Ph.D., Cornell University, Neurobiology and Behavior

ABC MA Director

Department of Psychology
Hunter College, Room 628A - HN
695 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10065
Tel: (212) 396-6442
Fax:(212) 772-5620

Email: mark.hauber@hunter.cuny.edu

Website

Current Areas of Research

     Our research focuses on evolutionary hypotheses and ecological contexts of animal behavior.  We ask, in general, how animals tell apart their friends from their enemies.  As a model system, for example, my own research has focused on brood parasitic birds, such as cuckoos and cowbirds, which lay their eggs in other birds nests.  Why does the host accept the foreign egg and chick in its nest and how does the parasite trick the host to provide more food than its fair share? Other projects in the laboratory focus on the development of vocal recognition of conspecifics and mates, the genetic mating systems of socially monogamous seabirds, the migratory dynamics of seabirds and cuckoos, and decision making by monarch butterflies.  This research is funded by international and national funding agencies, allowing for student-initiated projects to be incorporated in the overall research activity of the lab.

Selected Publications (* with research students):

Hauber ME, Woolley SMN, Cassey P, Theunissen FE (2013) Experience dependence of neural responses to different classes of male songs in the primary auditory forebrain of female songbirds. Behavioural Brain Research 243: 184- 190.

Igic B, Cassey P, Grim T,  Greenwood DR, Moskat C, Rutila J, Hauber ME (2012) A shared chemical basis of avian host-parasite egg colour mimicry. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 279: 1068-1076.*

Nakagawa S, Hauber ME (2011) Great challenges with few subjects: statistical strategies for neuroscientists. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 35: 462-473.

Croston R, Hauber ME (2010) The ecology of avian brood parasitism. Nature Education Knowledge 1: 3.*

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.*

Rayner MJ, Hauber ME, Imber MJ, Stamp RK, Clout MN (2007) Spatial heterogeneity of mesopredator release within an oceanic island system. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 104: 20862-20865.*

Kilner RM, Madden JR, Hauber ME (2004) Brood parasitic cowbird nestlings use host young to procure resources. Science 305: 877-879.

Hauber ME, Russo SA, Sherman PW (2001) A password for species recognition in a brood parasitic bird. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 268: 1041-1048.*