Areas of expertise

• Conservation And Biodiversity 050202
• Behavioural Ecology 060201
• Population, Ecological And Evolutionary Genetics 060411
• Life Histories 060308

Available student projects

Publications

• Cooper, E, Bonnet, T, Osmond, H et al. 2021, 'Aging and senescence across reproductive traits and survival in superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus)', The American Naturalist, vol. 197, no. 1, pp. 111-127.
• Cockburn, A, Penalba, J, Jaccoud, D et al. 2021, 'Hiphop: Improved paternity assignment among close relatives using a simple exclusion method for biallelic markers', Molecular Ecology Resources, vol. 21, pp. 1850-1865.
• Lyu, L, Liu, Y, Osmond, H et al 2020, 'When to start and when to stop: Effects of climate on breeding in a multi-brooded songbird', Global Change Biology, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 443-457.
• Pe�alba, J, Deng, Y, Fang, Q et al. 2020, 'Genome of an iconic Australian bird: High-quality assembly and linkage map of the superb fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus)', Molecular Ecology Resources, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 560-578.
• Brouwer, L & Cockburn, A 2020, 'Experimental vacancies do not induce settlement despite habitat saturation in a cooperative breeder', Biology Letters, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 1-5.
• Hajduk, G, Walling, C, Cockburn, A et al. 2020, 'The �algebra of evolution�: the Robertson�Price identity and viability selection for body mass in a wild bird population', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B, vol. 375, no. 1797, pp. 10pp.
• Brouwer, L, Cockburn, A & van de Pol, M 2020, 'Integrating Fitness Components Reveals That Survival Costs Outweigh Other Benefits and Costs of Group Living in Two Closely Related Species', The American Naturalist, vol. 195, no. 2, pp. 201-215.
• Cockburn, A 2020, 'Can�t see the �hood� for the trees: Can avian cooperative breeding currently be understood using the phylogenetic comparative method?', Advances in the Study of Behavior, vol. 52, pp. 243-291.
• de Villemereuil, P, Charmantier, A, Arlt, D et al. 2020, 'Fluctuating optimum and temporally variable selection on breeding date in birds and mammals', PNAS - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 117, no. 50, pp. 31969-31978.
• Brouwer, L, van de Pol, M, Cockburn, A et al 2019, 'Indirect fitness benefits through extra‐pair mating are large for an inbred minority, but cannot explain widespread infidelity among red‐winged fairy‐wrens', Evolution, vol. 73, no. 3, pp. 467-480.
• Hajduk, G, Cockburn, A, Margraf, N et al 2018, 'Inbreeding, inbreeding depression, and infidelity in a cooperatively breeding bird', Evolution, vol. 72, no. 7, pp. 1500-1514pp.
• Cockburn, A, Hatchwell, B & Koenig, W 2017, 'Sociality in Birds', in Dustin R. Rubenstein and Patrick Abbot (ed.), Comparative Social Evolution, Cambridge University Press, New York, pp. 320-353.
• Cockburn, A 2017, 'Long-term data as infrastructure: a comment on Ihle et al.', Behavioral Ecology, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 357-357.
• Brouwer, L, van de Pol, M, Aranzamendi, N et al 2017, 'Multiple hypotheses explain variation in extra-pair paternity at different levels in a single bird family', Molecular Ecology, vol. 26, no. 23, pp. 6717-6729.
• Matysiokova, B, Remes, V & Cockburn, A 2017, 'Broad-scale variation in sexual dichromatism in songbirds is not explained by sex differences in exposure to predators during incubation', Journal of Avian Biology, vol. 48, pp. 1322-1330.
• Cockburn, A, Brouwer, L, Margraf, N et al 2016, 'Superb fairy-wrens: Making the worst of a good job', in Walter D. Koenig and Janis L. Dickinson (ed.), Cooperative Breeding in Vertebrates: Studies of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 133-149.
• Lejeune, L, van de Pol, M, Cockburn, A et al 2016, 'Male and female helper effects on maternal investment and adult survival in red-winged fairy-wrens', Behavioral Ecology, vol. 27, no. 6, pp. 1841-1850.
• Aplin, L, Farine, D, Morand-Ferron, J et al. 2015, 'Experimentally induced innovations lead to persistent culture via conformity in wild birds', Nature, vol. 518, no. 7540, pp. 538-541.
• Kruuk, L, Osmond, H & Cockburn, A 2015, 'Contrasting effects of climate on juvenile body size in a Southern Hemisphere passerine bird', Global Change Biology, vol. 21, no. 8, pp. 2929-2941.
