Director of Institute

Professor Phillip A. R. Hockey PhD (Cape Town) John Day Building: 2.03 Tel: +27 (0)21 650 3291 Fax: +27 (0)21 650 3295 Email: phil.hockey@uct.ac.za

Activities and research interests

General ornithology, coastal and estuarine bird ecology, intertidal shellfish and their exploitation by humans, bird migration, life history evolution

Phil Hockey was born in England and obtained his honours degree at Edinburgh University. He moved to South Africa in 1979 and obtained his PhD from UCT in 1983 for a study of African Black Oystercatchers. Most of his subsequent research has focused on coastal waders and interactions with their food supplies at scales from the local to the global. He is recognised as an authority of African waders and, in 1995, published the monograph 'Waders of Southern Africa' (Struik Winchester, Cape Town). In recent years, his interest in shorebirds has taken him to tropical Africa and islands in the Indian Ocean, South America, the Canary Islands and the Middle East. Aside from his academic research, he has published numerous semi-popular articles and books and also presents regular public lectures. He is a co-author of the best-selling regional field guide, 'Sasol Birds of Southern Africa' and co-editor, along with Richard Dean and Peter Ryan, of the the seventh edition of 'Roberts Birds of Southern Africa'. Professor Phil Hockey was appointed the Institute's Director in July 2008.

Research programmes

Life History Strategies, Cooperative Breeding and Sociality in Birds, Spatial Parasitology & Epidemiology.

Current  students

Post-doctoral

Steve Boyes, Susan Cunningham & Rowan Martin

Doctoral

Sharon Okanga: The influences of host community, urbanization and water quality on avian malaria ecology in South African passerines (Supervisors: Graeme Cumming and Phil Hockey)

Masters

Lisle Gwynn: The identity, origin and impact of a 'new' Buzzard species breeding in South Africa (Supervisors: Phil Hockey and Arjun Amar).

Dane Paijmans: Changing breeding syndrome of African Black Oystercatchers (Supervisor: Prof. Phil A.R. Hockey).

Alex Thompson: 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 / In press

McKechnie, A.E., Hockey, P.A.R. & Wolf, B.O. 2012. Feeling the heat: Australian land birds and climate change. Emu IP. IF 1.191

Mzumara, T.I., Hockey, P.A.R. & Ridley, A.R. 2012. Re-assessment of the conservation status of Malawi’s ‘Endangered’ Yellow-throated Apalis Apalis flavigularis. Bird Conservation International IP. IF 1.138

Nelson-Flower, M.J., Hockey, P.A.R., O’Ryan, C. & Ridley, A.R. 2012. Inbreeding avoidance mechanisms: dispersal dynamics in cooperatively breeding pied babblers. Journal of Animal Ecology IP. IF 4.457

2011

Hockey, P.A.R. 2011. Birds. In: Picker M, Griffiths C. Alien and Invasive Animals: a South African Perspective. Cape Town, Struik Nature. pp240. Pp 36-44.

Hockey, P.A.R., Sirami, C., Ridley, A.R., Midgley, G.F. & Babiker, H.A. 2011. Interrogating recent range changes in South African birds: confounding signals from land use and climate change present a challenge for attribution. Diversity and Distributions 17:254-261.  IF 4.248

MacGregor, L.H., Cumming, G.S. & Hockey, P.A.R. 2011. Understanding pathogen transmission dynamics in waterbird communities: at what scale should interactions be studied? South African Journal of Science 107:56-65. IF 0.596

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 2.98

Musvuugwa, T. & Hockey, P.A.R. 2011. Latitudinal patterns of reproductive effort in gamebirds and waterfowl: bucking the trend? Ibis 153:165-169. IF 2.295

Ndlovu, M., Cumming, G.S. & Hockey, P.A.R. 2011. Phenotypic flexibility in African waterfowl during moult. The Preliminary Program for 96th ESA Annual Meeting (August 7 -- 12, 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

Pryke, J.S., Samways, M.J. & Hockey, P.A.R. 2011. Persistence of the threatened Knysna warbler Bradypterus sylvaticus in an urban landscape: do gardens substitute for fire? African Journal of Ecology 49:199-208. IF 0.629

Stoffberg, S. & Hockey, P.A.R. 2011. Book Review: Bats of southern and central Africa: a biogeographic and taxonomic synthesis by Ara Monadjem, Peter J. Taylor, F.P.D. (Woody) Cotterill & M. Corrie Schoeman. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 41:142-143. IF 0.875

2010

Hockey, P.A.R., Wanless, R.M. & von Brandis, R. 2010. Demographic resilience of territorial island birds to extinction: the flightless Aldabra Rail (Dryolimnas [cuvieri] aldabranus) as an example. Ostrich 82:1-9. IF 0.338

Huntley, B., Barnard, P., Altwegg, R., Chambers, L., Coetzee, B.W. T., Gibson, L., Hockey, P.A.R., Hole, D.G., Midgley, G.F., Underhill, L.G. & Willis, S.G. 2010. Beyond bioclimatic envelopes: dynamic species’ range and abundance modelling in the context of climatic change. Ecography 33: 1-6. IF 4.385

Lipsey, M.K. & Hockey, P.A.R. 2010. Do ecological networks in South African commercial forests benefit grassland birds? A case study of a pine plantation in KwaZulu-Natal. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 137:133-142. IF 3.13

Ndlovu, M., Cumming, G.S., Hockey, P.A.R. & Bruinzeel, L.W. 2010. Phenotypic flexibility of a southern African duck Alopochen aegyptiaca during moult: do northern hemisphere paradigms apply? Journal of Avian Biology 41:558-564. IF 2.183