Education
B.A., 1997, English, University of Florida
Research Interests
Broadly speaking, I am interested in animal behavior, avian ecology and evolution, and the conservation of forest birds. While in Missouri, I am using constant surveillance video cameras to investigate factors that affect which predator species are frequent contributors to overall predation rates (see sample video below, and a second here). I am also interested in the relationship between parental behavior and the risk of nest predation.
Previous Research Experience
I am fortunate to have worked for the following people:
- Dr. Rebecca Kimball and Dr. Ed Braun - I worked on Early Bird, an NSF-funded project designed to determine the evolutionary relationships between all major groups of birds. I was also part of a project that used mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data to determine the phylogenetic position of New World Quail within the order Galliformes.
- Dr. Tom Martin - I spent three field seasons working for Dr. Martin, two in Arizona and one in Venezuela. These experiences were invaluable to my education and development of my current research interests.
- Dr. Paul Banko - Dr. Banko is the project leader for the Palila Restoration Project on the island of Hawaii. What a place to be an intern.
Publications
Cox W.A., Pruett M.S., and F.R. Thompson. Development of video technology for monitoring avian nests. Studies in Avian Biology (in prep).
Kukal C.A. and W.A. Cox. 2010. Pantherophis obsoletus (Texas Ratsnake) diet and foraging behavior. Herpetological Review (in press).
Cox W.A. and T.E. Martin. 2009. Breeding biology of the Three-striped Warbler in Venezuela: A contrast between temperate and tropical parulids. Wilson Journal of Ornithology (in press).
Hackett S.J., Kimball R.T., Reddy S., Bowie C.K.R., Braun E.L., Braun M.J., Chojnowski J.L., Cox W.A., Han K., Harshman J., Huddleston C.J., Marks B.D., Miglia K.J., Moore W.S., Sheldon F.S., Steadman D.S, Witt C.C., and T. Yuri. 2008. A phylogenetic study of birds reveals their evolutionary history Science 320: 1763-1768. Click here and then on the "Full Text" link for a free PDF of this paper.
Grants
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship ($121,500)
- University of Missouri - TWA Scholarship ($7000)
- Audubon Society of Missouri Graduate Research Scholarship ($2000)
Other
- Check out our Graduate Student Outreach program here: http://scienceoutreach.missouri.edu/
- In 2007-2008, I worked with an undergraduate student through the NSF-funded
UMEB program. Check out an update on Miles here.