• Aplin, L, Farine, D, Morand-Ferron, J et al. 2015, 'Counting conformity: evaluating the units of information in frequency-dependent social learning', Animal Behaviour, vol. 110, pp. e5-e8.
• Mills, J, Teplitsky, C, Arroyo, B et al 2015, 'Archiving Primary Data: Solutions for Long-Term Studies', Trends in Ecology and Evolution, vol. 30, no. 10, pp. 581-589.
• Brouwer, L, van de Pol, M & Cockburn, A 2014, 'The role of social environment on parental care: Offspring benefit more from the presence of female than male helpers', Journal of Animal Ecology, vol. 83, no. 2, pp. 491-503.
• Brouwer, L, van de Pol, M & Cockburn, A 2014, 'Habitat geometry does not affect levels of extrapair paternity in an extremely unfaithful fairy-wren', Behavioral Ecology, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 531-537.
• Cockburn, A 2014, 'Behavioral ecology as big science: 25 years of asking the same questions', Behavioral Ecology, vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 1283-1286.
• Aplin, L, Farine, D, Morand-Ferron, J et al 2013, 'Individual personalities predict social behaviour in wild networks of great tits (Parus major)', Ecology Letters, vol. 16, no. 11, pp. 1365-1372.
• Cockburn, A 2013, 'Cooperative Breeding in Birds: Toward a Richer Conceptual Framework', in Kim Sterelny, Richard Joyce, Brett Calcott & Ben Fraser (ed.), Cooperation and Its Evolution, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 223-246.
• Dalziell, A, Peters, R, Cockburn, A et al 2013, 'Dance choreography is coordinated with song repertoire in a complex avian display', Current Biology, vol. 23, no. 12, pp. 1132-1135.
• van de Pol, M, Brouwer, L, Brooker, L et al 2013, 'Problems with using large-scale oceanic climate indices to compare climatic sensitivities across populations and species', Ecography, vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 249-255.
• Cockburn, A, Brouwer, L, Double, M et al 2013, 'Evolutionary origins and persistence of infidelity in Malurus: the least faithful birds', Emu - Austral Ornithology, vol. 113, no. 3, pp. 208-217.
• Margraf, N & Cockburn, A 2013, 'Helping behaviour and parental care in fairy-wrens (Malurus)', Emu - Austral Ornithology, vol. 113, no. 3, pp. 294-301.
• van de Pol, M, Osmond, H & Cockburn, A 2012, 'Fluctuations in population composition dampen the impact of phenotypic plasticity on trait dynamics in superb fairy-wrens', Journal of Animal Ecology, vol. 81, no. 2, pp. 411-422.
• Remes, V, Matysiokova, B & Cockburn, A 2012, 'Nest predation in New Zealand songbirds: Exotic predators, introduced prey and long-term changes in predation risk', Biological Conservation, vol. 148, no. 1, pp. 54-60.
• Remes, V, Matysiokova, B & Cockburn, A 2012, 'Long-term and large-scale analyses of nest predation patterns in Australian songbirds and a global comparison of nest predation rates', Journal of Avian Biology, vol. 43, no. 5, pp. 435-444.
• Langmore, N. E., Feeney, W. E., Crowe-Riddell, J., Luan, H., Louwrens, K. M., Cockburn, A. 2012, 'Learned recognition of brood parasitic cuckoos in the superb fairy-wren Malurus cyaneus', Behavioral Ecology, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 799-805.
• Matysiokova, B, Cockburn, A & Remes, V 2011, 'Male incubation feeding in songbirds responds differently to nest predation risk across hemispheres', Animal Behaviour, vol. 82, no. 6, pp. 1347-1356.
• Calhim, S, Double, M, Margraf, N et al 2011, 'Maintenance of Sperm Variation in a Highly Promiscuous Wild Bird', PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science), vol. 6, no. 12, pp. e28809-e28809.
• Heinsohn, R, Langmore, N, Cockburn, A et al 2011, 'Adaptive Secondary Sex Ratio Adjustments via Sex-Specific Infanticide in a Bird', Current Biology, vol. 21, no. 20, pp. 1744-1747.
• Cockburn, A & Russell, A 2011, 'Cooperative breeding: A question of climate?', Current Biology, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. R195-R197.
• van de Pol, M & Cockburn, A 2011, 'Identifying the Critical Climatic Time Window That Affects Trait Expression', The American Naturalist, vol. 177, no. 5, pp. 698-707.
• Abbot et al. 2011, 'Inclusive fitness theory and eusociality**', Nature, vol. 471, pp. E1.
• Brouwer L, van de Pol M , Atema E & Cockburn A 2011, 'Strategic promiscuity helps avoid inbreeding at multiple levels in a cooperative breeder where both sexes are philopatric', Molecular Ecology, vol. 20, pp. 4796-4807.
