandiae) in New Zealand. Emu - Australian Ornithology 109: 244-247.*

Shaw RC, Hauber ME (2009) Experimental support for the role of nest predation in the evolution of brood parasitism. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22: 1354-1358.*

Tonra CM, Johnson MD, Heath SK, Hauber ME (2009) Does nesting habitat predict hatch synchrony between brood parasitic brown-headed cowbirds Molothrus ater and two host species? Ecography 32: 497-503.