Hot Birds Research Project
Ph.D. Students
Benjamin Murphy
Taking the heat: how do parent birds mitigate costs of breeding at high temperatures?
Supervisors: Dr. Susan Cunningham, Dr. Tom Flower
Contact
Benjamin Murphy
FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology
DST-NRF Centre of Excellence
University of Cape Town
Rondebosch, 7701
South Africa
Email: benjaminmurphy2406@gmail.com
I’m from Frankfurt, Germany but have spent considerable time in the United Kingdom and France. As a school student I committed to an assistant zoo-keeper role where I quickly realised that I really enjoyed the idea of research. Following this thread I completed my undergraduate degree and honours research project, at the University of Edinburgh, evaluating whether different rodent malaria genotypes had differing infection dynamics in hosts and vectors. While undoubtedly interesting, I yearned for more field-based research involving analysis of behavioural strategies. Working towards this goal, I undertook a Masters in Conservation and Biodiversity at the University of Exeter (with Professor Andy Russell and Dr. Alexis Chaine) where I re-discovered my passion for behavioural ecology. A field course in Kenya opened my eyes to the world of ornithology and I haven’t looked back since.
As a result my Master’s project, based in the Pyrenées, France, studied parental investment decisions in blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) by analysing whether blue tits adaptively modify behavioural provisioning strategies due to presence of specific predators and whether ecological stresses at higher altitudes further influence these strategies.
After the Master’s, I undertook three months of volunteering with Principal investigator Dr Alexis Chaine and postdoc Dr Maxime Cauchoix at the CNRS (in Moulis, France). In parallel, I worked in the research station’s aviary collaborating with PhD student Ethan Hermer (University of Ottawa) in conducting experiments concerning population differences in spatial learning and proactive interference in great tits (Parus major). Following this, I was employed at the CNRS as a Field-site-leader by Dr. Chaine for the entirety of the 2018 breeding season (February – July) which focused on parental plasticity of great and blue tits breeding across an altitudinal gradient.
Research interests
Having finished my sabbatical I look forward to starting my PhD, under the supervision of Dr. Susan Cunningham and Dr. Tom Flower and within the Hot Birds team. I will be evaluating how parental Fork-tailed drongos (Dicrurus adsimilis) mitigate the costs of breeding at hot temperatures in the arid Kalahari. With this project, we wish to investigate in further detail foraging, parental care and nest outcomes by drongos in the face of challenging thermal conditions. This will enable us to better understand how drongos, and birds more generally, might maintain constant fledging mass despite high air temperatures, whether there are compensatory behaviours by parents (e.g. changes in shading behaviour at the nest or timing of foraging and provisioning into pre-dawn and post-dusk hours) and if these carry their own costs for parental or offspring fitness, or overall nest success.
Working with Fork-tailed drongos, well-known for their kleptoparasitism of meerkats, will develop our understanding of potential impacts of increasing temperatures within arid-environments.
Ryno Kemp
Supervisor: Prof. Andrew McKechnie
Contact
Ryno Kemp
Department of Zoology and Entomology
University of Pretoria
Pretoria, 0002
South Africa
Email: kemp.ryno@yahoo.com
Birds are fascinating creatures and got my attention at a very young age, at first only as a hobby until I got an opportunity to study at the University of Pretoria. I graduated with a B.Sc. in Zoology, followed with an Honours in Zoology during 2016, where I looked at the thermoregulation in free-ranging ground woodpeckers (Geocolaptes olivaceus) in the Drakensberg Mountains. At the begin of this year, I got the opportunity to start an exciting Masters project under the supervision of Prof Andrew McKechnie, examining the impacts of climate change on the threatened arid-zone Red lark (Calendulauda burra) using a mechanistic model approach. I recently got accepted to upgraded my MSc to a PhD project.
Research interests
My research interests are in the ecology and evolution of heterothermy and more recently using a physiological approach to predict climate change impacts on arid-zone birds, using the Red lark as a model species.
Publications
Czenze, Z.J., Kemp, R., van Jaarsveld, B., Freeman, M.T., Smit, B., Wolf, B.O. and McKechnie, A.E. In press. Regularly drinking desert birds have greater evaporative cooling capacity and higher heat tolerance limits than non-drinking species. Functional Ecology.
Lund, J., Bolopo, D., Thomson, R.L., Elliott, D.L., Arnot, L.F., Kemp, R., Lowney, A.M., McKechnie, A.E. (2020). Winter thermoregulation in free-ranging pygmy falcons in the Kalahari Desert. Journal of Ornithology 161: 549-555.
Kemp, R., Noakes, M.J. and McKechnie. A.E. (2017). Thermoregulation in free‐ranging ground woodpeckers (Geocolaptes olivaceus): no evidence of torpor. Journal of Avian Biology 48: 1287-1294.
