Staff, Students & Associates

Doctoral Students

Martha is from Vancouver, Canada, and received her BSc in Animal Biology from the University of British Columbia in 1999 followed by a Master of Science on dinoflagellate chloroplast genomes through the Botany Department of the University of British Columbia in 2003. She  recently successfully completed her thesis on kinship and its consequences in the cooperatively breeding Pied Babbler at the University of Cape Town. A major component of her thesis was using genetic analyses to successfully describe the breeding system of pied babblers for the first time, helping to corroborate behavioural patterns with genetic patterns of relatedness. In addition, she investigated inbreeding, the occurrence of sex-biased dispersal, reproductive conflict and kin selection. She is currently assisting Mandy Ridley on-site with her research on sexual selection in pied babblers.

Recent peer-reviewed publications (2010/2011)

2011

Nelson-Flower, M.J., Hockey, P.A.R., O'Ryan, C., Raihani, N.J., du Plessis, M.A. & Ridley, A.R. 2011. Monogamous dominant pairs monopolize reproduction in the cooperatively breeding pied babbler. Behavioural Ecology 22:559-565. IF 2.926

2010

Raihani, N.J., Nelson-Flower, M.J., Golabek, K.A. & Ridley, A.R. 2010. Routes to breeding in cooperatively breeding pied babblers Turdoides bicolor. Journal of Avian Biology 41:681-686. IF 2.183

Raihani, N.J., Nelson-Flower, M.J., Moyes, K., Browning, L.E. & Ridley, A.R. 2010. Synchronous provisioning increases brood survival in cooperatively breeding pied babblers. Journal of Animal Ecology 79:44-52. IF 3.714