Dr Mark Hauber

Dr. Mark E. Hauber Associate Professor http://www.cowbird.org.nz School of Biological Sciences University of Auckland PB 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand Contact: m.hauber@auckland.ac.nz Office/Courier: 252 Thomas Building 3A Symonds Street, Auckland, 1010, New Zealand Tel.: +64-(0)9-373-7599 x. 89436 Fax: +64-(0)9-373-7668 Mobile: +64-(0)21-066-2619

Research Interests

I am a behavioural ecologist focussing on the evolution of recognition systems. Shifting gears between behavioural, developmental, and molecular tools, I 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 behaviours 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 modelling and simulations, and 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, and the University of Auckland.

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 behavioural, conservation, and evolutionary ecology include studying counterintuitive communication systems 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 captive-reared shorebirds, habitat use and population dynamics of top predators following pulsed and ongoing predator removals, the social behaviours and vocalisations of nocturnal colonial petrels, the dispersal strategies of native passerines from mainland islands into non-managed lands, sexual dimorphism and behavioural ecology of the cuckoo-host endemic whiteheads, 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 at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley. Prospective postgraduate and honours students who are interested in participating in some of these studies or would like to pursue an independent project in behavioural ecology under my supervision are encouraged to get in touch via e-mail with a short statement of their backgrounds and interests.

Recent Publications

• Rayner MJ, Hauber ME, Imber MJ, Stamp RK, Clout MN (in press) Spatial heterogeneity of mesopredator release within an oceanic island system. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.*
• Hauber ME, Moskat C (in press) Shared parental care is costly for nestlings of common cuckoos and their great reed warbler hosts. Behavioral Ecology.
• Anderson MG, Hauber ME (2007) A recognition-free mechanism for reliable rejection of brood parasites. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 22: 283-286.*
• Galbraith J, Sancha E, Maloney R, Hauber ME (2007) Captive reared chicks of the endangered black stilt do not habituate to playbacks of conspecific alarm calls. Animal Conservation 10: 103-109.*
• Hauber ME, Kilner RM (2007) Who mimics whom? Communication, co-evolution, and chick mimicry in parasitic finches. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology (in press).
• Shawkey MD, Hauber ME, Estep LK, Hill GE (2006) Evolutionary transitions and mechanisms of matte and iridescent plumage coloration in grackles and allies (Icteridae). Journal of the Royal Society Interface 3: 777-786.
• Hoover J, Yasukawa K, Hauber ME (2006) Spatial and temporal structure of avian brood parasitism affects the fitness benefits of egg ejection and nest abandonment. Animal Behaviour 72: 881-890.
• Hauber ME, Lacey EA (2005) Bateman's principle in cooperatively breeding vertebrates: the effects of non-breeding alloparents on variability of female and male reproductive success. Integrative and Comparative Biology 45: 903-914.
• Hauber ME, Yeh PJ, Roberts JOL (2004) Patterns and coevolutionary consequences of repeated brood parasitism. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 271: S317-S320.
• Kilner RM, Madden J, Hauber ME (2004) Brood parasitic cowbird nestlings use host young to procure parental resources. Science 305: 877-879.
• Theunissen FE, Amin N, Shaevitz SS, Woolley SMN, Fremouw T, Hauber ME (2004). Song selectivity in the song system and in the auditory forebrain. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1016: 222-245.
• Hauber ME (2003) Hatching asynchrony, nestling competition, and the cost of interspecific brood parasitism. Behavioral Ecology 14: 224-235 (with cover photo).
• Hauber ME, Dearborn DC (2003) Avian reproduction without parental care: what to look for in genetic studies of obligate brood parasitic mating systems. Perspectives in Ornithology. Auk 120: 1-13.
• Hauber ME (2002) Conspicuous coloration and prey attraction in a stationary predator. Ecological Entomology 27: 686-691.
• Hauber ME, Russo SA, Sherman PW (2001) A password for species recognition in a brood parasitic bird. Proceedings of the Royal Society London B 268: 1041-1048.*