• Cockburn, A 2010, 'Oh sibling, who art thou?', Nature, vol. 466, no. 7309, pp. 930-931.
• Langmore, N, Cockburn, A, Russell, A et al 2009, 'Flexible cuckoo chick-rejection rules in the superb fairy-wren', Behavioral Ecology, vol. 20, pp. 978-984.
• Cockburn, A, Dalziell, A, Blackmore, C et al 2009, 'Superb fairy-wren males aggregate into hidden leks to solicit extragroup fertilizations before dawn', Behavioral Ecology, vol. 20, pp. 501-510.
• Jones, M, Cockburn, A, Hamede, R et al. 2008, 'Life-history change in disease-ravaged Tasmanian devil populations', PNAS - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 105, no. 29, pp. 10023-10027.
• Cockburn, A, Osmond, H & Double, M 2008, 'Swingin' in the rain: condition dependence and sexual selection in a capricious world', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences, vol. 275, pp. 605-612.
• Cockburn, A, Sims, R, Osmond, H et al. 2008, 'Can we measure the benefits of help in cooperatively breeding birds: the case of superb fairy-wrens Malurus cyaneus?', Journal of Animal Ecology, vol. 77, no. 3, pp. 430-438.
• Dalziell, A & Cockburn, A 2008, 'Dawn song in superb fairy-wrens: a bird that seeks extrapair copulations during the dawn chorus', Animal Behaviour, vol. 75, pp. 489-500.
• Cockburn, A & Double, M 2008, 'Cooperatively breeding superb fairy-wrens show no facultative manipulation of offspring sex ratio despite plausible benefits', Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, vol. 62, pp. 681-688.
• Cockburn, A, Osmond, H, Mulder, R et al. 2008, 'Demography of male reproductive queues in cooperatively breeding superb fairy-wrens Malurus cyaneus', Journal of Animal Ecology, vol. 77, pp. 297-304.
• Russell, A, Langmore, N, Cockburn, A et al 2007, 'Reduced Egg Investment Can Conceal Helper Effects in Cooperatively Breeding Birds', Science, vol. 317, pp. 941-944.
• Fisher, D, Double, M, Blomberg, S et al. 2006, 'Post-mating sexual selection increases lifetime fitness of polyandrous females in the wild', Nature, vol. 444, pp. 89-92.
• Cockburn, A 2006, 'Prevalence of different modes of parental care in birds', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences, vol. 273, pp. 1375-1383.
• Starling, M, Heinsohn, R, Cockburn, A et al. 2006, 'Cryptic gentes revealed in pallid cuckoos Cuculus pallidus using reflectance spectrophotometry', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences, vol. 273, pp. 1929-1934.
• Double, M, Peakall, R, Beck, N et al. 2005, 'Dispersal, philopatry, and infidelity: dissecting local genetic structure in superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus)', Evolution, vol. 59, no. 3, pp. 625-635.
• Cockburn, A 2004, 'Mating systems and sexual conflict', in Walter Koenig and Janis Dickinson (ed.), Ecology and Evolution of Cooperative Breeding in Birds, Cambridge University Press, UK, pp. 81-101.
• Beck, N, Double, M & Cockburn, A 2003, 'Microsatellite Evolution at Two Hypervariable Loci Revealed by Extensive Avian Pedigrees', Molecular Biology and Evolution, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 54-61.
• Cockburn, A 2003, 'Cooperative breeding in oscine passerines: does sociality inhibit speciation?', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences, vol. 270, pp. 2207-2214.
• Cockburn, A, Osmond, H, Mulder, R et al. 2003, 'Divorce, dispersal and incest avoidance in the cooperatively breeding superb fairy-wren Malurus cyaneus', Journal of Animal Ecology, vol. 72, pp. 189-202.
• Cockburn, A, Legge, S & Double, M 2002, 'Sex ratios in birds and mammals: can the hypotheses be disentangled?', in Ian C.W. Hardy (ed.), Sex Ratios: Concepts and Research Methods, Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom, pp. 266-286.
• Double, M & Cockburn, A 2000, 'Pre-dawn infidelity: females control extra-pair mating in superb fairy-wrens', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences, vol. 267, pp. 465-470.

Projects and Grants

Grants information is drawn from ARIES. To add or update Projects or Grants information please contact your College Research Office.

• Wild eco-evolutionary dynamics: why is an iconic Australian bird declining (Primary Investigator)
• Can inbreeding avoidance cause the evolution of sex-biased dispersal? (Primary Investigator)
• Fitness in free-living populations in a changing world (Primary Investigator)
• Evolution of Cooperative Breeding in Birds (Primary Investigator)