Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr Timothée R. Cook PhD (France) John Day building 2.15 Tel: (+27) (0) 21 650 3619 Fax: (+27) (0) 21 650 3295 Email: timothee.cook@uct.ac.za / timothee.cook@gmail.com

During his MSc and PhD - graduated 2008 (CEBC-CNRS Chizé and La Rochelle University, France) - Tim focused on understanding how ecological factors influence the foraging behaviour of marine top predators. The approach was comparative and involved studying the differences in resource acquisition strategies between habitats in relation to variations in morphology within a group of closely related cormorant species. The study of sexual differences supplemented this approach by focusing on the hypothesis that there is a division of niches between the sexes associated with a specialization in the behaviour and morphology of each sex.

Today, Tim has many research interests but is still attracted by the study of the behavioural and evolutionary ecology of animals. He has specialised in the study of foraging strategies using electronic activity recorders. This involves research on the spatial ecology and diving behaviour and physiology of air-breathing vertebrates. Tim is convinced that one of his roles as ecologist is to put his knowledge at the service of those who are more actively involved in developing conservation management plans.

Tim joined the Percy FitzPatrick Institute in 2009 after receiving a NRF/DST Centre of Excellence post-doctoral fellowship. In 2012 he received a Claude Léon Foundation post-doctoral fellowship to pursue his work. His research at the institute focuses mainly on the conservation of endemic Southern African species of marine cormorants (Peter Ryan coordinator). The goal is 1) fundamental, i.e. to describe foraging strategies, and 2) applied, i.e. to explore how cormorants are reacting to changes in their environment, in the context of global change and intensification of human activities (mainly fishing) within the Benguela upwelling ecosystem.

Research Programmes

Seabird Research

Current students

Doctoral

Davide Gaglio: Link between population dynamics, foraging behaviour and food abundance and distribution in the Swift Tern Thalasseus bergii (Supervisors: Timothée Cook, Richard Sherley and Peter Ryan).

Masters (Dissertation)

Philna Botha: Testing the food-shortage hypothesis on the long-term population dynamics of the endangered Bank Cormorant (co-supervised by Richard Sherley, Les Underhill and Peter Ryan).

Corlia Meyer: Testing the influence of heat-stress on the breeding success of an endangered species: the Bank Cormorant (co-supervised by Richard Sherley, Les Underhill and Peter Ryan).

Honours

Jennifer Roberts: Comparing the effect of ambient air temperature and operative temperature on heat-stress behavioural responses in the endangered Bank Cormorant (co-supervised by Richard Sherley, Les Underhill and Peter Ryan).

Publications

Tim maintains a publication list on his website.