Cockburn Group - Evolutionary ecology
Current work focuses on cooperative breeding of superb fairy-wrens and woodswallows.
About
Cooperative breeding occurs where more than two individuals combine to rear a single brood of young. It is extraordinarily prevalent in the Australian avifauna, for both phylogenetic and ecological reasons, and we are conducting a number of studies to understand this prevalence. Current work focuses on superb fairy-wrens and woodswallows, though we have worked with kookaburras, bee-eaters, kingfishers, thornbills, choughs and parrots.
Awards
- President of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology (from 2018 to 2020), 2018
- Member of the Order of Australia (AM), 2011
- Ellis Troughton Memorial Award, 2010
- Fellowship (Honorary Life Member) of the Australian Mammal Society, 2010
- Nils von Hofsten Award, 2006
- Peter Baume Award, 2006
- DL Serventy Medal, 2004
- Centenary Medal, 2003
- Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, 2001
- Distinguished Visiting Ecologist, Colorado State University, 1993
- Gottschalk Medal, 1988
- Edgeworth David Medal for Zoology, 1987
- Whitley Award, 1985
Publications
Members
News
Helen Osmond has watched the ins and outs of one superb fairy-wren population for three decades.
Spring isn't all it's quacked up to be. Pollen levels are high, magpies are terrorising cyclists and pedestrians alike, and protective duck parents are in attack mode.
Warmer temperatures linked to climate change are having a big impact on the breeding habits of one of Australia’s most recognisable bird species, according to researchers at The Australian National University (ANU).