Carrie Hickman
Supervisors: Dr. Susan Cunningham, Dr. Rita Covas
Contact
Carrie Hickman
FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology
DST-NRF Centre of Excellence
University of Cape Town
Rondebosch, 7701
South Africa
Email: carriejhickman@gmail.com
I have always dreamt of working with African wildlife. Growing up in the Scottish Borders, I never imagined this would be possible and I engulfed myself in working with animals and being outdoors with my own dog walking and pet sitting business.
After a life changing decision to come to South Africa and complete a Field Guiding course in 2016, I realised I wanted to understand more about the environment, and the environmental issues we face, in a more scientific sense. I embarked on a BSc honours degree in Environmental Science with The Open University and during this time I was lucky enough to become involved with the APNR Southern Ground Hornbill Project, run by the FitzPatrick institute of African Ornithology in the Greater Kruger. My honours project looked at the effects of temperature on prey types and size provisioned by ground hornbills to the nests during breeding.
Publications
Thompson, L.J., Hickman, C.J., Davies, J.P., Fern, F. and Downs, C.T. (2019). A review of the use of birds’ nests by Egyptian geese, including a breeding attempt in a hooded vulture nest. African Zoology, 54:169-173.
Research interests
My interest remains in environmental science and the impacts of climate change. I am now starting my PhD on the effects of temperature on nestling growth and physiology in the southern ground hornbill. With the supervision of Dr Susan Cunningham and Dr Rita Covas, I am very excited to learn more about these charismatic thunderbirds.
Caroline Hannweg
Supervisors: Prof Andrew McKechnie, Dr Kamran Safi (Max Planck Institute), Dr Corinne Kendall
(North Carolina Zoo)
Contact
Caroline Hannweg
Department of Zoology and Entomology
University of Pretoria
Pretoria, 0002
South Africa
Growing up with nature loving parents in South Africa, I spent most of my time as a kid with my family outdoors, which grew into a deep passion for nature and for animals. My interest in animals focussed on birds when my parents introduced me to birding in 2004, and it is a passion that has only grown since. I decided to pursue this as a career after I finished my BScAgric in Animal Sciences, and moved into the field of Wildlife Management, completing my BSc (Hons) and MSc under the supervision of Prof Mark Keith at the University of Pretoria, focusing on the population dynamics of owls and rodents in an agricultural matrix.
After completing my MSc I took a position at VulPro, a vulture conservation centre based near Hartbeespoort, and gained incredible knowledge and experiences working as a research assistant. I later took on the role of Conservation Manager and through my work with VulPro I was privileged to take up a PhD with VulPro, which is currently the focus of my work. Through a collaboration between VulPro and UP, the MPIAB and North Carolina Zoo, this project encompasses years of work done by VulPro as well as other data collaborating organisations, and brings together an incredible amount of tracking and breeding data to understand how climate change may be affecting the Critically Endangered African White-backed Vulture.
Publications
Hirschauer MT, Hannweg CG, Kemp R & Wolter K. (2021) VulPro: An overview of Africa’s Vulture Conservation Centre. Vulture News.
Research interests
My research interests lie in how humans and birds interact with each other and to what effect, and I strive to use my skills as a researcher to further conservation work. I am incredibly excited to work with the Hot Birds Research Project team and look forward to the outcomes of this project.
Carrie Hickman
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Contact
Carrie Hickman
FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology
DST-NRF Centre of Excellence
University of Cape Town
Rondebosch, 7701
South Africa
Email: carriejhickman@gmail.com
I have always dreamt of working with African wildlife. Growing up in the Scottish Borders, I never imagined this would be possible and I engulfed myself in working with animals and being outdoors with my own dog walking and pet sitting business.
After a life changing decision to come to South Africa and complete a Field Guiding course in 2016, I realised I wanted to understand more about the environment, and the environmental issues we face, in a more scientific sense. I embarked on a BSc honours degree in Environmental Science with The Open University and during this time I was lucky enough to become involved with the APNR Southern Ground Hornbill Project, run by the FitzPatrick institute of African Ornithology in the Greater Kruger. My honours project looked at the effects of temperature on prey types and size provisioned by ground hornbills to the nests during breeding.
My interest remains in environmental science and the impacts of climate change. I am now starting my MSc on the effects of temperature on nestling growth and physiology in the southern ground hornbill. With the supervision of Dr Susan Cunningham and Dr Rita Covas, I am very excited to learn more about these charismatic thunderbirds.
Research project
Supervisors: Dr. Susan Cunningham, Dr. Rita Covas
Publications
PDF copies are available on request...
