Staff, Students & Associates

Doctoral Students

Alex Thompson BSc (Hons) (Cantab) John Day Building: 3.11 Tel: +27 (0)21 650 5932 Fax: +27 (0)21 650 3295 Email: alex.thompson@uct.ac.za

Alex received a BA (Hons) in Zoology from Cambridge University in 2007, with his thesis on “Habitat preference, movement and behaviour of the Chalkhill Blue (Polyommatus coridon) at Totternhoe Quarry and surrounding reserves”. Since graduating he has spent most of his time in the Kalahari, in the Northern Cape. He spent a year as a volunteer at the Kalahari Meerkat Project, where he was in charge of the life history data collection. He has also been a field assistant working on vocal communication in yellow-billed hornbills (Tockus leucomelas) and signal information and foraging tactics in pied babbler (Turdoides bicolor). His main areas of interest are parent-offspring conflict and its resolution, behavioural development and social learning, particularly in cooperative societies. He also enjoys watching and playing sport, especially rugby.

Thesis Title

Maternal investment and its effects on parent-offspring conflict in the cooperatively breeding Pied Babbler (Turdoides bicolor) (Supervisors: Phil Hockey and Nikki Raihani).

Recent peer-reviewed publications

2012

Ridley, A.R. & Thompson, A.M. 2012. The effect of Jacobin Cuckoo Clamator jacobinus parasitism on the body mass and survival of young in a new host species. Ibis 154:195-199. IF 2.295

2011

Ridley, A.R. & Thompson, A.M. 2011. Heterospecific egg destruction by Wattled Starlings
and the impact on Pied Babbler reproductive success. Ostrich 82:201-205. IF 0.338

2010

Bell, M.B.V., Radford, A.N., Smith, R.A., Thompson, A.M. & Ridley, A.R. 2010. Bargaining babblers: vocal negotiation of cooperative behaviour in a social bird. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 277:3223-3228. IF 4.857