Thompson, L.J., Hickman, C.J., Davies, J.P., Fern, F. and Downs, C.T. (2019). A review of the use of birds’ nests by Egyptian geese, including a breeding attempt in a hooded vulture nest. African Zoology, 54:169-173.
Wesley Gush
Impacts of climate change on the Secretarybird, an iconic and threatened African raptor
Supervisors: Prof Andrew McKechnie, A/Prof Susie Cunningham, Dr Melissa Whitecross, Dr Christiaan Brink
Contact
Wesley Gush
Department of Zoology and Entomology
University of Pretoria
Pretoria, 0002
South Africa
Email: wesgush@gmail.com
I grew up on a farm in the Eastern Cape, in the cattle and sheep district of Sidbury. During that time, my love of the natural world was further encouraged by being part of one of the founding families of Amakhala Game Reserve. After school I completed an honours degree in Conservation Ecology at Stellenbosch University and this was followed by a gap year which included work as a research volunteer on the American Prairie Reserve in Montana, USA.
In 2016 I undertook an MSc at the FitzPatrick Institute in Cape Town, where I had the privilege of doing a minor thesis under the supervision of Prof Claire Spottiswoode looking at the population status of Rudd’s Lark in the Wakkerstroom area. After graduating, I took a job as a research ecologist on the Bubye Valley Conservancy in Zimbabwe for two years, with a focus on large carnivores. I then returned to work on the family farm for a few years, before coming full circle to a PhD in ornithology.
Publications
Gush, W., Maphisa, D., Reynolds, C., Donald, P., & Spottiswoode, C. 2019. Declines of the globally threatened Rudd’s Lark Heteromirafra ruddi in one of its last remaining strongholds. Bird Conservation International, 29(4), 644-656. https://doi.org/10.1017/S095927091900011X
Gush, W., Wijers, M., Comley, J., Sousa, L., O’Donnell, H., Svensson, L., Loveridge, A., & Macdonald, D. 2022. Camera traps reveal a large population of brown hyaena on a fenced reserve in southern Zimbabwe. African Journal of Ecology https://doi.org/10.1111/aje.12973
Research interests:
While the subjects of my research have ranged from larks to lions, a common thread that has emerged is the study of population-level ecology. My current PhD research will for the first time delve into the physiology of a species, particularly with regards to thermal tolerance and reproductive success, but I am motivated by the idea that the results of investigating these aspects will contribute to our understanding of how Secretarybirds will be affected at the population level as temperatures increase. This in turn will inform our approach to conserving populations of raptors and other large birds affected by climate change.
Bianca Coulson
Supervisors: Prof Andrew McKechnie, Dr Marc Freeman
Contact
Bianca Coulson
Department of Zoology and Entomology
University of Pretoria
Pretoria, 0002
South Africa
Email: beancoulson@gmail.com
I have always found myself fascinated by the way the world works - specifically when looking at the variety of animals and trying to understand how each one fits in with the next. This learning journey began at a young age doing small science experiments at home and was further developed on family trips to remote locations, where strange and interesting creatures were bound to be discovered. My fascination in Zoology truly sparked when a heat wave struck a small lagoon in Bilene, Mozambique in December 2010 and seahorses and crabs were found scattered along the shore. I had to understand why something like this had happened and how I could stop it in future.
This is where I realised that I wanted to pursue the study of animals and their physiology, and pursued a BSc Zoology at the University of Pretoria. I then completed an Honours degree that encompassed using stable isotopes to determine Southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) population niche partitioning. Subsequently, I started my MSc in Zoology with the HBRP with a dissertation aimed at unravelling the effects that high temperatures coupled with raised humidity have on thermoregulation in a large forest bird, the trumpeter hornbill (Bycanistes buccinator). However, my research in forests does not end there. I am currently starting my PhD with an aim to understand how variability in microclimate and forest dynamics have driven the thermal physiology of a variety of forest specialist bird species in Magoebaskloof, Limpopo.
Publications
Freeman, M. T., Coulson, B., Short, J. C., Ngcamphalala, C. A., Makola, M. O. and Mckechnie, A. E. (2024). Evolution of avian heat tolerance: the role of atmospheric humidity. Ecology e4279. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.4279
Research interests:
My research interests centre around how the interaction of the environment and an animal affects their physiology. Although my scientific journey began with marine animals (seahorses, crabs, and seals), I aim to continue my focus on the physiology of forest-associated bird species and the environments that allow them to persist in an ever-changing landscape and climate. I hope to further hone my skills as a scientist throughout my PhD and add to a growing body of research focussing on the importance of microclimates on species survival. Gaining an understanding of how microclimatic variability within sub-tropical and tropical forests shape the thermal capacities and vulnerabilities of endotherms in response to heat is important, particularly concerning the relationships between thermal physiology and microclimate variation in the face of climate change.
